Dear all,

I had posted about the mom I had with all the bizzare symptoms -- dizziness
(primarily), fast heart rate, nausea, rapid weight loss, fatigue, "feeling
flat out" when she breastfed, etc.  I just called her to get an update.  She
did stop breastfeeding -- had tried it one more time, and said she got so weak
and dizzy and nauseated, she couldn't even move.  Interestingly enough, she
went from 8 feeds to none with no engorgement at all.  With the other three
kids, she weaned down to one feed and then none, and then got engorged.

She has an appointment with a neurologist this week, and a cardiologist next
week, though when she talked to the cardiologist about her rapid heart rate
and occasional arrythmias, he said that a heart rate increase from 80 to 120
was no big deal.  (It is to her, needless to say).

She has had two or three more serious panic attacks which she self describes
as panic attacks which she tries to keep under control if she feels them
coming on.  Her OB put her on Buspar.  (I had suggested Antivert, but to no
avail).  Best guess on the part of the OB is vestibular neuritis -- a viral
infection that will just "have to run its course."

She says that since she stopped bf she "feels a bit stronger" but not much
more.  I keep wondering if there isn't some pituitary involvement, or some
residual affect from the response to the Lidocaine.  (Tonight she told me she
also had a "bad reaction" to the epidural this time, which was a first).

Overall, I'd have to say nothing much has improved.  It's so hard to know if
it is a psychological issue, if it has a real clinical component, if it is
something a bit more nebulous like chronic fatigue syndrome -- and after all
this, will it just be dismissed for her as "something you need to live with."
(After all, she's just a woman, and it's probably a woman thing.)

Jan - just as puzzled as ever in Wheaton....