D., mother of three, asks about her nausea, headaches, dizziness, stomach pain:

My youngest child is 8 months old, the boys are 7 & 9

On January 2 of this year, I got a nasty stomach flu.? Ended up vomitting so hard I messed something up in my jaw.? It was so bad,? I? went to a chiropracter I’ve seen for years,? she confirmed that my jaw muscles were ’spasming’ … showed me how to massage them to get them to relax, suggested not eating anything that required a lot of chewing for a couple of days … said that? could be the reason why I was still feeling dizzy and having such awful jaw pain.? (Not? to mention the fact that I had been so dehydrated and ill!)?

Three weeks later, I am still very nauseated … having horrendous headaches all over my entire head.? Tonight I started having a dull pain near my? navel that sort of shoots toward my right lower ribs.? It seems worse if I turn to the right, lean forward, or cough.? The dizziness is still there, and the headache is too.? In general, I feel miserable all over.? No fever, not much appetite, and pretty exhausted.? ? Also … this is gross, but … um, I’m really gassy too.? (haven’t eaten anything to cause it)

It’s likely the two things are not related … the flu and what I’m experiencing now.? But either way, I’m dizzy, my head is throbbing, I’m really queasy, my belly is tender on the right side, and my ‘mother’s intuition’ is saying that something is up.? I’m not generally a worrier … but now I’m wondering if I should try to see someone at an urgent care facility tomorrow … or wait to see my GP on Monday.?

Oh,. I guess I should mention that I do have a history of migraines … but only when I’m pregnant, and then I usually just experience auras .. little or no pain … and then only in the right temporal region.? And they have never nauseated me or made me dizzy in the past.?

Any suggestions?? What should I look for?? How do I know if I should see someone before Monday morning?

Dr. Joshua’s answer:

First I’d like to stress that this is NOT the proper forum for questions about whether one should seek emergency medical attention or not! I cannot always check my e-mail every day, and if you think you need immediate medical attention you should seek it, and not on the internet!

So my answer to your question is: if you feel so ill you think you may need immediate medical attention, go to the ER. At worst, your symptoms could be a sign of appendicitis which requires emergency care.

Having made that clear, I do welcome your question. Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine the cause of your symptoms without a physical examination. There are 1000’s of possible causes for these symptoms. Also, I do not have much information to work with - see the “checklist before you submit” post.

However, it’s my policy to try to do my best to give an answer based on whatever information my readers choose to tell me - so in your case, I can make an educated guess as to the source of your symptoms.

You have two boys, aged 7 and 9, and your youngest child is 8 months old. You have had a history of migraines, and you had a nasty stomach flu a few weeks ago. My guess is that you did not fully recover from your stomach flu because you could not take the time to rest properly. Taken together, your symptoms are suggestive of a functional disturbance more than a specific disease - meaning, it could be a general “systems failure”. To me, it sounds like you are overworked, and you are getting symptoms of stress, and migraines as well. You may be suffering from “burn-out”.

But before actually making this sort of diagnosis, a proper physical examination and some basic lab tests should be done in order to rule out organic causes. If you choose not to go to the ER, I do recommend you see your GP first thing on monday.

Sincerely,
Dr. Joshua

Discuss this topic on the Health Forum

   More answers in Family Doctor, Headache, Migraine, Stomach-Colon-IBS-Reflux