Feel like I'm walking on a bouncy castle/dizziness/weak

[Nobbya26]

Hi guys.

I've had this feeling of dizziness/off balance for about 14 months now. It all started when I came off 20mg of Escitalopram, cold turkey. I know it was the wrong way to come off them but I didn't want to feel like the meds where controlling my life 😕. Since then I've had this feeling of swaying and not being able to keep my balance. It's horrible. I have to stand at work and I'm constantly on edge in case a pass out.

I've suffered with anxiety and panic attacks for years. Was hospitalised at one point when it got too bad. Spent 7 months in a mental health hospital and some time in supported housing/rehab. I was fine back then. I'm finding it hard to accept that it's all anxiety related. I'm convinced I'm going to end up back in hospital or even worse I've got a brain tumour. The GP has told me it's anxiety and prescribed me 5mg of escitalopram a few months ago. The feeling is still there though and it just won't budge.

The feeling that I'm going to pass out is getting out of hand. I've got a 4 week old daughter and I'm afraid to stand and hold her incase I fall. My BP is fine, heart, bloods, ears etc.

I just don't know what to do anymore. This has been going on far too long. Never have I experienced any symptoms like this and for so long.

[Dizzyignas]

I came here to see if someone post something new about balance off feeling and your post was on the top! Oh I know how you feel I had this feeling for 24months..and nobody knows why..I personally think it's my cerebellum but doctors said it's anxiety..but I'm not extra anxious..and this feeling almost non stop..it started after mdma and amphetmines drugs..I just want my life back..I'm only 22 I should live and enjoy life..but I'm not..I'm so jelaous to people who don't have this floating bouncing feeling..but it's good to hear that I'm not alone..I hope we can beat this feeling together!

[Gary A]

If your cerebellum were at fault then you'd be unable to walk in a straight line, balance on one foot or co-ordinate simple things like touching your nose with your eyes closed.

Your cerebellum is a very important structure in the brain and its responsible for a lot of the things we take for granted.

Those floaty feelings can be caused by anxiety, physically it's caused by a combination of chronic hyperventilation, constantly rising and falling levels of adrenaline and noradrenalin, and also a hyper-awareness of your motion. It's not "all in your head" per se, it's a real symptom and a real feeling, but it's your thoughts and perception that causes it, that's why its anxiety related.

[Dizzyignas]

Thank you Gary A for explanation. But what if cerebellum lesion verry small? Can it be the only symptom floating swaying feeling without real balance disorder? CT scan show small lesion in cerebellum but MRI doesn't they said it is small atrophies in my cerebellum but it's not should give me symptoms because it's almost nothing..I can stand on one leg even with closed my eyes and touch with finger my nose..it's strange it's only the sensation..how it can be anxiety if I'm not anxious so much? I just have mild depression and just sometimes anxiety..and my floating feeling starting when I start walking..it look like really something bad in brain for 2years floating feeling it's to much..and I seeing vision like everything flickering or shimmering..I think it's from drugs..is it posiblle that it will go away? Thank you

[Gary A]

A lesion large enough to cause symptoms would either give you constant spinning vertigo or gait disorders. The fact you're only experiencing floaty/bouncy feelings does not in any way point to a problem within the brain, certainly not the cerebellum anyway.

If you can balance and touch your nose in the way you say then there's very little doubt that your cerebellum is working as it should be. If you've had a brain MRI then it really isn't a problem with your brain. You say you don't suffer with anxiety only "mild depression." Well, depression is anxiety's angry older brother, it's anxiety multiplied by ten.

The physical symptoms caused by anxiety and depression are extremely powerful. Have a look around this very forum and see the multitude of people who say the exact same thing as you. "This can't be anxiety" or "I'm not even that anxious but I have all these symptoms."

The fact is, if you weren't anxious, you wouldn't even be asking, would you?

[Dizzyignas]

Thx Gary you seem verry clever guy. But for me also strange why I have head pressure neck tension I know I had growths in neck and sometimes think maybe it's related with balance off feeling..but doctors doubt that idea..I mean my only symptoms head pressure drunk feeling and floating bouncing feeling..and it's all the time when I walk..it really look like something not good in my body..almost all people have epizodes of floating but I feeling like this constantly..I know I have mild depression and litlle anxiety sometimes...but I always think it's because of my symptoms..and everything started after a few months of street drugs..after 2years I still depressive..and before drugs I didn't ever had floating feeling..thats why I was thinking that it's my cerebellum..I want to think that evetything is good with my brain..but after drugs I have constant flickering shimmering vision..it has to be some brain damage..I hope you understand what I'm talking about..thx again it's nice to talk with clever people like you

[Gary A]

Brain damage would not manifest itself in such ways. You have obviously researched the cerebellum and its functions and this is what's led you to believe that's the problem. What you need to understand is though, that cerrebellar damage actually affects your function. You wouldn't be able to walk in a straight line or balance properly. All that's happening to you is the feeling of bouncing, it's your perception that's off, not the control centre.

The brain is the absolute centre of operations, when it goes, you sure as hell feel it. Look at stroke victims, for instance. A few minutes of disfunction in a particular hemisphere of the brain can leave a person paralysed down an entire side of the body. They don't "feel" paralysed, they are paralysed. That's true brain damage right there. When the brain is damaged, people notice it from the outside. When it's just your perceptions that are off, only you feel it, it's not noticeable to anyone else.

[Dizzyignas]

Thx Gary your explanation it is really helping me to realize whats happening. Even my doctors don't explain so good like you.You are right nobodycan see that I have problems with walking only I feeling this..but if it's not cerebellum who else can cause this? I'm not hypervilating..it's really hard to believe that anxiety can cause this feeling 2years non stop..even when my vision is damaged from brain..I always thinked that drugs did something in my brain that I see this strange vision and have these bouncing floating feelings..also I have head pressure heavy head feeling..and also neck tension and in shoulders..I'm really a mystery..

[Dizzyignas]

?

[Gary A]

Hyperventilation can be both chronic and acute. Acute means a sudden episode of fast, heavy breathing which leads to all kinds of symptoms like dizziness, numbness and tingling in the hands, feet and mouth, stomach cramps etc.

Chronic hyperventilation is not so obvious. In fact, there's a syndrome known as chronic hyperventilation syndrome, and the vast majority of people diagnosed with it have absolutely no idea their breathing pattern is faulty until they're diagnosed. Anxiety is a major contributor. You could be sighing or yawning a lot, all while taking very shallow breaths. This messes up the CO2 balance in your blood and can create the same symptons of an acute attack, only less severe and over a longer period of time.

Also, I mentioned the stress hormones, adrenaline, noradrenaline and also a hormone called cortisol. These hormones are floating around your system in very high volumes at all times when you're anxious. This can, also, cause multiple symptoms of fatigue, nausea, achey tense muscles, dizziness and blurred vision.

There really is a physical mechanism involved when anxiety causes symptoms like yours. Mix all of the above with you being hyper-vigilant, your perceptions being inwardly focused and there you have an explanation for how your symptoms are indeed being caused by anxiety.

[Sam123]

Interesting Gary. I definitely have a habit of shallow breathing, i breath out very quickly and straight back in, have done for years it started when my health anxiety was focused on my breathing probably after a panic attack. I was always very aware of my breathing too.

[nita51]

I suffer from same type of thing. when I get anxious i always walk to the left, and this puts my body out of alignment, making my joints sore. I had a panic attack in a mall two weeks ago, and my husband had to keep dragging me to the right, as I always veer to the left. I think it's because I am hyper-vigilant. I've been trying to walk around a track.. a few years ago i loved it, now it's a dread. any ideas on how to cope better? thanks

[GingerFish]

I feel like I am walking on a bouncy castle a lot of the time. It feels like the ground randomly dips as well at times when I am walking. I told this to my doctor and he said it was vertigo and anxiety that was causing it. It was very scary to experience at first but now its just a nuisance. I get it a lot when I am standing up cooking which can make cooking a challenge and I rush to get out of the kitchen.

[stars22]

I know this is old but did it ever go away I give birth two weeks ago and since Monday 7 days ago I've had very bad dizziness I feel I'm walking on a bouncy castle I feel out of it I'm scared to hold my baby I keep having pressure in my ear and head like a tight feeling no pain but will get sharp random pains in right side of my head before I had baby I had a eye twitch for a month and odd head aches and now I really believe I'm about to have a anyrsm or something I'm only 24 so doctors aren't taking anything serious with Me.
I did have strange right numbness in my hand before this started but it went away after 4 hours ....
I can't bond properly I feel I've lost my mind

[Ray121]

I have been suffering from intracranial pressure for the last couple of years. Neurologist in NZ told me it was chronic tension headache. However, something new and strange and frightening started happening to me for the last 3 weeks ago. Apart from the intracranial pressure, I started suddenly feeling this floating sensation - when I was walking, sitting, standing or sleeping. It was as if I was in a plane during turbulence or a boat during choppy seas. Then the head pressure got intense. I walk but can't walk straight - falling to one side. Now when I walk, the pressure in my head builds with every step and I feel like I'm about to collapse. Can anyone provide me with answers as to what might be going on please?