Off balance, floaty and light headed feeling is back - am freaked out its back :-(

Want to cry! My off balance, falling forward, floating feeling and breathing probs are back https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/e...1/16/1f641.png:-( Just in time for my anniversary trip away at the weekend! I posted some time ago originally though so some background on me:

I'm 33 and I started having symptoms at the beginning of June last year. I was feeling really dizzy and off balance, not spinning dizziness but more on a boat type feeling, and also like the world was tilting one way and then the next and I almost felt like something was trying to push me over although I have never fallen down. I also felt really light headed and like I was bouncing when walking, my head also felt really really thick and heavy though it never hurt and I felt just generally as though drunk and out of it. I sometimes swayed when standing still, back and forth rather than to either side.

I've went to docs approx 4/5 times. The first time they said inner ear due to a flight almost two months prior to June last year and that it would be fluid in the inner ear despite not actually seeing anything in my ear. The diagnosis of inner ear was pretty much just based on the fact I couldn't pop my ears but I can almost never do this and have not been dizzy my whole life lol! The doc got me to follow her finger etc also. She gave me a nasal spray and said to inhale steam. My blood pressure and heart rate were normal I believe, she didn't say anything about them anyway.

I went back about 6 weeks later to report symptoms no better at all. I was having some difficulty with breathing at times i.e. like I wasn't exhaling properly, and it felt like I couldn't take a deep enough breath though I could talk fine so I was kind of thinking that my dizziness might be panic related. I explained everything to the doc and again (a different doc) and she also said fluid in inner ear despite my ears looking normal. I have no hearing probs or pain by the way. She gave me betahistine dihydrocholoride (I think sometimes called SERC) and this did seem to ease the dizziness and off balance a lot. It didn't go but it did ease a bit at first.

When the tablets ran out I was no better. I did however stop having breathing difficulties or panic at this point (maybe sort of early August time) and my doc agreed that the dizziness sounded like causing panic when at its worst and I'm out as scared of falling but that it didn't strike her as the cause of the dizziness.

She told me she would have expected me not to be dizzy by then with fluid in inner ear, and she didn't think menieres or labryinthitus as I had no hearing probs or any other ear probs. I hadn't had a cold or been ill, didn't feel sick, infact no other symptoms but the off balance, floor moving and light headed feelings walking and standing. Cue more betahistine given.

I then went back a few weeks before a big trip to Thailand/Hong Kong and was given more betahistine and also Prochlorperazine to try which I have never taken as I didn't like the sound of some of the side effects.
My doc said to stop taking the meds when I got back and to see if the symptoms were still present and if so she would send me to a 'dizziness clinic' - god knows what that is - and that other things would need to be ruled out. Cue me at once worried, I said you don't think it could possibly be something bad like a brain tumour etc, to which she replied she wasn't overly concerned that it could be but that she didn't really know the cause at this point, though a brain tumour was unlikely.

I'm happy to update that I got through my big hol last Oct and this is so weird but towards the end of the second week after about my fourth LONG flight the symptoms all started to ease and when I got back by November last year my symptoms were barely there and I felt great!!! Cue me thinking it must have all been anxiety all along and thinking I was cured. So I never did return to the doc.

However, about two weeks ago I started having a light version of the symptoms out of the blue after around a 4 month remission. My symptoms as I type today are as bad as ever https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/e...1/16/1f641.png:-( I am just so scared all over again!! On one level I'm terrified it is something such MdDS and that I will never get a diagnosis and know a long period without symptoms ever again. But also I've read a posts on forums of late of people being diagnosed with MS with off balance feelings!! Cue googling last night on MS forums in earnest and I found threads with people describing my sort of symptoms almost exactly and saying these symptoms coming and going was how it all began...... With MdDS it seems the onset is usually after a flight or cruise and I'm not sure if things can onset without a catalyst of a flight or cruise? The onset of my symptoms last year were quite a bit after my flight and this recent reoccurrence was provoked by nothing I can think of..... I have had these symptoms previously after flights over the years in the past though but it always went within 2-3 weeks.

So I'm currently fretting over MS which sounds scary as I don't want to end up in a wheelchair or die prematurely or MdDS which is also scary but more so in terms of the fact there are no treatments it seems.... Plus coming back when it has before another hol (just a short two days with no flights) I'm fearing my boyfriend is going to become sick of me as I know I'm going to be a basket case going away this weekend and don't even want to go at all but the hotel is non refundable and was expensive. I just want to cry so badly sitting at work right now, work are sympathetic as they know me and how hard I usually work and I have been there ages but about to lose my job and am terrified of starting out with a new employer and introducing all these symptoms to them from the outset......

Am so fed up and scared :-(

I get dizzy a lot. It sounds like flying worsens your dizziness and other symptoms. Did the doctor suggest things you could take if you have to fly again? I'd also request to go to the dizzy clinic like the doctor mentioned before since you're still having it. It might just be that the crystals are out of line in your ear, and if that's the case then there are exercises to help with that. I think you're going to be okay. Dizziness is just really scary sometimes.

There are exercises on YouTube to get the crystals realigned, but you should always consult your doctor before trying anything. I'm wondering if the dizzy clinic is like physical therapy?

I agree ask if you can maybe go to the dizzy clinic. That being said there are a lot of things that can cause it but most are benign & harmless. Could be your ears, could be stress, etc.

I get the same thing, mine is vertigo.. it usually take a week or so for the balance to readjust. I've been given certain exercises to help my brain get its Balance back.