Constant dizziness- I can't go on like this anymore... It's ruining my life....

[Female healthanxiety]

I can't go on like this anymore... It's ruining my life....

Sorry for the dramatic speaking title; but haven't been on here in a while and don't know where else to turn.

I've had dizziness for the last 2 years, however the last 6 months it has got to the point where I can't drive, nor walk.

The 18 months I was able to drive, walk and work (I would just suffer everyday and be so tired from the effort it took me daily).

2016 the dizziness felt worse and things like doing my usual stuff like going shopping, standing in queues and driving was awful, that today I cannot do any of them things.

Last year I lost 2 jobs and am in quite a bit of debt as a result, just lost my third last week.

I continuously feel like someone has gassed me, or I've just come off the worst roller coaster, with a constant heavy pressure in my eyes and head pressure.

I've had the following tests last year:

- FBC
- ENT (nothing) they tried Epley felt worse
Neurologists (went there in September and he referred me to audiology) saying I could have visual decompensation vertigo, maybe silent migranes (which I don't get seen until March this year).
- CT SCAN (all Ok)
- eye test (OK)

For the love of me I've tried going for walks locally, even last week got in my car just to drive to the end of the road (it's quite long).

Most recently it got worse after a night out with my work where I drank loads in early December, just to try and alleviate the dizziness!!

Now I'm housebound, even walking to the bathroom I'm the same. I have a fit bit and try to walk around as I know it's bad for me to be immobile. I really do all I possibly can and that's pushing me. When I drive and stop, it feels like everything around me if still moving but can't quite work out if it's my head moving internally or everything around me. I get this even when I stop, like stop walking or standing.

I've tried everything from stemetil, Diazepan, change of diet, facial steaming, flu tablets, decongestant tablets.

Not sure if relevant but most recently feels like I have pulsating tinnitus in my left ear which is obviously not helping.

I go on YouTube a lot and do vestibular exercises and have most recently had a massage who came here.

I've ring my DR crying saying I can't take this anymore.

I just want to feel normal, be able to drive to my mums and see my sister, be able to go to interviews. This is really making me so depressed.

Even writing this I feel like I'm falling into the phone and being pulled. Almost like I'm drunk or my eyes are really strained. I explained to my friend the other day it's like a constant headrush feeling, or a feeling wen you've accidentally left your handbrake off and you roll, but I'm not!

Any replies really welcome.

Lots of love

[Phuzella]

What did the doc put it down to? ?

[Female healthanxiety]

Hello phuzella

Thank you for your reply.

He does not know!!

[Phuzella]

:). In my opinion you need to keep plodding on. Worrying about it definitely makes it worse. It won't be a quick fix but keep trying :)

[saf138]

May be a long shot but how's your neck feeling its common amongst anxiety sufferers to have bad posture which can put alot of stress on the muscles and nerves within the neck area.

[Female healthanxiety]

Thanks! - I have been plodding along, however I can't walk nor drive, so a bit hard, even laying down I have no respite.

Sarf- my neck is always stuff however exceptionally stiff at present!

[julia]

I feel for you ,I really do,I'm so much the same as you been years but I've realised wgphatever inner ear it is you have to move to let your body recompensate the less I do the worse I feel , I even get the tinnitus , please accept it's anxiety you have had the tests and move through it, i know it's not easy , I often panic with it but I sit down regroup and thing sod it and keep going ,when I do this I get engrossed in what I'm doing and I realise I've had a moments respite....I'm told unless your constantly falling over , then don't worry , please give it a go you have nothing to loose go with it not against it xxxxxxx much love xxxx

[emnemz]

If it makes you feel any better (probably not) I was at the end of my tether, couldn't stand up I felt so dizzy sometimes... 24/7... anyway I gave up worrying about it just decided this was my life now and I have to ride it out and make the most of it. Anyway a few weeks ago, I suddenly realised I wasn't dizzy anymore, don't get me wrong I still get episodes but they come and go. I didn't think there was light at the end of the tunnel, turns out there was after all x

[Female healthanxiety]

Hi Julia, thank you for your sweet reply.

I'm glad your feeling better with it. I've got to the point where that's all I've done for so long is move about, not stop my life, but for some reason the last couple of months have felt so awful. I can't even focus on anything, I can't drive (which is disabling in itself as I don't to transport - haven't done in years and the car is my form of transport). When it wasn't that bad (18 months: still doing things as uncomfortable as it was, always standing near things, still going to friends) it has taken a turn for the worst in a year and feels different as in the strain of it.

It almost feels like I'm continually drunk, and my eyes feel faint and heavy continuously and I do not have any respite from it, don't get me wrong I have surges of it where it feels like I'm seeing stars.

I feel like I've been punched in the head.

Hi Em,

Sorry you went through it with the dizziness, am glad your feeling better too.

I am certainly at the end of my tether and my gosh I have been putting up with this for 2 years but only within the last month it's got stronger and is disabling, even just in the house, that's what makes me think it's not anxiety....

I've given up worrying about it so many times hun - to the point I have got on with my life, gone to work, etc. However whatever it is is now much worse to the point I am uncomfortable walking due to the heaviness and eyes and dizziness, and my life has stopped as I rely on my car (as well because it feels like a safe place but not anymore).

It's weird I'm not as bad if I was continually driving but when I stopped, whatever I have, is like someone has just spun me around and then I've stopped.

Xxx

[emnemz]

A friend of mine recommended some vertigo exercises on you tube personally I didn't try them but it might be worth a try. Do you try mindfulness? I can totally relate to the drunk feeling, and I always felt a lot better when driving, even though it was always at the back of my mind, I was concentrating on my surroundings.

I suffered with this for a good 12 month so I feel your pain. You have had loads of tests though and unfortunately it is just a god awful symptom of anxiety. I think once u start accepting that it does help with the recovery. I am by no means anxiety free now, the worst bit is my memory issues and trying to accept that it is anxiety is what I struggle with now, but we will get there Hun x

[Female healthanxiety]

Yes I've tried so many from you tube :-) don't seem to make any difference regrettably..
I listen to an AP called calm every night- I'm super relaxed in those terms too ��

I'm really fearing driving and stopping, as I know wherever I have is worse when that happens :-:

I just want to do normal things like I used to without feeling like I am going to pass out. I'm laying in bed now and feel like someone is shaking the bed, and again I'm perfectly relaxed!

[Female healthanxiety]

UPDATE:::

Hope you're all well and it's not too cold for you all! It is here in London.

So.... went to the vestibular department (neurologist referred me) and she thinks I have something called PPPD. Which is persistent Postural perceptual dizziness ( I believe it's the new name for chronic dizziness). She has referred me to have therapy to retrain my brain stem which is the 14th February.

I explained I've lost numerous jobs and have tried to keep as active as I possibly can and that this has got so chronic I can't drive, can't walk comfortably nor tolerate things like supermarkets and crowds places with a lot of movement.

She said many people with this disorder develop anxiety due to the fact that PPPD is extremely hard to deal with and that all the places I mention actually make the visual vertigo worse.

I told her I have a new job to start last week, and I said I really have had enough as loosing this many jobs is obviously having a secondary impact on my emotional wellbeing. She said try and keep things as normal ( I felt like screaming and saying well that's obviously what I've been trying and trying to do for the last 2 years HENCE it's got to this point).

She also referred me for an open MRI but said this wouldn't probably come through until another 2 months!

Anyway I started my new position last week Thursday (only done 2 days).

Day 1 Thursday - took 1/2 a Diazepan a night before as I've been out of work for the last 2 months and sleeping really late and getting up late so didn't want to wake up late as tiredness makes it worse. Felt ok, dizziness was constant as usual and I found the more I tried to get on with things the worse it got. Made it through the whole day and actually 'drove, home!

Got in and slept from 9.00-10pm and woke up feeling quite tough and dizziness was intense.

Friday - went in and was fine then 3pm had to secretly take 1/2 a D with disappointment, as the dizziness was extreme. Didn't help at all.

Got home and slept from 9-11pm!

Today I thought let me try and drive to my mums and felt awful. The whole dizziness in my head was making everything move and feared stopping at lights etc as it kind of makes the dizziness more prominent after stoping from motion.

I'm now indoors, feeling like crap. My eyes are blurry, my dizziness is awful with or without movement......

[Wilburis]

Hi

I really glad you are seeing doctors and they are trying to help you.

May I ask how you managed to get referred?

My GP says my constant dizziness is just anxiety. So frustrating.

Did you have an MRI ot youre just waiting for the open MRI?

What is the therapy they will retrain your brain with?

xx

[Female healthanxiety]

Hi Lizzie

I was referred to the ENT first by my DR, nothing wrong there so he then referred me for neurology (this is where I feel things move quickly). It was the neurologist who then referred me to the vestibular therapy.

I haven't had it yet, but having looked online it looks like they use stimulation exercises to bring on the dizziness and work from there. It's a department within the physcio department.

Get your dr to refer you straight to the neurologist as they specialise more in dizziness.

I'm having an open MRI as I can't deal with the small ones as I get claustrophobic xx

[Wilburis]

Hi

Im really glad things are moving quickly for you.

My GP just puts all my symptoms down to anxiety and doesnt appear interested.

My day consists of taking the kids to school and collecting them. Thats the only times i go out. Its crippling me.

Im thinking about going privately.

Please keep in contact and keep us informed with your progress.

I wish you the very best luck.

Lizzie :hugs::hugs:

[Kuatir]

Obviously they are looking into this PPPD thing, but there is anxiety on top of this. You mentioned your neck being really stiff, the tension there will not be doing you any favours; it certainly didn't when anxiety made me dizzy. Muscle relaxation exercises helped, do you do any of these. Pilates is also great for improving the posture.

[Female healthanxiety]

Obviously they are looking into this PPPD thing, but there is anxiety on top of this. You mentioned your neck being really stiff, the tension there will not be doing you any favours; it certainly didn't when anxiety made me dizzy. Muscle relaxation exercises helped, do you do any of these. Pilates is also great for improving the posture.

Hi Kuatir,

Thanks for your reply.

I've tried so many neck excercices and hot baths, etc. Wits end as everything and nothing helps!

I just get so scared when I drive too, it's horrible. I'd give anything to have my old anxieties back - it's amazing how you feel when something is actually wrong!

There's a lot of yoga and Pilate classes but they are expensive, and my first pay day I mot until the end of the month unfortunately (if I last that long!).

[Ray121]

Hi. 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. I can understand what you feel.

[ARIES34]

PPPD actually changes the brain and how the brain responds to stimulus. Anxiety certainly plays a part in PPPD. This is an extremely poorly understood disorder with a massively low recovery rate. Doctors literally have no idea how to treat it. They're currently experimenting with SSRI meds, CBT and vestibular therapy... with very little success I might add. I've had PPPD forever. In my case it was initially triggered by a series of panic attacks.

PPPD is what many of the chronic dizzy sufferers on this forum actually suffer from, they've just never received a diagnosis.

Don't look for doctors to help you with this one. Learn what you can about the disorder and try to cure the anxiety and ignore the dizziness as best as you possibly can. I do recommend taking a low-dose benzodiazepine with a long half-life like Clonazepam.

[walkerbull]

Hi. 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. I can understand what you feel.

Out of curiosity, which DHB did you go to Auckland or Hamilton?

[helenclaire]

I could of written this post myself, the symptoms are identical.

I am sat here now feeling like I am moving as if I am in a car,
I shuffle around the house leaning and holding onto things as I feel off balanced. it also unsettles my stomach so at times I feel nauseous as well.
I have been getting this for years and it has been a constant worry for me.
Some days are better than others, but even on the better days I am constantly worrying about it.
I dread waking up in the morning thinking about having to try and get through another day.
I still work part time but even the short walk there is a struggle.
I still drive and actually feel better driving than being a passenger, I think because it gives me something else to concentrate on, but when I get out I still get that feeling of moving for a while and feel unsteady on my feet.
I wish I had some answers for you or a miracle cure but I am still searching for that.
Hope you can find some relief soon x