Anxiety abd dizziness for 18 years now

[ramorim]

Hi there.
First of all, let me start by apologizing for my bad English, I’m from Portugal.
I’m 36 years old, and I have dizziness from anxiety since I was 18 years old.

When I was 18 years old, I had a major panic attack following my first (and only) smoke of hashish. It was my first panic attack, I thought I was gonna die, my heart was racing, and felt like I was going to faint or die.
Two days later, the same thing happened while I was at home (no drugs this time).

So I spent one week at the hospital taking exams, and nothing was found.

But since that time, I experienced severe dizziness and there was no physical reason for it, so I consulted a psychiatrist. He said it was anxiety and treated me.

For the last 18 years I’ve been taking medicines (Bromazepam) to control my dizziness (with success). If I stop taking them, the dizziness gets worse.
On the other hand, there are periods of time (sometimes years) where I can take little doses of bromazepam and feel great.
For some reason, there are other times where the doses have to come up (I’m in one of these times right now), as I feel more anxiety, specially (but not only) in the form of dizziness.
Just so you can have a more precise idea, a few months ago I was at a musical concert (seated) and started to feel dizzy, with my heart racing and felt like I was going to faint.
I got up, and I was still very dizzy and nervous.
I got out of that building, and 30 seconds after I was without any of those dizziness symptoms, besides the remaining anxiety from the (bad) experience.
My otorhinolaryngologist says that I don’t have any symptom of real balance disorder, that if it was physical, I couldn’t be dizzy one minute, and almost perfect the next minute, just because I left the building ( among other similar symptoms).


Now i have to go back to my doctor, as i've been a little worse.




Has anyone here experienced anything similar ?




Thanks

[LakePines]

Yes, I've had dizziness when I'm unable to escape a situation, or when I think others might look down upon me. For instance, leaving a party early. It's important to note what thoughts you are having when you feel this way, and try to change your thinking.

Just remember to TAKE YOUR TIME and don't be in any sort of hurry when the dizziness hits. Don't be afraid of the symptoms, instead embrace them as a learning experience. Try to stir up some anxiety whenever possible, note your thoughts as often as you can and change your attitude towards anxiety.

A book that has helped me is called "Don't Panic, Taking Control of Anxiety Attacks" by Reid Wilson. It is, of course, in English. There are great tips for dealing with agoraphobia.
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Panic-Revised-Control-Anxiety/dp/0060951605

It's common for people's anxiety or panic to occur when using cannabis and related drugs. If you still use them, consider stopping.

[ramorim]

Hi, Lakepines.

As i said, i never had drugs again.

My dizziness builds up along the day.

So i wake up without dizziness and at the end of the day i'm already worse.

It's not something that happens in some situations. It happens all the time (as i said it builds up during the day) and is aggravated by stress situations.


Thanks for sharing.

[LakePines]

It sounds like you're anxiety level increases throughout the day, in relation to your worry as the day goes on. This happened to me for a while. As I mentioned, note your thoughts throughout the day for several days (maybe keep a notepad in your pocket and write them down). You might find that your worrisome thoughts are making the dizziness worse.

If that is not the case, maybe get a second opinion from another doctor about the dizziness.

How's your blood pressure? Hypertension can cause dizziness sometimes, but then again, anxiety can cause high blood pressure.

[ramorim]

My blood pressure is good and i' been experiencing this since i was 18.

Anxiety has many ways to show itself, and dizziness is one of them.

[4me2bfree]

Dizziness is also one of the main things I experience frequently (usually several times a day) and my doctor has also chalked my dizziness up to anxiety. Some days are definitely worse than others (although I can't really say why) and there are many times I feel like I am going to faint (everything seems to go "black" around me and I feel like I'm spinning on a merry-go-round or something and I am unable to stop at free will). Although I agree that my dizzy spells are anxiety related I still find them rather...frightening, at times. I know in my heart that they are not going to kill me or anything like that but, even so, they can be frightening none-the-less. I think my dizzy spells are one of the main reasons I find getting myself out of my house so difficult, my fears of fainting in public are so intense that I try to avoid that possibility from happening at all cost (and one time I did try it, I actually "did" faint so that only made matters worse). Even if I "don't" faint, I still fear others will notice that I am dizzy because I tend to "bump into things" during these spells and, well, it's very hard to hide the fact that you are stumbling around and bumping into things as though drunk out of your mind.

I don't know what to say to help you but do know that you are not alone with your dizzy spells, many of us experience them and, as much as they suck, chances are slim to none that they will actually do you any harm. I take Paxil to help control my anxiety and it does help some but, wow, if I so much as even miss one dose...watch out, those dizzy spells come at me BIGTIME!

Oh, and by the way, your English is pretty darned good if you ask me. :yesyes:

[ramorim]

Thanks for sharing your personal experience, 4me2bfree.

I can relate to that fear of fainting. As a matter of fact, one of my last experiences was at a concert. I play in a music band, and the first minutes of any concert are the most nervous ones for any musician (even without any anxiety disorder).
But in the last concert, I felt so bad (heart racing, extreme dizziness) that I really felt that I was going to faint and left the stage for one minute to recover balance (and breath/ heartbeat). Then I went back and did the whole concert with dizziness and loads of anxiety. I drank more than 1,5 litre of water in less than 2 hours and it wasn’t very hot in the room !!!

But in your case, have you checked your hears with a doctor ?
I’m asking this because you say you run into things.

My otorhinolaryngologist made me a few tests to exclude ear problems, but some symptoms were self explanatory such as:

- I’m always “perfect” when I wake up. My dizziness builds up during the day, and it’s worse at night. According to my “ear doctor”, people with problems in the inner ear experience extreme lack of balance in the morning, as they try to get out of bed;

- On the other hand, as I explained on my first post, I can be extremely dizzy one minute, and perfect the next minute, just because I left the building. If it was a vestibular problem, it wouldn’t go away so fast and that easy;

- One other symptom is that the only thing that makes my dizziness go away is bromazepam, or something similar (in other words, meds that calm down my anxiety).

Is very important for you to be sure that you don’t have a physical disorder. If you don’t, then it’s all in your head, just like me.

But let me tell you that I’ve been successfully controlling my dizziness for the past 18 years with bromazepam. As I said earlier, there are times when I can do it with small doses of meds, and there are other times were I have to raise up the doses.
That’s what I tried to avoid this time and only got me worse !

So I can tell you that with the right treatment, you can get rid of 99% of the dizziness.
But it’s necessary to be alert and don’t thing that it will always go away by itself, because it won’t. At least not in my case.

Cheers

[agorab]

Wow! I know it's going to sound silly when I say that I'm 32 years old, but had no idea that the symptoms I've been experiencing from time to time had anything to do with panic attacks! I've had migraines since forever and my reactions to stress have always been headaches and vomiting. Pretty disabling, believe me…
My first dizziness spell occurred when I was 22. It lasted for abut a week and I was stunned! It was obviously provoked by my inability to smoothly deal with a stressful situation. I didn’t see a doctor; I handled it by myself, mostly by waiting to go away, which it eventually did. I took no medication for it.
A few years later I was exposed to a huge amount of stress at work and voila dizziness again, headaches, high blood pressure for weeks and weeks. This time I DID see a doctor. She never mentioned anything about the panic attacks and kept me on diuretics and did some tests. It turned out I had a big thyroid problem and had to start taking hormone supplement therapy (something I’ll have to do for the rest of my life). Apparently, I paid the price of living in a stressful environment with my thyroid (by the way, I couldn’t do much about it; I was born in one of those problematic countries…).
Anyway, in the past few years I experienced a few dizziness spells which usually last for about a week or so. My experience is similar to yours. I get up, feeling fine and as the time goes by I get tired, exhausted, and dizzy and head straight back to bed. I don’t sleep; I just can’t be in a vertical position, sitting included. I can’t read either. The very thought of GOING somewhere by car, bus, subway makes my stomach turn.
My question, finally! If I start with bromazepam in those moments of need, we’ll I get addicted to it? By addiction I mean both physical and psychological. I should tell you that I’ve never taken any drugs (not even marihuana). For migraines I use OTC medications.
Thanks!

[anxious elephant999]

Hi i too suffer with dizziness but mine is constznt from waking up to going to bed , ive had anxiety for 13 years but this last year has been the worst i am almost bed bound because i am so afraid of this dizziness , the docs says its anxiety but i dont believe them ive been on loads of different meds which i must say r not working , ive had MRI scan on head, ecgs on the heart and loads of blood tests which all came back fine but i still have the dizziness and it wont go away and it makes me feel sick , i have now developed agrophobia and severe depression because of this , i have appointment at the ear nos and throat hospital in october but i dont think its a balance problem as i can stand on one leg for ages without falling over , not so good with eyes closed but then who is , if i could get ris of dizziness i know i could get over the anxiety and depression :hugs: :hugs: :hugs: