Lightheaded / Dizziness

[Crispy]

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can proivde with any advice or has experienced silimar symptoms which I think may be down to anxiety. For the past number of months I have been experiencing what I can describe as light-headiness, slight dizziness and vertigo which is making my life uncomfortable. A hobby of mine is using the gym which I find helps easing stress and tension, but at my worst I have real balance issues - when using the treadmill I literally have to hold on to the equipment to avoid falling over.

I don't always feel bad, when my mind is active i tend to feel a lot better. I am also quite sensitive to other people and the general environment (I can't stand crowds or loud or obnoxious people) have a booking with my GP coming up and hoping is nothing serious...

Many thanks in advance for any replies :)

[Kala88]

If been having the same feeling with dizziness and light headed it's horrible I went to the doctors and they said it was my anxiety but vertigo runs in my family of got the doctors again in the morning as it feels like I'm going to pass out xx

[Crispy]

Hi Kala,

Thanks for reply, like yourself this does seem to run in my family too. Yesterday whilst awaiting a train to come home I thought I was going to be sick and keel over in public - I was desperate to get home have a cup of tea and lie down ! Other sensations I tend to feel are a dull pain in the back of my neck and a strange floaty feeling whilst walking - drives me nuts :(

[meant2live]

May I ask how old you are?

I've had dizziness for a year now. They did a tilt table test on me toward the beginning of it all and said that I'm orthostatic. I've been to several different cardiologists since then and some have said I am orthostatic and some have said that I'm not. Basically, they've all said to increase the salt and water in my diet to increase my blood volume in order to combat the orthostasis.

It's pretty common in young women, but can happen to just about anyone.

My issue was that, once all of this started, my anxiety went out of control and I started to get frequent lightheadedness, palpitations, nausea, twitches, etc. it was difficult to sift out the real symptoms from the anxiety symptoms (which are real, of course, but can be dealt with differently).

[Crispy]

Hi Meant2Live,

Sure - no problem, I am M 41 years old. Am in reasonable shape for my age and have no other health issues apart from this dreaded light-headiness, my biggest fear is having some sort of break-down in publc although thankfully this hasn't happened yet. I think what didn't help me at the train station was the number of selfish people rushing and pushing others out the way making me stressed up.

[meant2live]

Yeah, it does sound like anxiety is getting to you. I hate being in large crowds of people. Also, the more I worry about lightheadedness or nausea, the more it happens. Once I started to realize that it was anxiety, it pretty much went away.

When it does return during a stressful situation, I breathe slowly and repeat a type of mantra to myself. I remind myself that everything is fine and nothing ever happens. It helps to remember that, although I've had the awful feelings in the past, nothing ever came out of them. The fear of having issues in public brings the symptoms out, but nothing ever happens.

I hope this helps.

[Crispy]

Many thanks meant2live for your post - helpful and sound advice will take on board.

[electric_storm]

I keep getting heavy headed and heavy leg symptoms as well as a pressure type pain in one spot just to the right of the top of my head as well as dizziness and unreality sensations. I know strokes usually cause weakness on one side of the body but it really feels like I've had one :(

[meant2live]

Did you check the signs for a stroke?

[helenclaire]

Hi,
I've had the dizziness/lightheaded feeling on and off for years now.
It does seem to be worse when I am stressed and under pressure, I am going through a particularly bad time with it at the moment.
Even sitting down I feel like I am swaying.
I still haven't found anything to cure it and just have to try to accept its anxiety but it does stop me from doing things I enjoy as I feel like I am going to fall over.
This is the one symptom I am having trouble dealing with is and of course the more I worry about it the worse it is, but it is constantly on my mind and I cant shake it off :ohmy:

[Crispy]

Hi,

Well it seems that i am not alone with this problem - which in some ways is re-assuring so thank you for the replies. Today I can feel the pressure in my head, it's strange - not like a painful headache but makes me feel all off-balance. Sometimes when dealing with other people it makes me feel worse, if someone is talkling to me and giving me too much information it stresses me and I just want to get away from them, especially when they are not prepared to listen back in return ! My work colleague has a habit of pen-clicking which I find does my nerves no help at all, I have mentioned this to them but still it continues :(

[electric_storm]

My head pressure has now started feeling more like I have a hollow space at the very top of my head and I send shooting sensations up to it by pressing around my ear and cheek, I'm hoping this is just inflamed facial nerves rather than sign of a brain issue...

[Phuzella]

Migraines can cause dizziness

[ARIES34]

Just to let you know, I experience basically the exact sensations, and I have for a very long time. I've had numerous medical tests, including multiple brain MRIs. Doctors can't give me an answer. For me the sensation of walking on a boat is by far the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life.

Some people say anxiety could be the culprit. I know ear and migraine issues can cause these kinds of symptoms as well.

What you're experiencing seems like a fairly common set of symptoms on this forum.