Brain fog, dizziness, vision problems, head pressure, headache PLEASE HELP

very interesting. I was seeing a chiro for about 10 trips but had absolutely no relief. Was basic chiro stuff, crack your back, your neck etc. Maybe ill look into this a bit more. 

I also did the chiro thing. I only experienced extra aches and pains rather than any relief. Now that I've been feeling better, I can look at things a little more objectively and feel like this is all related to migraines, likely caused by stress and anxiety. That doesn't mean that the upper cervical chiro doesn't work as I have still been seeing improvements. My functionality on a daily basis at work and home is basically back to 100%, but my exercise still suffers a bit. I have more good workouts in a week then I have over the past year, so even that is getting better. I suggest that anyone who doesn't have the money needed for an upper cervical chiro, should at least be in therapy (probably CBT therapy which is known to have great results for anxiety and is not open ended so you do a few week program and expect results and redo the program again to improve on the result). Insurance usually covers therapy and probably the most important thing to deal with this horrible condition is to find a way to be proactive about the situation. The people on this forum who see results from depriving themselves of all things good in the world clearly have a psychological block about enjoying themselves and feeling good. This more than any doctors makes me believe that all this is rooted in anxiety. 

To be completely honest with you, I feel almost no anxiety at this point.  I still feel symptoms but I've gotten used to them as it has been over a year. I think anxiety is simply a natural response to an unfamiliar pain/symptom. For most "normal" people the anxiety will subside but the symptoms remain so I believe there's a physical component to this condition and not so much psychological. The psychological symptoms (fear of death, anxiety, panic attacks, etc) are all secondary to whatever is going on. Nobody knows for sure, not even doctors, which is what really triggered the anxiety for me at first. I'm glad i found this forum full of people experiencing the same symptoms. Hopefully someone finds a solution that can help everyone. 

I also have trouble believing it is anxiety, which is why it is only one avenue I am pursuing to get better. I also have been better at not freaking out at the symptoms, though when the balance issues get bad, it feels like crossing the street is the most difficult task in the world.

Just to try to justify the thinking. When anxiety causes physical symptoms it is often INSTEAD of feelings of anxiety. The idea is that, something happens in your life (it can be as simple as turning your head in a certain way, or walking by something you walk by everyday) and without your brain consciously thinking about it, the symptoms occur. Your mind goes through an automated thought process that you are not really aware of and so therapy (particularly cbt) can help you identify that thought process and change it. Even if this is all caused by migraines, stress is a common factor among people who suffer migraines and so dealing with life stressors in some way is likely to help with migraines (no one can offer a better cure anyway). My life revolves around hard sciences, so even with my wife being a psychologist (who also had (has)  trouble believing all my symptoms were anxiety related) it took me a long time to get on board with it. The thing is, that if I need to deal with these symptoms, I should try to improve on the factors of my life I CAN control, and so therapy has a chance to do this. This can be as simple as buying a book to perform cbt on your own, which has seen benefits similar to working with a therapist, depending on the person.

When I was at my worst, I had no hope, and so now that I am doing much better, I want to get on these forums and offer hope where I found none. You don't have to believe anything I say, but if you are already able to avoid panic about these symptoms, you likely are already getting better.

What country do u live in? What is that place you speak of called? Is this the cervical chiropractor..? I’m scared to go to chiropractors.. what if they screw you up more lol

I have heaviness in left side of temple and ear to where i thgt inner ear . Then dr thgtwas glacoma releaved pressure in eyes but still have.

I think that from the anxiety standpoint it is as you say "if I need to deal with these symptoms, I should try to improve on the factors of my life I CAN control".  No doubt that anxiety contributes to the symptoms and heightens their pressence, in my opinion. I do not believe it creates them (symptoms), it simply prevents us from being able to effectively deal with them.  It is a normal reaction of the body's nervous system.  That being said, anxiety in my mind does not cause any of the symptoms people relate on here but, it impacts your ability to effectively deal with them on an ongoing basis.  In addition, there are thousands of conditions that cause dizziness and balance issues.  Just because they do not show up on a medical test doesn't indicate that they cannot exist.

The issue that most have in accepting the anxiety diagnosis is that symptoms still exist.  Even those that are successfully medicated for treatment indicate that the symptoms are still there they just don't pay any attention to them anymore.  Time also becomes a compnent in diminishing the intensity of the symptoms.  So, it is hard to say whether time initiated the recovery or whether CBT did.  Damage to the vestbular system cannot be seen and even when effectively measured there is no way to tell how much it affects one person versus another even at the same levels of damage.

Just my two cents worth after dealing with this for almost 4 years and being at 90% recovered.  Days that I struggle with symptoms the anxiety still ramps up because my brain tells my body that it is not in control.      

I live in US, in los angeles area. There are two or three in LA, one in pasadena and one that i've found in the inland empire. look up the so called "blaire technique" (spelling?) or "nucca" technique. These keywords will help you find the providers. They are NOT like other chiropractors. You can see their maneuver on youtube. I am still not convinced they actually do anything, but since my symptoms have been subsiding, I continue to go to them. It should be mentioned, that care is not opened ended, they will put you on an eight week rigorous routine and assuming all goes well, you will only check in a few times a year or less to make sure your properly aligned.

I am not totally in disagreement. My idea of what is happening has been morphing over the past year, since my symptoms started. I believe that physical issues exist, but in some cases, stress and anxiety cause muscles and tendons to push on certain nerves or even on the brainstem, which then causes the issues. It means that relieving the stress will begin to allow the nerve issues to heal. I have been reading a lot about migraines recently. It seems the symptoms we are describing are too similar to migraines with brain stem aura to be ignored. It doesnt make the conversation about how to deal with them and what treatments help any less relevant, since medical doctors have little offer for migraine issues.

I agree wholeheartedly.  A lot of the symptoms are extremely similar to migraine issues but, as you say migraine is simply a diagnosis of last resort just in and of itself as well.  My wife has headaches and a neurologist told her to take prescribed Topomax and if it helped that meant it was migraine related.  Go figure.

Everything is so inter-related with the vestibular system, the eyes, nerves, muscles, brain.  I know that I can feel a twinge in a neck muscle and it feels like one of the symptoms when this first began and it causes a momentary flash of fear that it is back full force.  Massage therapy and needling have helped me with some relief.  I, like everyone else, just want to get back to 100%.

I commend your open mindedness in looking at all aspects and your suggestion to consider it, anxiety, as a contributing factor.  Others have been on here and emphatically stated that it was the sole cause.  We are all here trying to help each other and hopefully someone can say or find something that may help others.  That's why those of us that have seen progress need to continue to share our story and successes.    

I will aslo say that a few months ago I found that I have very low ferritin levels.  I have had an ongoing GI bleeding issue which is most likely the cause.  I finally got the bleeding addressed and I am on an iron supplement.  I have begun to see some improvement with the vestibular issues since low iron causes dizziness.  I think that you cannot overlook the fact that there is a vestibular issue and, as you have said, what other areas are contributing to that weakness as well.  Hopefully, getting my ferritin level back up will help me in that vain.  Ferritin is not normally checked on a blood test.  Usually only anemia.  While low ferritin does lead to anemia you can actually have one without the other.  Had I not asked specifically for my ferritin levels I would have never known since I was not anemic.

It all plays a part in being able to deal with the symptoms.

I will see if I can get my ferritin levels checked. 

Remember that NSAIDs cause intestinal bleeding so if you were taking a lot of Ibruprofen, it could've contributed. I would like to encourage everyone who has the money to try an upper cervical chiropractor. The fact that so many people have seen complete relief is somewhat startling. I still get p****d every time I shell out cash, but I can't deny the difference in all my symptoms since I started. 

I first saw improvements from massage, but on the third or fourth massage, something happened that made everything come back in full force. Its another reason that this upper cervical story makes sense. The masseuse was inadvertently aligning things or relieving tension. I feel like a crazy person talking about this stuff because my life is so strongly rooted in science, but results are results.

 

Skyler I understand. I would also have your doctor do a complete vitamin mineral analysis, there could be an issue there too