Desperate again please help, permanent dizziness & tension headache

[syg]

I've not been on this forum for a good few years. I've been through the exact same things as a lot of others on this forum with severe health anxiety. The last time about 4 years ago that had gone on for about 1-2 years, then I suddenly went back to normal for about 2 years.

Bear in mind my anxiety all started around ten years ago when I was 19. My panic attacks when they happen are extreme, I mean the whole full works happens, fists clench shut, violently shaking etc, just torture. I have no idea how I got over it before and cant remember sadly. I just wish I could go back to normal again now. I have all the same symptoms as before, and they have come on gradually over the past few months due to some very stressful happenings. Long story short I am permanently dizzy almost, I have continuous pressure and tension headaches from the moment I wake up, literally.

Sometimes it is so intense it makes me cry. I have developed severe panic disorder again because of it and they all fuel each other. To give an idea I have been to the doctors 6 times in the past two weeks, rang 4 ambulances and went to a&e yesterday, got sent home then rang an ambulance that night! Crazy I know but I just cant help it. I just have that usual something is wrong feeling that just won't seem to go because the symptoms wont go away like before. I've had so many tests done again as I did a few years ago, and guess what, all clear. I had a CT scan and 2 MRI's on my head and neck too a few years ago which again were all clear.

Countless doctors again now telling me I am fine and they are not worried for me, literally. Yeah okay, that's great, only no it isn't because my body is physically torturing itself every single day all day. It's unbearable, how have I let this come back is what I keep thinking, HOW!. I am still in a relationship with the same girl I was with the last time it happened to me and I can see the frustration it is causing her. It's so crazy to be told nothing is wrong, yet I physically feel like I'm dying, or at least I imagine it feels like this.

I literally am desperate now, I am an emotional wreck bursting into tears all day on and off the past few days because this has gone on for months again now, but it just feels like it's getting worse. My body just won't let up and it's really making me so depressed on top of it now because no matter what I do I cannot shift the physical symptoms.

Last night before bed I seemed to just feel a little calmer for the first time in ages and I felt less intense dizziness and pressure, then just as I was falling asleep, BOOM major shaking episode and a full on freak out panic attack out of nowhere. That was around midnight, I then could not sleep AT ALL until around 8.30 am literally, my body just wouldn't let me fall asleep, every time I came close it just shocked me back to being awake. It felt like I was having a tremor permanently too, I mean I was because I could feel it. I woke up this afternoon and just burst into tears because every time I seem to try and take one step forward, BANG something takes me ten steps back :(

I just feel so physically drained and ill, and all these crazy symptoms, numb arms and legs, pains all the time, it's all too much to take sometimes. I just want to hook up with other people who suffer the same symptoms as me from extreme anxiety. I know in the end I have had all of this before years ago, but it just feels so much worse this time and it's really knocked me for 6 :(

[richardvilla]

HI has your Doctor put you on anything to help? I am on Proponolol to help with rapid heart beat and palpitations. It helps a bit but doesn't take the problem away. I have been on them for 7 years on and off. Ive lead a 90% normal life (there are some things i just cannot do) up to now then about 4 weeks ago had a slight attack which has affected my driving confidence.

[syg]

Hi there.

Yes I have started on Propranalol a few days ago, they help to stop me having full blown panic attacks now but don't help with the dizziness and permanent tension headaches at all, nor does it help with the worry. If anything it makes me worry more now because the Propranalol keeps me physically calm and stops the anxiety but the headaches and dizziness remains and will not shift :(

[richardvilla]

I am trying to determine if the headaches i have had the last 3-4 days have been tension or because of sinus pressure. I have had a lot of sinus congestion these last 4 weeks which have give me ear and eye pressure.

The thing is i do not usually suffer sinus problems this bad. I have been put off driving (i pray this is a temporary thing as i have a family and they need me to drive) because when i have got into the warm car it sets my dizziness off. I have to now determine if this is because of my sinus problem or a bit of car anxiety.

I find Pronpronol (spelling) a good help in the sense it acts as a calmer, but as you say does not affect the dizzy spells. Do you get dizzy spells all the time or at certain times eg going into a supermarket or something?

[syg]

Hi there.

I seem to be dizzy permanently now and it's ruining my life, the pressure is also there permanently too. Obviously I think about it all day everyday which won't help, but I don't know if the thinking of it causes it to stay so much or whether it's just genuinely there permanently of it's own accord.

Either way it's so disabling. My life is literally ruined because of it :( It started coming on episodically, like as a result of agoraphobia, going to the shop etc. Then I'd get home and it would ease up and I'd forget about it. Now, though, it seems that I am in the constant state of fear all day everyday and therefore feel the same associated dizziness and tension continuously.

[richardvilla]

I have had 2 bouts previous of this awful condition. Once in 1997 when i thought i had done to much at the gym, i had chest pains and thought this is it. Unfortunately i didn't hear the doctors advice telling me it was a panic attack and I prolonged the feeling it was my heart. I was put on beta blockers then and it took about 6 months to make a full recovery. in 2007 i lost my daughter and a few months later I developed the same sinus problem i have today. It resulted on episode 2 of the condition (I hate the Anx..word) and again about 6 months to recover. It always left scars though. When i say recover i dont mean 100% of my life was back, I still couldn't go inside crowded places like a packed church (i am not a church goer but there were family ocassions when i had to). I could no longer drive on a motorway or long distance. When we went on holiday it was always a train or coach we took).

Like i said I have been on the beta blockers on and off for 7 years. I genuinely do not know what i would have done without them i rate them that well. Unfortunately, the other symptoms like worry and negative thoughts they do not block. Anti depressants are more for them. Either that, or your self confidence which you have to try and build up even if it takes months like i did. Can you go in shops and public places now?

[ryan07]

I just joined the site again today this is my 2nd post.I suffer really bad neckk pains everday.The main thing that gives me anxiety is the tingling in yhe head and pins and needles like feeling.
Ive had two mris.Showing degeneratiom of the discs in my neck.
Also a fluid on the spime somthing the specialist told me you dont see often.
This was explained as a hole in the spine which I could have been born with and if the fluid had gotten bigger then I would have to be referred to a neurosurgeon. !!! Shock horror.
My gp said the fluid hasnt changed in size and that he doesnt think anything will be done about it
The thing that drives me insane is the dizzyness and tingling weird nerve like headaches which are overwhelming
I keep thinkin it must be something in my head.
It doesnt help that I have ptsd and gad and health anxiety.
Lately ive started gettin numb tingling in fingers and during winter while working outside in cold weather my fingers turned pure white and numb everyday.
My gp didnt seem to worried about this and tried to give me some sort of pulls for circulation.
I knoq how you feel this neck pain headaches and now im getting bad pain in my back right on the spine which stops me getting a full breath in bed sometimes.
Im justbso sick of it and the fact I work in a job were I look down at the floor all day makes my anxiety worse

[syg]

Hi Richard, no to be honest now I avoid anywhere I can and only go anywhere via a car. Once I get to where I need to be I feel a little better, being indoors generally makes me feel safer. It's a horrible way to be again.

Hi Ryan, I get very similar feelings to yours. It makes me wonder if mine is neck related too, I mean with my health anxiety I have thought all sorts of things that I won't mention for the sake of making us all potentially think about them, but let's just say I imagine the worst a lot of the time even though I have had it proven to me that nothing serious is wrong time and time again. Living with this kid of discomfort for us all is just horrible, it just feels unacceptable to me, how I can be in so much discomfort and yet I just have to basically live with it.

[Libra]

Im with you on this.. Ive had 3 epsisodes in 15 years which lasted 8-12 months..For me it wasn't 24 hour continuous but often enough to set my anxiety off. I hate dizziness.Problem is it causes a vicious circle of dizzy = anxiety and then anxiety=dizziness.

[syg]

Exactly, and that is what has happened to me now. I just can't forget about it, why the hell can't we just come with a reset button. This is just no life at all living with this torture. I know one day I will be fine again but I just can't think when, last time it took a long time to get better.

[ryan07]

syg I know the feeling mate.The pain my neck and posture give me send me into anxiety.Its the head tingling senaations that bother me most.Strange nerves tingling itching.An overwhleming sensation at times and last week I was really dizzy.My job makes things worse I litter pick and brush the streets ao im lookin down all day.
Ive thought about giving up work thats how bad its gotten.
I tio bounce from health priblem to problem.
I take stomach pills everyday as I suffer bad reflux another gift from my seven or 8 years of anxiety.
I cant get off them pills either I think they have messed up my natural stomach acid production
the health anxiety with me started after afew tramuatic incidents in my life and probably from my years of drug abuse.
Thats when I started getting the classic symptoms pulpitations trouble breathing etc and the health worries just snowballed from there but its the neck and head which really affect me most today.
My gp says when youre stressed youre muscles all tighten in the neck but I find it hard to understand were all this tingling and itching an headaches come from.
My mris didnt show any compression on nerves but obviously that is what happens of you have disc degeneration in the next.
Just gotta listen to the gp I guess.
What medication are you on?

[syg]

I just take propranalol and diazepam at the moment to stop the full on extreme panic attacks. I just want to go back to normal headache and dizziness free, feels like it's never going to happen, but I said that last time and then suddenly it all went away.

[ryan07]

youre lucky to be getting diazepam.Mybpractice only proscribe 2mg of diazepam to me for short periods probably because of my past drug use.
I too suffer frpm panic attacks altho not as extreme as they were years ago.I was on propanolol for years even the 24 hr kind 160mg.They help with the racing heart.But i suspect they gave me psorasis.Something in never had until all this kicked off.
Im currently proscribed mirtazapine and prozac but dont like taking them.
The panic attacks get better when you realize that they only are panic attacks.
I know exactly how you feel but its not easy too axcept that all our problems are anxiety based.
My neck is aching now and tingling in my head rihjt at this minute.
You will get better so will I its just miserbale living like this but hey it could be worse lol

[richardvilla]

Out of all the panic symptoms the one I hate most and nothing can treat it is the vertigo or dizziness and when this happens when your driving it's not a clever thing to experience. Are you guys okay when driving ? It's gotten bad with me to the extent I may pay an instructor to sit with me for a few lessons to get my confidence back.

[syg]

I literally cant do anything at the moment especially the last week, I can barely walk without feeling dizzy and pressure. Its ridiculous

[richardvilla]

my eyes are sensitive to light , I have headaches at the top of my forehead, my eyes are tired and gritty and I feel nauseous. I just don't know whether it's a prolonged flu illness or anxiety creeping in. Although I have experienced it I'm not sure if it's this main thing I have.

[Libra]

Richard all of those things are common with anxiety..My gp gave me a long list.. I checked out fine with tests..Ive now got a severe medical phobia going alongside anxiety issues but I have to keep remembering that list and that everything checked out.

[richardvilla]

I'm okay walking about and outside although my head is always in a haze and I'm squinting as it seems too light even though it's a dull day. It's on the car I get it worse as I go hot and dizzy therefore cannot drive. I was lucky enough to buy a bargain for a car in February I'm just praying I don't have to end up selling it because of non use.

[Libra]

Strong light also affects me and I also tend to go quite hot , I think that's the anxiety response.