Strange Lightheadedness for no reason. Cant sleep

[mje123]

Hello,

I am new to this forum, and so please bare with me. It will be long as I have a lot to explain. Your help/insight is greatly appreciated....

A little bit about my current situation. I recently graduated from college in May and have been without a job since then (6 months). I can honestly say I have felt little to NO stress about this fact. At least not that I know of. I have a lot of friends, and I have a lot of fun, so I havent felt depressed.

I began feeling random dizzy/lightheaded spells out of nowhere in about August, when my life was perfectly fine. I didnt know what it was, and it didnt really scare me. I just let it go.

In early Nov. (3 months after these spells started out of the blue) I was offered a job. It was in the field I am interested in, but i was NOT crazy about taking it, but felt that I had to take it to please my parents, and a good friend who stuck her neck out to get me the job through her father (Who is a VP at the company). I began having what i felt were panic attacks my first week of work. I didnt like the job (12 hour days with 30 min lunch break that was more like 5 minutes), always in my car running errands, all of which I HATE as a person. So after the first week I told them I would be quitting, and I did. However, that didnt stop my lightheaded problems.

Also, at night, I lay in bed as usual, get very tired, close my eyes, and as soon as i "Fall off" to sleep, i get a dizzy sensation, and almost like I've stopped breathing and sort of flinch and my body wakes up. EVEN IF IM NOT ANXIOUS OR THINKING ABOUT ANYTHING. this first started when i had that job. Now, I am beginning to dread going to bed, and it takes me several HOURS to fall asleep, because of this. NOTE: I am very fearful of flying, and the only other time something like this has happened to me is when I am on an airplane. No matter how tired I get, as soon as i try to sleep and my mind seems to "forget" about the fact that Im on an airplane, my body wakes itself up.... which makes NO sense, because its when im not thinking about it (IE sleeping) that this happens.

So then I fear that something is wrong with my body, and I cant stop thinking about it through the day (and night sometimes) and the cycle begins.

I dont understand why I am lightheaded still NOW, after I have quit the job, and all stressors that I can think of in my life are gone. Frankly, my life should be stress free. But as I sit here typing this i feel totally light headed. When Im thinking about random things it will hit me. When im not anxious, it HITS ME! This makes me think something more serious is wrong. Why would this happen if im not anxious?

Also, since graduating, I switched form parents insurance to individual plan. I need to wait 6 months before seeing a doctor (mid Dec.) so my premium doesnt skyrocket. from what I read all over the internet, the Dr will just narrow it down to anxiety. I have always had anxiety and used to be on Celexa. Strange thing: when i was taking Celexa (citalopram) and i would forget to take it for a couple days, I would get this dizzy/lightheaded feeling. Cant imagine it could be a withrawal symptom after almost a year of not taking it. But other than that I have been healthy. So I dont know what to do.

Does anybody have these symptoms (even when youre not anxious)? Does this sound like anxiety or something more? I am looking for peace of mind until I can see a Dr. All i know is that out of all the anxiety I've ever had in life (college, exams, finals, flying, etc) this has NEVER happened.

Please lend a hand.

THanks!!!

[LizT]

Hi,
I can't explain WHY it happens when it happens either but I have the exact same thing. I had this come out of the blue to me when i was out of work, after quitting a job which was good but getting more and more stressful. I was asking the same question- why now when I have no stress? This made me convinced that there was something very wrong with me and that I was going to die which was (and still is) very hard to cope with. I found a really good book though- self help for your nerves by Dr Claire Weekes - recommended on this forum and it did explain some of it- i found it really helpful and I am not the type to normally buy self help books!

The main thing that rung true with me, was that it was happening because in the past my nervous system was just switched on too much for whatever reason and that this part of me was totally exhausted so was not working properly.The main thing to remember is that it can't hurt you. I honestly believe that if I could train myself not panic and have all the negative thoughts that go with the weird sensations, my nervous system would calm down quicker and then get better through not being 'alert' all the time.

So, Yes I do have these symptoms when I am not anxious and it does sound exactly like anxiety from my point of view.

hope this helps a bit, I really hope that we can all just learn to relax properly again!

take care

LizT

[guitarpants]

Same exact thing with me, it's the biggest reason I struggle with it. Let me try to explain, I think this might help.

I had some major life changes this year. For the past few years I've been going to school at a very expensive, prestigious university. The entire time I was there I was always under all kinds of stress and pressure to succeed and perform well. In March they made an error with my fiancial aid and I had to complete an entire quarter with no money to live on whatsoever. The following quarter (spring) I learned that I would run out of funding and not be able to complete my degree, which I was only a few months away from. The feelings of failure and worry were overwhelming. Due to attending that school I now have over $100,000 in student loans that I now have no way to pay back. Since I didn't finish my degree, I can't find a job that will allow me to pay those loans back.

At that point, I could not afford my apartment anymore and I had to move out of the city to a more remote town into a cheaper, crappy apartment that needed tons of work. I also had to find another school to go into that would allow me to finish my degree at a lower cost. At the same time I could not find ANY job for months. I turned to doing work for my landlord to make some money. During this time I was not happy, but I think I was too busy to be depressed or have anxiety. During this period of time I had two panic attacks that I woke with, in the middle of the night from sleep, for no reason at all.

(Over the summer I had no problems at all).

Fast forward to this fall, I found a job, and a new school, and had my apartment straightened up. Things were looking up. I thought it was a new beginning. Out of nowhere and for no reason, I started having panic attacks at night again, heart palpitations during the day, feelings of depersonalization, massive anxiety. I started having dizziness/lightheadness/pressure in my head which still isn't gone, and it's been over two months. I also had problems with balance and generalized weakness, legs giving out and such. My ears still ring a lot too.

There seems to be no reason for any of this to have started, and no reason for it to exist even now since I am not anxious. I have quit my job and taken a medical leave from school and my life is effectively on hold. I have been to many doctors and none of them have found anything wrong with me and keep blaming it on anxiety. The problem is, I'm not improving (the physical symptoms), but I don't feel like anything in my life is terribly wrong, I'm not under stress or anything anymore.

So now, I worry about it being a medical problem that the doctors have missed. And I keep going round and round and my anxiety is out of control. Lets say my physical symptoms are an apple on a table, I see it and know it's there, but then my doctors are telling me it's not. That just does not compute for me. Maybe it's because I can't see gray area, but the way I see it, is that there is either a problem or there isn't. And I just want to continue with life as per normal.

[mje123]

Thanks for the input.

Ninja- the way I see it, you've got plenty of reason to be like this. I wish I had that reason to fall back on, at least it would make me a little more assured that it is just anxiety. See, I graduated from a prestigious University as well a few months ago. About $200,000 for all four years. Thing is, I dont have to pay a DIME of that back. I am fortunate enough to have parents who could afford to send me to that school. Furthermore, I am living in a beautiful, brand new apartment in a desireable location, which the parents are also paying for. Frankly, life is good, and I hardly have to pay for anything. So I dont know WHAT could be causing this? Am I anxious that I don't have a job, and am not "on my own"? Could there be some sub conscious feelings of inadequacy? Like I havent been doing enough to succeed? My parents are putting a considerable amount of pressure on me to find a job, which maybe is giving me a LITTLE stress, but I dont feel like it should be anything to make me feel this way. I just cant figure it out......

[guitarpants]

Maybe it's perspective. Even though our situations differ, the feelings of inadequacy might be similar. I feel like I'm not making progress in life or doing enough, seems like maybe you're feeling the same. I must say though, I wish I were in your shoes. I have had to pay my way through college the entire way, while working, and finding a way to pay for my apartment and all of my bills at the same time. It's a miserable way of living, but I'm not about to settle and not get a good education and job. I don't know if that helps you or not.

Bottom line is, no matter how successful you are in life or how much money you have, these things happen, to pretty much everyone across the board at one point or another in their lives. It may not be apparent, but there is some conflict within you. If you find what that is, it may help you get better.

[mje123]

I agree. I commend you for what you do. You are not alone. Very few people have the blessings of not having to worry financially. But as you said, that doesn't make either side free of anxiety. I couldnt imagine having to go through what you've gone through and NOT be anxious is what I'm saying. If im having these issues in my situation, I can only imagine. I wish you the best of luck. You will get out of this!!!!