Off balance and dizzy

[julia]

Jules you could be me!!! I'm gobsmacked to see exactly how I feel word for word 3 yrs now and still terrifies me

[blondielady]

I have this feeling sometimes but maybe not as extreme as some on here. I've tried to pay attention to patterns of when it comes and goes and when it seems to be at its worst. My symptoms seem to be mainly an off-balance feeling, but not necessarily a spinning feeling. Sometimes I feel like when I'm lying in bed I have to cock my whole body to one side just to feel stable. Its almost like something inside of me is imbalanced. I notice that everything seems worse when I haven't gotten enough sleep or when it is getting close to bedtime. It almost feels like I'm walking on a boat. I went through a time of really bad anxiety a little over a month ago where everything seemed aggravated... my off balance feelings especially. I'd lay in bed only on my right side because the left side made me feel dizzy. Then when my husband would get into bed and the bed would move a little it would drive me crazy with motion sickness. I started to have a nervous breakdown. I went to my doctor and she immediately said it was anxiety and that she wanted me on medications. I refused because I hate taking meds unless I absolutely MUST. I was at the point where I was afraid to drive on the freeway because I was convinced something bad would happen and I'd get into an accident and die.

Well, its a month later. 2 weeks ago I came down with the flu and had a high fever for days. I panicked worrying that it would go into my ears and make me dizzy. It never did. It was a doozy of a flu too that lasted like 10 days. I spent a lot of time resting and I'd stay in bed till 2PM if I had to just to make sure I was getting 8 hours of sleep somehow. The anxiety actually started to ease up a bit as I forced myself to rest and sleep more. My husband started sleeping in a different room. I found out that his snoring and constant tossing and turning was affecting my sleep and ruining the quality of my sleep. He came back to bed with me the past couple of nights and I've been a lot more irritable from having my sleep quality disrupted so bad. This morning I even felt that familiar panicky feeling and dizziness. I woke up hot and sweaty. I definitely believe this is because my husband woke me up multiple times during the night and I couldn't get into a normal sleep cycle. He may have to go back to sleeping in another room for a while until he ever agrees to see a doctor about possible sleep apnea.

Well anyway, I've been a lot better even though a month ago I swore my life was over, that I was doomed to antidepressants and my bed. My driving anxiety had gotten so bad that even short 10 minute trips around town on a 25mph road would drive me so crazy I'd be shaking and stiff-armed. Then I started looking up anxiety tapping videos on youtube and I did those multiple times per day for about a week. I looked up various forms of meditations and did a bit of that. Eventually I wasn't looking up videos anymore on youtube and I'd learned to self-soothe on my own a bit. The dizziness started to fade quite a bit as I got more sleep and started walking a bit more. Sometimes I try to lay down on my left side just for a little bit because that is the side that I've had the most trouble with being dizzy on. I've found that it helps me to just lay on that side for a few seconds at a time here and there, sometimes a few minutes, just to show myself that I will not die if I lay on that side. There's been a couple of times where I've still felt off-balance and dizzy after laying on that side for several minutes, but I'm persistent with trying. I've come a long way in the past month, farther than I thought I'd be. I drive around town now with no problems and mentally give myself congratulations every time I'm in the car and don't feel panicky. I drove on the freeway 1 hour to another city without having any major freakouts or panic braking. Every time I noticed that I wasn't panicky while driving, I told myself things like "see... no big deal at all.. you've got this... you've always been a great driver!" It really helps.

Oh I also cut some things out of my life that were stressing me out. I was in a choir that took up 2 mornings a week and that should have been fun but it was the thing that put me over the edge in terms of too much going on in my life. Quitting that has been a major stress reliever.

---------- Post added at 21:41 ---------- Previous post was at 21:28 ----------

Forgot to add too that I wonder if there is a hormonal component to the dizziness/off balance thing. I feel more lightheaded right after my periods even though I am not anemic. I used to take birth control for about 2 years and then I went off it this past summer because I felt like it was making me eat a lot and making me fat. I'm also just not a fan of pills. Well when I first went off, nothing happened. Periods kept coming like clockwork. I figured, wow, that was no big deal. Then after several months had gone by was when I noticed things getting weird. I started breaking out like crazy... like acne all over my neck, chest, and shoulders. I have not experienced this since I was a teenager. I've always had a bit of acne on my face here and there, but not all the other body acne. I started getting worse cramps too. Then I'd get spotting every couple of months, and had a period in November that was crazy heavy for the first day. I was never pregnant during any of that time. It is almost like my body is trying to figure out what to do again, like when I was a teenager. I'm 34 so I'm not near menopause, although my mom said her hormones started going crazy around my age so I don't know. Anyway I didn't have these issues when I was on BC. I was on a low dose and I felt absolutely fine and had nice clear skin. It was great. So, yah, it makes me wonder if all my anxiety and weird off balance feelings now are some sort of hormonal freakout.