Light-headed, dizzy & spaced out for 2 years, can anyone help?

Hi Debs your not on your own out there ,I've had this balance now for 3 years ,I get  Rocking /Swaying motion ,there are exercises ,best thing you can get is a booklet on these exercises .Did you have any sinus congestion prior to the balance ,that if you did could be prime cause to any balance issues .Its hard living with it ,I can whole heartedly agree.its a bad condition to get .Hard explaining it to ones who have never had it .What I will add ,don't have ears syringed by just anyone who got no idea how to do it correctly ,You can end up with tinnitus ,same goes with a exercise called the Valsalva ,again been known to cause tinnitus .I have tinnitus hence why I say this. Hate for a soul as young as you to get this condition .There is a site for Dizzyness go and have a read up .Takecare of those ears ,only small things but they need care for you to not cause further problems .Will PM you with an address it's a free booklet if your in UK ,lot of interesting info to this balance .

Hi, well am sorry to hear you have his problem too. I m same as marlene, not dizzy spinning, more swaying feeling etc.  Imwould follow what Marlene say re the booklet o. Exercises, but as Imwould push your gp to refer t

you to an Otologist , preferably a Neuro Otologist. (ENT,s rarely find anything. Wrong with us people!!!) They go more in Depth testing wise, so as the Ent have discharged you you are fully tilted to go back to,your gp, ask for a second opinion, but this time wit the aforementioned.  Don.t get fobbed of seeing an Audiologist either. although I am not discounting them completely,mThe time wasted waiting fo the  appointment, then . Seeing them, then Going back and forth and before you know it another year has gone by and you,re no further ahead.!

Hi debs, I koto have had this problem which started when I was 25 and eventually fizzled out at 47 started again at 63 and lasted another 2 years. Over the years I noticed that the really bad episodes were precipitated by good streets, eg getting engaged, getting marriedn and having my first and only child, a son, Al h which happened in less than a year.

Sorry to hear you feel unwell.  If you feel anxious and stressed with those symptoms meditation could really help.  I meditate twice a day and it's done me the world of good.  You can ask your GP for Mindfulness meditation on the NHS. Some GP's may not know it's available on the NHS but it is and this was confirmed by two doctors.

Meditation reduced anxiety, stress, depression and is very calming and centering. There are also free Mindfulness meditation recordings online to listen to.

Hi  kiddo I am 57 years old I have had the same problems as you a little more severe for going on 5 years also vertigo this summer  it's a real bummer had  had tests had scans had it all seen specialist still docs can't figure it out so here I am haha,  basically, on my own  so do physico twice a day the therapist came which I went to on my own she did wonders for me  I am retraining my brain  to help my balance issues  also have tinnitus withahah this hearing heart beat in left ear all the time I know itIis no fun but hang in there things will get better with time  still not normal but at least got Some things to do to help myself   hope the new year brings you better  health  

Hello Ms. Deb,

I am Ben, I started one of these discussions back about mid-year this year, and added to it several times.  I live in the U.S.A. and my health care is paid for by my employer. I have been dealing with the light head and wavy feeling for almost a whole year now.  Mine started with the room spinning and that took a couple days to subside.  Then I was seeing double for about 3 weeks, along with a lot of trouble reading and had to work at reading to get to where I am now, able to read, but it is not fun anymore no matter what the subject is.

I would like to comment on your situation if I may.

I am not a doctor, I am someone who used to pride myself on doing things exactly right and getting to the root of problems as my solving technique.  Once this dizziness hit me I have all but completely lost my ability to think critically and it is very difficult to stay on subject.  So I am not able to analyze what is going on as well as I used to befor the onset.  

But with that said, I will do my best to help you understand what I think is going on. First, to help qualify myself, I have had so many tests and seen so many specialists that even though I am not qualified or certified to make comments, I feel that I have quite a lot of information at hand and I am willing to share with you if you are able to appreciate my efforts.  

Second, please bear in mind that I am having great difficulty typing and sorting thoughts to make this writing make sense and to make it possible for you to read. BUT, for me it is a form of therapy, in that I am working with the keyboard and trying to submit my thoughts and ideas to you, so it is not a oneway  deal either.  It helps me to try to help you.

OK?  Realizing that you have stated that your doctor did not find anything in your inner ear to blame the woozyness on, I will tell you that your inner ear is just about the only place that one can find cause.  Although it could be water on the brain. And it could be an unbalanced vitamin, like B12, I think they would have found that if it was, so my stand is that it is exactly coming from your inner ear.  

The fact that you never experienced the spinning sensation tells me that you must have gotten over the "viral" part of the infection very quickly.  Possibly you slept while it was peaking.  A near miss as it might be characterized.  You undoubtly had an infection, but it didn't last long and didn't do much damage to your Vestibular Nerve, but you are left with the aftermath of the encounter, as are so many of us who have the woozy feeling.  You must understand the importantance of balance information that is delivered to our brains by the nerve that connects our inner ears to our brains.  

This information is so vital to our senses that it is responsible for our feeling of well-being.  From balance to thinking, speaking to seeing, everything we do is tailored and massaged by the balance information we get from our innner ear.  It was developed initallly during infancy and refined as we began to walk upright and then run and ultimately do anything we want including acrobatic moves and athletics.  From tight-rope-walking to tumbling, we rely upon the information that we have been receiving from our inner ear with certainty since the beginning of life.  Then along comes something that damages the nerve and it sends false information about balance and that affects everything we do, including how we think and  feel.

Rehab is something like recovering from a stroke in that we must retrain ourselves to use the information supplied from our inner ear, rearranged by the damage to the nerve, by doing things that " we know to be correct" but don't feel right about  (the woozy feeling), over and over until we are able to use the information like we used to without doubt.  The difference is that for a stroke victim the retraining is done in another area of the brain uneffected by the damage from the stroke.  In other words, we must relearn what we learned way back in our babyhood, befor we had any adult ability to reason or put scientific sense to it, and just believe that the new information is correct.  That is what I meant by doing things that we know are correct and regardless of the feeling, just believe it to be correct.

Well, that's my stab it at.  I hope I have helped you understand what is going on a little better, and more, what to do about it.  As I stated befor, I have seen a lot of doctors and specialists and I am convinced that the exercises they have had me do are effective, but it will take a long time to evercome the sensation of dizziness and inability to think clearly or remember because of the misinformation that the damaged nerve is sending.

Ms. Deb, this took me about an hour and a half to compose, so you know that I have tried to help you and I am sincere.  I do hope you will understand better what is happening and what you have to do to get on with your life.  If you would to know what exercises I have been doing for the last 8 months, I would be happy to share.

Take care.

Ben