Can swaying be part of anxiety ?

[JonnyUK]

I am not on any medication for my anxiety. Over the last few months I have felt like my body is being pushed about, whether I am sitting, lying down, or standing. When I stand I feel like a Weeble, if I close my eyes then I feel like I will actually fall over as I am pushed either forward or backwards and I have to try my best to grip my toes to the ground.

But the odd thing is, I can go to bed almost crying from the rocking as though I am on a boat, and I always wake up and it is gone, but an hour later it starts again and is like that for the whole day until I wake up again the next day.

I don't understand if it stops when I wake up after being asleep for hours because my body has not had time to be anxious again, or if it is middle ear related and I need to be upright to trigger it off.

I am not quite sure what is going on.

[Oosh]

Sounds a bit familiar. I had terrible balance and almost felt like I was floating when I was walking and could go in any direction.

Eg in cinema I'd worry for ages before getting up and going for a wee as I'd not be sure I could make it down a handful of steps.

I wondered if it was weak ankles, ear stuff, everything. I just concluded that my balance was bloody awful. It eventually went away, probably with the ending of a chronically stressful situation...maybe.

I'm fine now.

[Shazamataz]

Yes this is a part of anxiety, I have had it quite bad at times. It's like walking around on board a ship in rough seas. I've had times when I feel like I have to hold on to things just to get around the house. It's horrible isn't it?

Mine seems to mostly have stopped though this evening I'm feeling it again probably because anxiety has been quit high today.

[Beckybecks]

There's been a lot of posts on here recently about this.

For me it comes and goes and is definitely connected to my anxiety. I've had times when I was having panic attacks every day and the swaying I felt was so bad I often almost fell over at times. Even when I was sitting down everything looked as though it was moving slightly.

I've had years when I was perfectly fine but when anxiety strikes, back comes the dizziness.

Im unsure as to what causes it, but it doesn't scare me as much now that I know it's not due to anything more serious.

I've heard that in therapy sessions patients are made to turn round and round until they make themselves dizzy. This is to help them to face their fears of dizziness associated with panic and anxiety which can often bring on more panic by itself.

[netminder1976]

I've had this plenty with my anxiety. Sometimes feels like my legs are jello or I'm drunk or something even though I don't drink. I've also had times where I'm sitting on the couch and it feels like I drop a couple feet, sometimes I hurry and grab something like I'm really falling... Weird

[anastasia04]

I thought i was the only one who experienced this. Sometimes i'll just be lying down and i'll get a sudden wave of "swaying" and it feels like the earth moved for a split second. It's really hard to explain to people but i think "swaying" is a good word to describe the feeling. This is by far my worst symptom and what makes the anxiety so unbearable sometimes.