Constant Dizziness For 12 Years - Is It Anxiety?

Hi folks, I am going thru some symtoms now. Dizzyness when in any stressfull situation even waiting in a long line. Some times I have it and sometimes years go by without it. May be linked to depression? I am resting the brain today and if next week is bad it will be time to go back to the doctor.

I've had constant dizzyness since I can remember. I'm 20 years old right now, i've gone through many of the tests you all mentioned. Was checked for menieres, it was negative, had a ct done, that was negative, I even visited a massage therapist to help, since it seems no else is able to cure this, but it didn't help either.

I've actually just had a dizzy spell an hour ago, which lead to me searching online in hopes to find some info, and eleviate the worry that often accompanies a dizzy spell.

I've had dizzy spells since I was a child, I can remember in school getting an attack where it appeared like the room was spinning, I didn't know how to describe it or what it was as a child, so I sort of just lived with it. It can't be something serious since i've had for over 10 years, but it does have a huge impact on your life.

I do experience the heavyheadedness that you mentioned, but I also have next to no balance, is this your case as well ? I get dizzy spells rarely, or at least severe dizzy spells rarely, I get dizzy spells pretty often, but they feel as if I suddenly sink one foot into the ground, and that's it. The more serious room-spinning episodes don't happen often, maybe once a year, it used to be more often when I was younger.

Naturally, I have anxiety, and doctors assume it's what causes my dizzyness, but I believe it's the other way around, I don't get dizzy spells when i'm having an anxiety attack, or when generally feeling anxious, it happens randomly, and then the anxiety comes in from worry.

I think you might be right about it being a condition that has not been discovered, or that isn't possible to discover yet. It's sort of a depressing idea, but the neurologist that I saw, said he didn't know what caused my dizzyness, but that I should just try my best to live with it :s he supposed that it might be a diminished cerebellum, but my coordination is fine, except for my balance, which is just rotten, and i'm often questioned about being drunk, when in fact, I don't drink at all because it makes my dizzyness worse. He said it might've diminished so gradually that my coordination was able to adapt but my balance wasn't.


There doesn't seem to be any answers

Your symtoms seem abit different to mine but I understand what you mean, first thing to look at is your life style, ie do you drink alot take drugs etc etc,
if not try keeping a diary of you daily activitys which include what you eat as well as anything else relivant do it for a few months or so. Moght seem pointless but it will make you feel good and you might see a pattern of some kind.
Also try acupunture and relaxation technics,
its the worse feeling not knowing what something is, mine has impacted my life alot,
if you wanna talk more get me on msn: avtpeas@ hotmail.Com

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Here are my thoughts on what might be wrong: sleep apnea could cause some of the problems you describe; you might want to be checked out at a sleep clinic. Chronic fatigue syndrome is another guess. No-one knows what causes this, but again it would fit your symptoms. I do not think you have meniere's disease (which generally is much more severe, episodic, and causes vertigo or "spinning" sensations). It sounds like you have been tested for just about every other possible problem. I wonder, if neurotransmitters are the problem, if you would be helped by a specific anti-depressant. There are different types that affect different brain chemicals e.G. Prozac increases serotonin, wellbutrin increases dopamine.
Good luck.

It looks like there are a few of us with similar symtoms we cant all be going mad can we, when I was in hospital last year they could not seem to find the answer to my problem either it was mentioned though it might be arthritus in the neck but this weekend I was told about labyrinthitus and they seems to cover our symptoms quite well does anyone agree???

I know this is a bit later on but I have just found your website my problems started about six years ago I started with a bout of vertigo which was treated and went away I then got another bout and had to be signed off work because I was not coping. But this time the dizziness stayed and has never gone away I suffer with humming in the ears having background dizziness everyday and then I get attacks of vertigo which is really frightening I find it hard to go out anywhere my eyes ache and I get the tension in the back of my head which really hurts. I have seen and ent a neurologist and a specialist ent who deals with menieres they all more or less say it is my head why would I make these things up when I never had them before I have had a ct scan a caloric test hearing tests they read normal but this is when I am not having a dizzy spell which is normal I also did rebalancing excercises for about 3 months they didnt work. When I saw the last specialist I had to appeal to see him hoping he would have some answers but I got the same old responce its all in your do the excercises I have had no diagnoses I feel like I am going crazy why if there is so many cases out there no one can help us I also get really tired after an attacks and have to sleep any help I dont know where to go from here

emay

Hi all
well from my handle I guess that you can guess what my problem is!
I've had this for approx 14 years now which has turned me into a hermit. I don't really go out for fear of dizzyness passing out etc.
I have been really thinking about this condition we have that the quacks have had problems with diagnosing.
Let's work together now and get cured together.
What I would like to know is do you feel really threatened in anyway before a dizzyness burst?
Are you a naturally tense person (feel bottom of your neck now, is it hard to massage?) I bet it is.
Have you been through emotional experiences, (loss of a loved one, break up of relationship, loss of job, home etc), either just before the dizzyness, or as a child that the experience has surfaced again?
Does your dizzyness get worse when you read?
Does your dizzyness get worse when you go on the computer for a longish time? How long before your dizzyness increases on average?

Please take the time to answer my questions, they are based on my experiences, I have an idea what the problem is but need info from other sufferers and I think together we can beat this!

Hey folks,

it’s simultaneously wonderful and crap to hear from fellow sufferers. In particular I was very interested to hear from ellemay, glenrow, wardenet, gauv, and greg1111 as, although many of your symptoms are different, you all complained of constant dizziness/grogginess/heavy-headiness/etc. This symptom of never having a second away from this horrible pervasive head thing is the killer above all others, but is a relatively unusual symptom which makes our situations comparable and unique. Dealing would be easier if 1) we were able to escape it for just a little while each day and 2) if we knew what the hell we could call it (i’ve essentially stopped telling people because trying in vain to describe your nameless personal hell gets you nowhere anyway … that is why I first posted … for answers and understanding).

Since my last post I have continued to spend a lot of money to get no further. My doctor is still trying me on new-to-the-market mind numbing drugs but to no effect. He has let go of his anxiety theory which is a relief because I can finally disregard that as a cause (although it is still a symptom which is why a lot of us end up in this forum I guess). Anxiety causes bad dizzy spells agreed, but something that lasts day in day out for 13 years can hardly be classified as a spell. Convincing the doctor that it actually is constant has been the really hard bit. His forte is drugs which alter brain chemicals so i’m still on that road but so far with zero results.


So, if it’s not the chemicals in our brains playing up it has to be a physical thing, and not something a standard blood test or cpap (for sleep apnoea) can rectify. It could be something rare or something that medical science hasn’t found yet. For example, there is still a great deal to know about health issues to do with the vascular system which is concerned with the transport of blood and lymph through the body and brain. Problems with this system can result in migraines, vertigo, stroke, dementia and a whole slew of unpleasant health issues involving the brain where very little is currently known and outright cure is virtually zero. But, every year medical research makes advancements and discoveries in this field and many others, and although I understand that I might feel this way forever, i/we often rely on hope to get out of bed each morning and not do something ‘stupid’ in the mean time.

To everyone who made suggestions thankyou and to all others that posted here I hope the answer is out there for you. To those of you with constant flu-like grogginess (or whatever wacky ways you’ve described it as over the years) accompanied by headaches, muscle-aches and a slew of other symptoms, please keep posting and sending messages … I discuss all reasonable suggestions and ideas with my doctor whom I feel is very good lack of results notwithstanding. As always I promise to post if I turn up anything useful or discover a brand new illness … hahaha.




Feel better,
7ducks

Hi everyone of the wooden head team - yup theres anotherone out here woke p with the condition 10 months ago and have suffered big time since would love to talk t any australians in the sydney area may be we ca join forces with this condition and see where it leads

I am profoundly grateful to have found this thread. I have had the same exact feelings that 7 ducks describes (it was amazing to hear it from another person!) for the last 9 long, frustrating months of my life. I sit here now feeling it, I cannot escape it. Reading others describe this same thing makes it feel as though there is a light in the middle (?) of a long dark dizzy tunnel. I have actually smiled several times reading this seeing the exact progression of symptoms and disapointing visits to specialists. It's a very lonely place to feel this way every day and to have it go on so long that friends and family just give up. Some days you feel like a broken record playing to an empty room. Some days you want to stay in bed all day. Some days you wonder if you can go on for one more day...

It's like the chicken or the egg, did the depression/anxiety come first? Or is it that once you have given up so much of your life and surrendered it to this terrible feeling, when you stop planning for the future because you can count on feeling badly, when you look back on the months past and all you remember is the terrible feeling you have every single day... I think that's enough to put anybody into a depression.

I'm a medical provider in a very busy healthcare system. I struggle through every day. It effects us all no matter who we are.

-laura

7ducks- did you ever see a cardiologist and have an ekg and echo done of your heart? I mean if you're up to your eyeballs in medical bills like I am, heck, what's one more specialist? You have to keep a sense of humor about these things.

-laura

Of all the posts in this forum regarding dizziness and lightheaded, foggy cruddy feelings this is the one I seem to come back to because I relate most to it. I was thinking of something recently, I saw a tmj specialist and had some significant problems with the right side of that joint. Now this certainly doesn't explain the feelings I have but I wanted to at least pass on that making a conscious effort not clench or grind my teeth has helped in a small way to alleviate the way I feel. I think that the stress of feeling badly over a long period of time make our joints and muscles ache and feel fatigued. So, try it for a few days, say to yourself "lips together, teeth apart" and don't let yourself clench or grind your teeth. You'll find that you have less random shooting pains in your head and scalp and that you feel somewhat more relaxed.

Just a thought.

-laura

I know this is probably beginning to sound repetitive, but it is such a relief to hear that there are others with the same problem as me. I am 16 years old and have been suffering for the past four years of my life. I can't concentrate, I can never remember things- even when someone reminds me of them, it constantly feels like my head is filled with lead weights and i'm always having the worst headaches. It's always as if i'm only half there, someone will be talking to me and the next minute i'll hardly remember what the conversation was about. Every three or four months there'll be a clear period where everythings almost unbearable sharp but it never lasts for more than a couple of days. I eat healthily, play sports (soccer, netball and sailing) and am rarely sick- so I can't understand what's wrong with me. I often have periods of time where I get really depressed but that's only been for the last year or so. The other day at school I had some sort of weird attack where I couldn't breath, it scared the living daylights out of me because i've never had any attacks like that before. I mean there's been plenty of times when i've nearly collapsed because of dizziness but i've never not been able to breathe before. I often find that for no reason at all my vision will start to go spotty and I can hear a ringing sound in my ears. The doctors can't find anything wrong with me, and it had my parents worried sick so I told them that I don't get the headaches anymore.

Mil2465- it isn't repetitive to hear that we're all in this together. In fact, I think it is very helpful. I'm glad you posted.

-laura

I always called it " dizziness" too, but it is not that way. I feel it is mostly in my eyes. My eyes seem to move rapidly and it feels like i'm spinning. I have noticed that this happens when I don't take my medications. I was told it was meinere too, but that was never proven. It is a really strange thing and doctors seem to be baffled by it or think we are just plain crazy.

Man, i've been feeling the same exact way you all have. I have trouble concentrating and just the constant fatigue and headaches. It makes me never want to get up and go to school because I know i'll just feel like crap some more in an even worse environment than my home. I'm 16 years old and i've been feeling this way for years but I never really went to anyone about it. Recently I found myself getting into some illegal substances to sort of relieve my pain. I got myself into a bad spot and now i'm worried that the drugs have just made it worse. I'm curious if any of you have had any experiences with pain killers or anti depressants for relief and how it went.

I have posted a topic on here before about exactly this!
In a strange kind of way im glad to see that im not the only one going through this.
It does make your anxiety even worse,i constantly think something major is wrong with me,and that is why the dizziness isnt going away?
I just feel like I want to sleep,or at least close my eyes,i also get the groggy feeling and I feel like im being deflated like a balloon is the only way to describe it!
Plus the amount of times in a day I really feel like im going to hit the deck,i just honestly feel like crap all day every day for the past 7months.
Yet no doctors seem to know what it is or whats causing it,they just always put it down to stress/anxiety!
Arrggghhhhhhh!!