View Full Version : Unsteady, off balance, walking on a boat sensation and heavy limbs - please help
Hi All - unfortunately I have found myself back here.
I have for the past 1-2 weeks been experiencing a strange “light headed” sensation almost constantly I get these “head rushes” even when I’m sat down where I feel as if I’m going to collapse, or when I walk I feel like I’m walking on clouds/a rocking boat and my feet and legs feel really bouncy almost as if they aren’t touching the floor. This gets much worse if I’m outside / at work and I get a rush of panic come over me as I feel as though I will collapse at any moment and feel like I need to hold on to something.
today I also experienced something new whilst at work my left arm became very heavy and it felt as though whenever I used it it weighed a ton but also felt very “floppy” at the same time.
im in such a panic and convinced I have a brain tumour or I’m having a stroke.
has anybody experienced these symptoms ? Please help :(
Everything you have mentioned I have / had with high anxiety!!! Literally everything.
I believe it is when you become ungrounded.
Breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, relaxation techniques all help with this.
I always liken it to a sensation of walking on cushions .... often suddenly comes when I am walking in the street, perhaps turn my head to look at something and all of a sudden feel like I am swaying. Of course I am not but my head tells me I am. Have to stop for a second and 're-set' myself ....
It's all a tension issue on the whole. When you're stressed you will become more aware of it.
Thank you all for your responses - the symptoms are so real I find it so hard to accept they’re anxiety.
I was sat down eating dinner and it happened again I got a head rush, and my head felt fuzzy - then I felt like I couldn’t swallow and tried to ignore and continue eating and my arms felt so heavy to even lift my fork to my mouth.
You are over sensitised. :hugs:
I really can’t shake the feeling that this may be a brain tumour and it’s causing me so much worry. I stupidly googled the symptoms and feeling off balance and difficulty swallowing came up.
I don’t understand why it’s come on all of a sudden and why it won’t go away it’s been atleast 2 weeks now and I wasn’t at all anxious when it started.
You don't have to be anxious for the symptoms to arise. It could be a build up of stresses and worrying, an overtired nervous system.
There are so many threads about it on here and everything you have mentioned.
I’m trying very hard to think with a rational brain but the symptoms are so real and intense that I’m struggling !
I also don’t understand why they get so heightened the second I step outside / or when I’m busy at work
This has been happening to me too lately, and I've had it in the past too. I know exactly what you're describing. I too have worried a lot about it, but I do think it happens to me when I'm really over tired. I think that tension and unconsciously tensing the next in particular, leads to these balance issues, and also the more you think about it the worse it will get. It's weird you said about the heavy arm thing, as I also get this too, and I had it when I was walking down stairs at work, accompanied by diziness. The next time I went down that same flight of stairs I had the same thing, and then it got to the point where every time I went down thsoe strais I would get it, and I would feel like I wa going to faint! This did prove to me though that it was anxiety related becasue my brain literally associated that feeling with those stairs (which is how a lot of panic attacks take hold). It doesn't mean the sensation was any less real though.
alpacagirl
20-07-23, 01:41
I've had the same symptoms on and off for many years. My anxiety has always expressed itself physically more than mentally and would appear to come out of the blue even when I wasn't worried about anything in life. Of course then I'd worry about the physical symptoms and they'd hang around. I would often walk around and feel like the floor was dropping from under me ( like that elevator drop feeling) or I'd feel like I was tilting to the left when walking etc. Lots of brain fog and derealization. Since I've accepted it as being anxiety it only pops up rarely these days but I could have it for months on end 24/7 at my worst. I too worried about brain tumors etc. My doctor would always tell me serious issues are not about "feeling" certain ways, they are about failure "are you actually collapsing, are you dropping items " etc etc. She would always reassure me that just having the sensation of weakness, off balance etc weren't red flags, only if they were actually physically causing your body to fail.
I've had the tilting to the left and a feeling of falling forwards. An almost drunk feeling when walking, not feeling grounded like walking on a bouncy castle or boat. Even sitting on the sofa can feel a bit bouncy.
When I'm busy in the garden it seems to disappear.
@cattia -Really interesting what you say about the stairs at work as for me I have a specific bus stop in particular (very busy) that makes me feel like im just going to collapse and like I can't place my feet on the floor and I need to hold on to something ! Also supermarkets too and the arm thing happened to me at work while I was feeling particularly overwhelmed it caused a great deal of panic
@alpacagirl - thank you for responding it is reassuring to know im not the only one with these symptoms/concerns - I have the exact feeling of the floor dropping under me and am struggling to accept its anxiety - I unfortunately haven't left the house in 10 days because of this crippling fear
alpacagirl
21-07-23, 09:07
Oh yes supermarkets always make me feel wonky. I always get a trolley to walk around shops even if I only need a couple of things or browsing. I just feel less floaty having something to hang onto.
I'm a long term health anxiety sufferer, now aged 64, and have experienced exactly what you describe many times over the years, most recently a few weeks ago. I described my symptoms to my GP over the phone (telephone consultations at my surgery since covid!) and she diagnosed anaemia and prescribed iron tablets for three months, and asked me to go for a blood test that day. I phoned for my results three days later and was told by the receptionist that my bloods were all normal, so I had to stop the iron tablets. I asked to speak to my GP to discuss my symptoms as the cause wasn't anaemia and was given a telephone appointment three weeks later. During this time I started worrying about all the awful things my symptoms could be caused by, and once Dr Google had diagnosed me with every sinister/fatal/insidious disease under the sun and my 'anxiety goblin' had convinced me that it was serious, I decided to go back to basics and practice my well used anxiety tactics.
I began with my breathing - sitting down comfortably, relaxing my body, closing my eyes and focusing on my breath. Slow, deep breath in through the nose, whilst thinking "breathe in calm ....." then gently, slowly breathing out through the mouth, whilst thinking "breathe out stress....."
Repeated over and over for a few minutes every time I felt overwhelmed. Next I went back to the wonderful Dr Claire Weekes, an Australian doctor who wrote several books on health anxiety and how to overcome it, including 'Peace From Nervous Suffering' and 'Self Help For Your Nerves'. In these books you can find many of the anxiety symptoms we HA sufferers experience, the cause behind them (all completely harmless and completely due to an overdose of adrenaline) and how to not only cope with them, but actually teach yourself how to make them stop! Her advice is that no matter how real and scary they are, to ACCEPT that your symptoms are completely caused by anxiety.
We are programmed to release adrenaline when we are in danger - to give us a sudden boost of energy to 'fight or flight'.
That's normal, but along with the boost of energy, our hearts begin to race, pounding out of our chests, our mouths become dry, our stomachs feel heavy and nauseated, our bowels feel like they are going to move, our hands and face become very tingly, like pins and needles, our legs become as heavy as lead, we become very ligh headed, giddy, dizzy, the pavement seems to have, we feel like we're walking on cushions, or putty, unsteady, like we're going to fall over or faint, you have a lump in your throat so convincingly huge that you feel like you can't swallow - like someone is throttling you. You can sometimes even taste blood. There are many more symptoms caused by adrenaline, but in a genuinely dangerous or frightening situation they only last a relatively short time. When you have health anxiety, however, adrenaline is constantly released a little at a time, drip ..drip...drip.... meaning that we are constantly feeling the effects even when there is no real danger. Despite the feelings being extremely unpleasant, they are ONLY caused by adrenaline. They are NOT going to hurt you, they WON'T cause you to have a heart attack, nor will they turn into cancer. Dr Weekes' advice - ACCEPT that truth and the symptoms that arise WITHOUT adding 'second fear ' - in other words, DON'T start thinking "what if"! We've all done it! "Oh my goodness, I feel so awful - I want reassurance that this is nothing to worry about, so I'll just Google...." And what do we find? More things to terrify us - which then causes a RUSH of adrenaline, which adds to our already massive quantities from the constant anxiety 'drip feed', and hey presto - you have a full blown panic attack and feel like you're going to die.
The truth is, anxiety symptoms are very real and can be very frightening, but they are caused by adrenaline, not some dreadful disease or illness. Once we accept this fact, we can begin to let the symptoms in - don't try to stop them, just welcome them, let them come - BUT DON'T BE BLUFFED BY THEM! Just let them come, as unpleasant as they may be, and don't let yourself worry about them being caused by something awful, DON'T ADD SECOND FEAR. It takes a bit of practice, but it honestly works! When you accept, let the feelings pass through your without being frightened by them, your body won't create the sudden boost of adrenaline, and the feelings will begin to lessen. I've used this technique since I discovered Dr Claire Weekes' books over thirty years ago, and they have been a life saver for me. I have recommended her to so many people who have suffered health anxiety symptoms over the years, and they all swear by her advice too. Her books are no longer in print, but you can sometimes find them on eBay etc. and you can also listen to her tutorials on YouTube.
When I eventually got my telephone appointment with my GP, I told her all this and said that my symptoms - very real, very unpleasant and attributed to anaemia - had all disappeared. My GP said she wished she could wrap me up and prescribe me to her patients, because so many people who are suffering physical symptoms are experiencing them because of stress and anxiety, not any physical disease or illness.
I'm not saying I don't get bouts of health anxiety - I still do, but I always revert back to my breathing techniques and the advice of the wonderful Dr Claire Weekes.
What you are experiencing is nothing to worry about, it's just that old anxiety goblin trying to scare you again.
Just imagine these words painted in huge letters across the walls every time you feel anxious - 'IT'S OKAY! I'M OKAY!'
Breathe.... accept..... you're going to be okay. Big hugs from an old timer. Xxx
Excellent post Swanee :yesyes:
I highly recommend Claire Weekes.
I get these symptoms a lot, like very real sensations of suddenly being off balance, like the ground is "askew", and like the parts of my body just feel either weirdly light or weirdly heavy. The other day, I even had a moment for like 10 minutes where I felt like I literally couldn't move or control my body. Often followed by a feeling like I'm about to collapse or lose consciousness, strange visual phenomena or ear ringing, you name it. When I get panic attacks, they almost always start with this type of random physical sensation that my brain overreacts to - leading to even stranger physical sensations, and derealization deluxe.
In the end it always passes. But the symptoms are unbelievably tangible, like it can't possibly be caused by "just" anxiety. But it can, and it is.
Wow - thank you so much for such a detailed post Swanee I really do appreciate it!
I have taken in all you’ve said and will try my best to implement it and to look into dr Claire Weekes as I really need to do something soon to help - I haven’t left the house in 2 weeks now due to fear of the off balance feeling :(
Thank you Thorey for taking the time to respond to my post and I’m sorry you are also suffering with this. Some great advice above for both of us. I truly do hope it is all “just anxiety”
Wow - thank you so much for such a detailed post Swanee I really do appreciate it!
I have taken in all you’ve said and will try my best to implement it and to look into dr Claire Weekes as I really need to do something soon to help - I haven’t left the house in 2 weeks now due to fear of the off balance feeling :(
Aw, you are so welcome. I'm sure you'll feel better once you start implementing these techniques. Well done - you have taken the first step to recovery by seeking reassurance from this wonderful forum - real people who understand how you feel and can share their experiences which are so similar to yours, and are always here for you when you need us.
And always remember - you're going to be OKAY! Big hugs! Xxx
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