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What Causes Tremors, Diarrhea, Rapid Heart Rate And Fatigue?

Posted on Tue, 13 Dec 2016

Question: I work 12 hour swing shifts in a lab and about a year and a half or more ago I started having problems with my body. Out of the blue my whole body will heavily tremble, usually I'll have an episode of diarrhea, my whole body will get very hot, and my heart will beat much faster (sometimes blood pressure spikes). I've had many different symptoms also including extreme fatigue at work or at home (when this happens), pressure/pain through my chest area, muscle spasms, rare headaches, and severe tingles at the ends of my limbs. I've had my blood work tested (which looked good), CT scans on my brain (which were normal), chest x-rays, a stress test, urine test, and multiple EKG's which were all fine the doctors said. When ER doctors ran a separate test for gasses on me it was discovered that my carbon monoxide levels were a bit higher in my blood and we figured out it was my car which I sold right away. Since then things have been much better, but my body will still have severe reactions out of the blue as I initially listed above. I have noticed that it seems that I am more apt to have this happen when I drink some caffeine or when I am very tired from a 12 hour night shift. Could I have stress/anxiety in my life I do not know about. linked to swing shifts, or could this be linked to the CO found in my blood from well over a year ago? I do know anxiety runs on my mother's side of the family. I've always been athletic and never had health issues until a year and a half ago.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Yogesh D (4 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Side effects of caffeine and working swing shifts, stress also contributes.

Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXX,

Thanks for posting your query.

I have studied your symptoms carefully and understand your concerns.

CO could have contributed to the symptoms an year ago, but your current symptoms are clearly due to caffeine and working swing shifts.

Stress and anxiety definitely make things worse.

You should cut down on caffeine, try to get your shifts regularized and continue to exercise and get adequate sleep at a regular time every day.

Your current symptoms are not due to CO levels, the problem however is, agitation, anxiety, increased heart beats, trembling happen in both CO poisoning and caffeine intake, panic...

Since your CO levels have been rechecked and found to be normal, you can exclude that as a causative agent.

Try and relax, cutting down caffeine will most certainly help.

Please follow the given advice, you will see improvement in a matter of 2 to 4 weeks.

If not, please consult a neurologist and a psychiatrist to rule out any other problem hitherto not considered.

I hope I have answered your query, please feel free to write back to me if you have any doubts.

Wishing you good health.

Warm regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D