Something strange happened to me recently...

[WilliamCollins]

This happened about a couple of days ago and I can't be sure that I recovered completely from it.

Here's what happened:

I woke up, ate a balanced breakfast (as always), drank (2 spoons of ground) coffee and started reading stuff about fixing an issue I was having on my computer. About half an hour after I drank the coffee and as I was reading through the information infront of me I began to notice that I couldn't see properly. I couldn't see half of the computer screen. The left side was mostly dark with bits of light here and there. So if I looked straight ahead, I would be unable to see the left side (from the middle) of my visual field.

This, as you can imagine, concerned me. So I went onto this other schizophrenia forum and I tried writing about what was happening to me but I soon realized that I had lost the ability to write. It?s hard to explain what it was like.

At this point I was thinking that I was either having or have had a stroke. Could it have been a stroke? (btw, for those that might know, why does the question mark appear as an ?...?)

After that, I tried to speak out loud, and this too, I couldn`t do.

By this point, I was becoming frightened. I even tried calling my psychiatrist`s office but I couldn`t get through. Even if I managed to get through, I would have been unable to speak properly.

After I put the phone down, I went downstrairs to try and talk to my grandma. She was working in our front garden. I called her and she immediately knew that something was wrong. I couldn`t talk properly. My words (in another language), for some reason, came out like: am-tink wong wit me... Am cat speek... And so on!

About half an hour to an hour after these symptoms first started, my abilities started to come back. I can now see and speak properly. I still don`t know if I recovered fully, though.

Reading over text isn`t what it used to be. I feel like I?m becoming dyslexic. The words, and parts of words (letters), seem to move, and I see parts instead of a whole (if you know what I mean).

This REALLY concerns me. Please advise. Your input will be most appreciated. Thanks for reading.

---------- Post added at 08:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:22 PM ----------

Could someone please fix the title of this thread. Thank you!

 

[David Baxter PhD]

William, I have no idea what it is you experienced but I do think you should talk to your family doctor and probably a neurologist about what happened, and not wait for your psychiatrist.

In the meantime, if you experience a recurrence of any of the symptoms, get someone to take you to the emergency department of your local hospital.

I really have no idea what that might have been but I think you should get yourself checked out thoroughly to be safe.

 

[Yuray]

I reiterate what Dr. Baxter has said.................but, for your other question...........

(btw, for those that might know, why does the question mark appear as an ?...?)

...........I would like an answer to that as well!..all of a sudden its there...but how to get rid of that function?

 

[WilliamCollins]

I was thinking that maybe it's the antipsychotics which caused these new symptoms. Possible?

This has to be part of the schizophrenia. Maybe what's causing my schizophrenia symptoms is some kind of an infection which could also be the cause of those new symptoms.

I'll try to get some more help but I'm not good with social situations. Seeing a neurologist scaries me. So does going out of the house. I used to take walks with my parents but now I don't because we would almost always meet someone we know. The antipsychotics haven't helped with this fear. Now that I think about it, the only way this medication works for me is by making me more absentminded, and therefore, I sort of forget about this fear of social situations, etc... Being diagnosed with schizophrenia has certainly increased this fear within me by making believe that I'm not like other people.

Btw, is my writing okay? (Am I making sense okay?) Just asking because it's hard for me to tell for sure.

Now, just to recap: A few days ago, I suddenly lost half my vision and I lost the ability to communicate coherently. This lasted for up to an hour.

I'm scaried because of this. And I feel like there's not much help for me out there because of my social phobia.

I'm writing all this down because I'll probably show this thread to my psychiatrist.

Thanks for your help, David Baxter!

 

[David Baxter PhD]

At this point I was thinking that I was either having or have had a stroke. Could it have been a stroke? (btw, for those that might know, why does the question mark appear as an ?...?)

Could just be your internet connection, especially if it's slow, or do you perhaps have a language other than English installed for your keyboard?

 

[adaptive1]

I lose my vision sometimes from migraines with aura, can have headaches or not with the aura too, your other symptoms I have not had but if you arent used to the aura of a migraine I expect it could cause anxiety . best to get your doctor to check you out as others suggest but your first symptom reminds me of my migraines.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I had the same thought, adaptive1, but some of the symptoms don't seem consistent.

 

[Angela]

Dear Mr. Collins, yikes, that sort of thing outa the blue is frightening, I'm sorry for you

Now, I'm nowhere near being a physician, or even a first-year med student. i am just a nurse. I've been an R N for 39 or 40 years in a number of different states, working in lots of different hospitals and other health care settings. What i say comes from what little i recall from texts. Most of it comes from patients I've taken care of. i think real life always teaches more and better lessons than college textbooks or even lab hours. Your symptoms COULD have been "just a migraine headache", which is no little thing for those who suffer them. The symptoms also fit transient ischemic attacks. Transient means they come awhile and then leave. ischemic means an area of the body being short on or without full doses of oxygen. An artery or vein can sort of twitch for part of a minute and, in so doing, stop blood from getting to the brain The episodes are called TIAs and some non-,medical persons call them mini-strokes. However, the symptoms you describe were the same symptoms that i ignored before having two strokes that resulted in my left side being leg= weak and arm paralyzed .Even if you and everyone who knows you are sure your symptoms are migraine, there is still risk enough and a large enough risk that the only sensible thing to do, even now when you are not having the symptoms, is to get a buddy or parent to take you to an E R where you should describe exactly the same as you did here. Tests can be done to show, yes, his arteries and veins have enough plaque in them that he could have a stroke or, no, his blood vessels are healthy and he's not building clots anywhere else, so send him home and tell him not to worry. Skipping it is juggling with hand grenades or playing "Russian Roulette" with a gun in neither case do you keep being lucky and beat the odds. I'm sitting here typing with one finger and my dominant left side useless because i ignored exactly the things i advised you to do. If you feel embarrassed going to an E R without having symptoms, you can tell them a nosy old useless nurse harassed and begged you to check it out
Angela

 

[WilliamCollins]

Thanks everyone for your concern. I'll definitely take the advice given to me here. I have a doctor`s appointment coming up in a few days.

Sigh...

This is so hard. Even trying to read all these posts has become difficult for me. It`s like a chore, whereas a couple of months ago (maybe last year) it was a pleasure. It was a pleasure to read and reading was a very easy thing for me to do. But since then, it seems to have gradually become more and more difficult.

? - yeah, the question mark still appears as an ?. It doesn`t appear this way when I do a search on the search bar. I`ll reinstall Windows 7 and see if that helps.

What`s the point of living if life keeps getting harder and harder... I don`t mean to be a downer but that`s just how I feel. Life is about improvement. Everyone in my life is improving except for me. With me, it seems to be the opposite.

I still have hopes that I`ll be able to improve one of these days. I`d like to start reading a lot and I hope to self-educate myself. My goal for a while now has been to become a computer programmer. I`ve even started reading about it but, like I mentioned before, it`s not easy.

Take care, everyone! I hope all is well with you all.

---------- Post added at 05:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:29 PM ----------

Oh, and one more thing: when these symptoms started I noticed that my mind would race more than usual. I don`t know if this is of some significance.

---------- Post added at 05:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:33 PM ----------

I also drink 2 beers (10% strength) per week (usually at the same time) and I'm on 15mgs of Zyprexa. It says on the packaging not to take with alcohol (yeah, I know!) so I make sure to drink several hours before I take the dosage. I hope this is okay because a little bit of alcohol seems to have a pleasant effect on me, though it may not be so helpful in the long run.