[Tenor CS]

Here's a question for Dr. John:

I went to the emergency room on Monday morning.

My symptoms: dizziness, pounding heart, nausea (vomited twice), weakness, especially in the legs - felt like I was going to pass out.

I have a history of high blood pressure (take 20mg Lisinopril per day) and hypothyroidism (take .75 mg levothyroxine per day). No diabetes.

I was admitted. They ran 4 EKG's over 48 hours, all normal. Blood tests were mostly normal, high WBC count (14-ish). Head CT scan showed no abnormalities. Chest X-ray was normal.

The on-call doc's diagnosis was labyrinthitis. They gave me 4 doses of methylprednisolone, 6 hours apart. Also, given an rx for meclizine, every 8 hours for the dizziness.

Questions:

1. The next day, my blood tests showed a much higher WBC count, in the 21-22 range. Could that be caused by the steroids? I have always had high WBC counts, and no one can seem to figure out why. About a year ago, a hemotologist ran all kinds of tests on me, including C-Reactive Protein, Sedimentation Rate, and some others, and nothing screamed "cancer" at her.

2. I have been getting EXTREMELY short of breath and heart pounding after the mildest exertion. Sometimes just even standing up causes it. Walking up a flight of stairs is murder right now. It's a little better this morning, but still worrisome. I was in school yesterday and was late to classes because I literally could not make it across campus in 15 minutes without stopping. Full disclosure: I am morbidly obese, 5'8" and about 380 lbs. But this shortness of breath and heart pounding is 10 times worse than anything I've gotten used to just being a fat guy. Could the shortness of breath and heart pounding also be caused by the steroids? How dangerous is it? At what point should I seek medical attention for it?

Thank you