Funny turn - extremely dizzy head

[Carnation]

I was not sure to post this for fear of frightening answers or being told to go to a GP or hospital, but I can't get this out of my head.
"Head 'being the problem.
3 days ago, I came over very hot and flushed in the face, which is quite normal for me and my anxiety and possibly age. This time it was different.
I felt a bit dizzy, which is also common for me and after sitting down on the sofa, I felt even hotter and extremely flushed, so I rested my head to the back of the sofa, went very blurry eyed and a huge rush of dizziness in my head which seemed to make my head feel extremely heavy to the point of not being able to lift my head.
I was stuck like this for a good while and eventually managed to lie down, but my vision was affected to the point of hardly focussing.
I was so frightened to move that my O/H had to use a wheelchair to get me in to bed.
The whole experience has left me in fear of doing anything at all and staying bed in case this should happen again.
I have been trying to work out what it was without googling and I am scared to go to the docs, but wondered whether anyone else had experienced anything like this.
I had no chest pain and pounding heartbeat just this extreme dissiness as if I was going to pass out and worried it may happen again! It felt like I was going to die!

[lior]

That does sound scary and overwhelming.

It's so unlikely that it's going to cause you a lot of harm.

Staying in bed is most likely not going to change whether or not it happens again.

What I would do is approach with curiosity. If it ever happens again - which it might not - listen carefully to your body and what it does. Write down the symptoms, and what was happening just before it happened.

A likely explanation was that it was a combination of a hot flush and something else - do you think it could have been a panic attack? Or a new kind of panic attack for you? It could also be related to not eating enough. When I'm low on iron and dehydrated I experience similar to what you describe, minus the hot flush.

I imagine the menopause to be a difficult transition. It's not beyond belief that it would trigger anxiety in you, in new ways. What do you think?

If it was something more threatening to your health, there would be something in you that would just KNOW, and you'd get yourself to a doctor.

[o.c.d]

Hi. I've dealt with a certain type of dizziness (or more like a feeling of swaying or floating) for the past 5 years out of my life (I'm only 23 so it's definetly not age-related for me).

I read your post and that does sound terrible. I hope you'll get over it somehow.

The dizziness that I'm dealing with (on a day-to-day basis now) is like I'm on a boat.
The ground beneath me feels like it's moving.
So it feels like I'm on a unsteady surface whether I'm standing, lying, sitting or whatever.

I've come to the conclusion that this is all related to anxiety for me. So that leads me to assume that your dizziness could also be an symptom of stress or anxiety.

I am no doctor and by any means I do not pretend to be one. This is all coming from my experience of dizziness/swaying.

There's a possibility that it could be ear-related too. Since I don't believe there's anything wrong with my heart either or more so with blood pressure, it basically rules out everything except some sort of ear-related problem and anxiety.

I've gone to the doctor multiple times this year and none of them could tell me what this swayingness of mine was.
Not a single doctor (in public and private healthcare) even understood what I was going trough.
They disregarded my explanation of these symptoms like it was a joke.
Although I feel like at private healthcare they even tried to understand but they just didn't. And it just felt completely pointless to argue with them because they just didn't listen.

So what they end up doing every time is that they check my heart rate. It's a bit fast because I'm at the doctors and I'm nervous of the social interaction. They tell to eat something salty like pickles (which feels like a bit of an insult at that point) and send me to home.

So I'm not going to the doctors this week or the next one. But perhaps I should go check out my ears at some point in the near future. If anything comes up I'll post it up here for peers to know.

But right now I think that my dizziness is caused by my anxiety which is really high at the moment.

You and many other people I've read about online described that the feeling of dizziness is in your head or that you feel it around that area.
I think I've never felt it in my head (more like my whole body is affected by the dizziness) which leads me to believe that my symptoms can differ from yours.

But atleast it has somewhat similar qualities to it.
I dont know will this reply help you at all but I hope it does.

I posted a thread here about my symptoms so if you want check that out too. Hope you'll feel better!

I've also had to be in a wheelchair back in 2012 or '13 because of my extreme dizziness so I can relate on some level.
The chair was used for about a day but it was really needed at that point.

[Carnation]

Thank you both for being careful with your replies, knowing how scared I am and my fear of Docs and hospitals. I can say that I had other symptoms accompanying my funny dizzy/heavy head which left me lodged on the sofa for at least 20 minutes, maybe longer.
My stomach was crazily gurgling for some time. I felt a little adrenalin, but mostly muscle contractions and internal shivering which left me cold and clammy later.
I had no headache, no chest pain and no heart palpatations.
Now, my mind/body is on full alert and as a result, my anxiety is full-on.
I normally have the being on a boat or going round a merrygoround sensation on a daily basis, which is anxiety, because I have it for more than 3 years. Mainly when I am stressed, tired or anxious.
The day I had this attack, I had hardly any sleep, not too much to eat and had just eaten a banana half an hour before it happened. Also, a tremendous amount of stress with my partner's mum who was violently sick all day.
But, I have experienced anything as bad as that which felt like I was living my last moments of life.
Thankfully I am still here, but left wondering what it was, why it happened and is it likely to happen again?!

[lior]

Panic attacks are known to feel like you're about to die.
Not eating enough is known to make you feel dizzy... and to cause stomach gurgles
Not sleeping enough means people get more hungry in order to get up the energy that they missed out on recouping from the lack of sleep. So that may mean you were much more hungry than you normally would be.
I know that if I don't sleep enough, I have cold/flu symptoms, so maybe it can make you feel more cold?

All your symptoms can be reasonably explained as a combination of stress and anxiety, not eating enough, and not sleeping enough. Stress exacerbates any problems you already have, so if you naturally have weaknesses in your body, it's going to highlight them.

Sorry to hear about your partner's mum - is she better now?

Are you feeling better today?

Can you resolve to look after yourself as best as possible, to avoid it happening again? De-stressing exercises, eating enough, sleeping plenty.

[Carnation]

Thank you Lior. x
You said exactly what my partner said.
But you know that thing the 'Brain'! Wants to tell us much, much worse!
I am being very cautious atm. Stomach still suffering and taking things very eady.
Hey, I was half way through decorating the Christmas tree!
Poor partner looking after two of us at the mo.
I'm walking around as if the 'Grim Reaper' is sitting on my shoulders wondering if I will even make Christmad?!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Carnation,

I agree with lior, I think she's right about this.

You've got quite a lot of panic attack criteria going on in there. And there is the issue of drops in blood sugar and poor sleep that set the stage for often a poor day, lessening our natural defences against our symptoms and our ability to cope when we get hit by such a thing.

Weird symptoms can jump out of the blue and they are triggering, especially ones we haven't had before. I've had so many "weird heads" and I've found that the weirdest will come when I have my adrenaline spikes from this med. I just feel quite odd and I loathe it but these days just push through it as it's part of my cycle now.

Having some rest and getting food & drink is needed. Whether it happens again, you can never say but it may equally never happen again as it's a first so far. Unless it's serious enough to warrant immediate attention or a pattern that emerges, it's very likely going to be one of anxiety's may weapons it uses to annoy us with.

Xmas tree decorating - enjoyable to some, rows to others! We've termed our Xmas decs day "the annual family row" as I can immediately know which day it is by hearing the shouting over where it went last year, who's doing what wrong and not listening, etc. We all laugh about it. So, if you can also find somewhere in your symptoms list a sudden urge to insert said Xmas tree up somewhere in MrC then...

I hope you feel better soon and I hope MrC's mum is feeling better too. Try to apply your tools, calm down as much as you can, but rest up and when you feel up to it start doing some smaller things to get your confidence back without overwhelming yourself (if your brain allows you to, I know how you want to do everything for everyone).

We had our first snow of the Winter yesterday! I went out early morning to do some shopping and saw something you would have loved, 2 women were leading 4 reindeer into a pen in the shopping precinct for the kids to pet. They were beautiful, smallish, grey ones. Just happily munching on some hay with an ever bigger crowd massing around them. Perfect weather for Rudolph!

Smileys to cheer you up





I know you like to dance & have a glass of wine...

(I'm not sure what Rudolph is doing to Santa above by the way, he may be waking him up or...)

[Elen]

Hi Carnation

I agree with the others, sounds like a combination of stress, lack of sleep and low blood sugar.

I know you are a very caring person but you MUST take time out to look after you too.

Enjoy your decoration day

[Carnation]

Thanks Terry. you know how I have to look after everything.
Now I feel useless. I am going to do just that, small tasks, plenty of rest and regular meals.
I'be had dizzy moments before, but this one felt like I was half way in to a coma!
Just could not move my head for nearly half an hour and dizzy head for good hour.
I think sugars were on the low side, but attack came on from excessive heat build up inside of me, but my heart felt amazingly fine. Loads of gas from both ends. I know, tmi. But they were the symptoms, not forgetting the blurry vision.
I was being so dramatic shouting out that I was too young to die and all sorts.
Mr C was reassuring me that I was going to be ok and he thought there was no call for an ambulance or Doc. I think I actually asked him to call someone at some point, which is very unlike me.
I had a nightmare that night too.
Strange thing was it did feel like a bucket load of adrenalin was swimming around in my head and the next day I had a twitching face.
Back to meditation I suppose. Stupidly stopped doing it as well as resting.

---------- Post added at 13:41 ---------- Previous post was at 13:41 ----------

Thanks Terry. you know how I have to look after everything.
Now I feel useless. I am going to do just that, small tasks, plenty of rest and regular meals.
I'be had dizzy moments before, but this one felt like I was half way in to a coma!
Just could not move my head for nearly half an hour and dizzy head for good hour.
I think sugars were on the low side, but attack came on from excessive heat build up inside of me, but my heart felt amazingly fine. Loads of gas from both ends. I know, tmi. But they were the symptoms, not forgetting the blurry vision.
I was being so dramatic shouting out that I was too young to die and all sorts.
Mr C was reassuring me that I was going to be ok and he thought there was no call for an ambulance or Doc. I think I actually asked him to call someone at some point, which is very unlike me.
I had a nightmare that night too.
Strange thing was it did feel like a bucket load of adrenalin was swimming around in my head and the next day I had a twitching face.
Back to meditation I suppose. Stupidly stopped doing it as well as resting.

---------- Post added at 13:45 ---------- Previous post was at 13:41 ----------

Thanks Elen x

---------- Post added at 13:50 ---------- Previous post was at 13:45 ----------

Yes, I wondered that about Rudolph Terry.

---------- Post added at 13:51 ---------- Previous post was at 13:50 ----------

Yes, I wondered that about Rudolph Terry.

---------- Post added at 15:00 ---------- Previous post was at 13:51 ----------

I jusr managed to get myself dressed and take a half an hour walk.
No dizziness and I even tipped my head back to look the top of a fir tree.
That's a huge smile from me.

[swgrl09]

I've had this happen a lot recently actually due to low blood pressure. For me, I try to drink a lot of water, but also get enough salt too. Don't get up too quickly when sitting or laying down. Stress and panic make it worse for me! It feels scary but is usually harmless.