u/CactusCoasterCup

Extremely long post, but it's because I really hope sharing my experience will help others out there. I will put a TLDR at the end for convenience!

My foundational event happened the morning of August 26th, 2026. As of writing this (October 4th, 2026), I have been gotten back all normal tests and results which I will list below. I currently am experiencing symptoms still, and for the time being my doctors are simply pursuing the idea that everything comes from a psychiatric condition based on some trauma and poor stress management habits that they are hoping therapy and medications will fix. Will update this point as I can, but first:

SOME POINTS OF BACKGROUND CONTEXT:

To start, I am 30M living in Southern California. I have a history of several mental disorders which include (my therapist believes) ADHD and general anxiety, and I specifically point this out because I believe it has also likely exacerbated my dysautonomia symptoms - for example, I tend to try and push myself hard, deny myself breaks, challenge myself to push through discomfort, and find it difficult to switch tasks and generally regulate or manage my stress and focus. Aside from possible ADHD, I've also experienced catatonic episodes, convulsions, and a range of much more mild typical mental health issues starting and peaking in my adolescence during times of intense emotion and stress. Because of all that, I did get an MRI and the neuro at the time said my problems were in my mind and not my brain.

Mild possibly relevant symptoms from throughout my life before this dysautonomia adventure:

• I generally have constant bad posture, bump into things while walking, always slouch, lounge, and instinctively lean on tables or shelves for support to avoid standing up straight.
• During long periods of physical inactivity, I've noticed I would develop issues that would flare up even when doing mild exercise: difficulty breathing, congestion, numb or tingly limbs, feeling faint, dizzy, lightheaded.
• Extreme sensitivity to cold water, to the point where my limbs go numb and I feel like I'm going to pass out until I get used to the water after ~5-10 mins, at which point I am fine after.
• GERD and skin rashes, including dermatographia.

The past two years, however, I have also experienced months of being in pretty good physical shape, being able to go hiking, rock climbing, being out in the sun (70F-90F), light jogging, etc, with little to no issues whatsoever.

Over the past year, I lost a close family member, became extremely isolated from all my friendships, and have not been able to hold down a job because of layoffs, reduced hours, or other reasons. Basically, I've been extremely stressed because of financial, social, mental, and general instability.

I also work at an outdoor nursery, where temps can often get to high 90F/low 100F, with mild to high humidity and dew point.

TIMELINE AND SYMPTOMS:

On August 25th, I noticed I had a particularly difficult time working. It was early morning during a mild heat wave (probably low 90F), but it was hard for me to breathe, I felt weak and light headed, nauseous, and kept on kneeling to try and recover. I eventually sought refuge in our AC break room where I thought I was about to pass out, but simply entered a state of hunched over stupor (possibly catatonic), and had some mild tremors. I relaxed as much as I could, focused on my breathing, and after a few minutes felt better to get back to work, and the rest of the day went normal. The next morning, I woke up feeling absolutely terrible. I was extremely overstimulated by everything, was nauseous almost to the point of throwing up (I gagged a bit to near-vomiting in the restroom after a bout of diarrhea), was shaking and having seizure-like tremors, and felt like I was genuinely going to die. I went to the ER, got an EKG, Chest X-Ray, blood work, and, no surprise, doctors said I was perfectly fine. They even pointed out that my electrolytes were fine, and suggested I might just have PNES. I had a terrible time afterwards; what felt like tachyarrhythmia when falling asleep, tremors, feelings of falling down, etc, all taking place as I felt I was about to fall asleep. My PCP was initially quite dismissive, and said that I was simply exhausted by the heat and to drink more electrolytes. I took a few days off from work, but came back, coincidentally, during a time period of mild weather, and everything felt fine for a week or so.

However, as temperatures went back up, so did my struggles. I started to panic more, get pre syncope sensations, especially after having to stand up at the cashier for several hours (POTS symptoms?), and eventually had to leave work altogether. An interesting note is that, the night before my last day of work, and my morning drive back home after work, I had a deep episode of crying and weeping, lamenting the loss of my family member and friendships that I had depended on for years. It was my first time being able to process any of the emotions that I had been developing for months.

Since being out of work, my condition has spiraled, but gotten stable, thankfully, over the past few days. I've been experiencing headaches, dizziness, erratic BP and HR, feelings of panic, impending death, weakness, and so much more of what you can typically read up on here. The most troubling condition I've developed which started about a week ago was awful insomnia, laying down for 3, 4, 5+ hours in ideal sleeping conditions but not being able to sleep at all. Throughout this past month, however, I have also been able to go on a night hike, go on a night bicycling event with some friends where I was able to push myself fairly hard reaching BP of around 140 (panicked for a moment but calmed myself down and assured myself I wasn't going to die, also doused my head with water and had someone give me a ride home), and also go to tour an arboretum in 90F weather with only a cooling towel and handheld fan for around an hour. I generally feel myself improving, despite seemingly developing a horrendous new week-long condition every week.

SUMMARY OF TESTS AND SYMPTOMS:

Coincidentally enough, a few months prior, I had an EEG because of some very frequent headaches I was experiencing (which at the time, was likely due to too many video games, and they stopped after I quit playing). The EEG results showed up a few weeks ago and my neuro said he really didn't think I had seizures at all, and after describing my dysautonomia symptoms, he suggested I consult with a psychiatrist. He did, however, arrange for my to get an MRI, which has also come back normal. I am currently waiting for some upcoming therapy and psychiatrist sessions.

• EEG: normal
• MRI: normal, except for "small bilateral maxillary sinus mucus retention cysts"
• Blood work: normal
• EKG and chest X-ray: normal
• I have not yet tested for nervous system related vitamins and minerals like B complex, D, ferritin, blockers, magnesium, etc, or for hormone related issues because of blood work from earlier in the year showing my vitamins and thyroid are normal, but would like to explore more nervous system related tests with my PCP soon.

I have, overall, experienced

• Eye twitches that feel like my optical nerve is being pulled or grabbed (have not experienced in weeks)
• Tremors, freezing legs, or falling down a pit sensation while about to fell asleep (not experienced in weeks)
• Convulsions, tremors, catatonic episodes, and muscle control issues, especially in my neck, arms and forearms
• Neck and back strain, noticeable when trying to sleep that also flares when stressed or anxious
• Difficulty looking up
• Anxiety, fatigue, panic, heat intolerance, light headedness, congestion, headaches, brain fog, lack of motivation or direction to do anything, diarrhea, etc
• Easily overstimulated and aversion to screens, social media, videos, sounds, music, etc
• Debilitating insomnia, getting only 1-2 hours of sleep a night, despite being able to lay down for several hours in ideal sleeping conditions like dark air conditioned room

TLDR:

Doctors (ER, PCP, neuro, therapist) think I have a psychiatric condition where my trauma manifests somatic symptoms that include the symptoms listed above. They have not yet once mentioned dysautonomia and hope that as I get therapy and the right medication, all my symptoms will go away. I personally hope that with or without therapy and meds, keeping calm and slowly regulating my nervous system will get me feeling better.

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If you made it this far, I appreciate it, and if I can help at least one person, it will have been worth it for me. I will gladly answer any questions in replies or DMs; I wish everyone here the best. Much love!

30M Haven't gotten diagnosed yet, waiting for EEG results and neurologist consultation next week, but I've had years of struggles with a kind of epileptic disorder that especially comes out when I'm stressed

But I work at a nursery and do a lot of outdoor work. I've had a few convulsive episodes at work these past few weeks where it feels like I'm going to pass out (working in 90F+ weather) and now I'm on a leave of absence from work for a month after having a panic attack at work (god help us all in this heatwave and climate crisis)

I've been paying close attention to my body and recently realized that I am no longer producing sweat, which probably explains why the instant I feel heat or start being physically active I start going into a panic. I've already struggled with breathing and stress issues for months, but this with the current heat wave coming through California has pushed me over the edge.

Every moment of the day I am suffering. Do y'all have any stories, info or tips for possible dysautonomia and PNES?

Do you know anyone that has "recovered" from PNES? That had severe symptoms years ago but has since been living normally without any symptoms? If so, what do you think caused the recovery?

Or do you know anyone that got diagnosed with PNES at first but then doctors found something else wrong? Like brain cancer or any other neurological other disorder?

Would appreciate the input, since I am constantly spiraling into despair wondering what my future holds; everything is very, incredibly bleak and discouraging.

30M first time poster here, I had an intense stressful morning yesterday before heading off to work, and I work out in So Cal heat so was feeling the heat getting to me. Yesterday morning I woke up slightly nauseous, and a few hours into work after the stressful incident, felt like I was going to pass out. I went to a cool place and had slight convulsions and lost some muscle control (started to droop and hunch over in my chair), but breathed deeply throughout and after a few minutes, felt better and relatively fine for the rest of the day. I attributed it all to heat exhaustion and maybe some left over stress from the morning.

This morning, I felt similarly as the previous morning, except with some diarrhea, and quickly started to lose energy, strength, have difficulty breathing, feel light headed and tremble.

It was not hot in my apartment and I got good sleep, but still started to have convulsions much more significantly. At one point I almost threw up, it really felt like I was going to die.

Went to the ER and got blood work, an EKG, and chest X-ray. I thought surely my blood pressure or electrolytes or something else was bad, but was told everything was fine and it was all likely psychological and to look into PNES (was also told this by my PCP a few months ago due to some similar episodes but that did not have physical symptoms).

For background, in my teens I had issues with mental disorders and epileptic like episodes as well, but was relatively fine throughout my 20s and in the past few years with increased stress, started to experience auras and seizures again. This year I also went through some traumatic experiences where I often started to experience weakness, trembling, vertigo, panic and confusion.

So do I just so happen to have stress related seizures while also suffering from heat exhaustion or a stomach bug? Is it possible for a stressful event to carry on over and trigger episodes to the next or following days? Anyone else experience physical symptoms along with their PNES?

Bless y'all for this space by the way and I hope we all get the help and advice that we need, ❤️

Once again, I am in existential pain with my 2017 Hyundai Elantra.

About a year ago, had several tubes leaking coolant, with that sweet syrupy smell having given away the issue. A thousand dollars or so later, all fine.

Had spark plugs and ignition coils go bad earlier this year, another grand, it is what it is.

But now, I got white smoke/fog coming out, ever so slightly, and I doubt it was condensation because there was a faint smell of oil coming out from the vents (my sense of smell isn't the best, I had to get close and sniff the vents to detect the oil smell).

So what's the likely issue here? Oil leak into my cooling system perhaps? Needing a whole new gasket or car??

I JUST finished paying off the last car repair was placed me in horrible debt, and was starting to have hope of starting my life again when this hit, lol