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

I would like to let you know that I have felt the same way for the past year.  It has felt like I cannot get enough air through my nose so I've been breathing through my mouth.  I am not usually a mouth breather, unless I get into an aerobic workout. I've never had allergies, nor is it a sinus condition, I can't say it's related to the Vestibular issue, but sure makes me wonder.  As I reported befor, I was told very sternly (by my German Oto) that the information we get from the Vestibular region has everything to do with our feelings of well being.  It affects every aspect of our sense about ourselves. So I would say it could affect breathing.

That being said, consider this: I cannot remember if I posted this befor, but I was seen by a Neurologist and she recommended a SLEEP STUDY.  The sleep study revealed that I was not getting enough actual rest while sleeping.  I would sleep, for sure, but when I did, I kept waking myself up as soon as I went into the "Beta" level sleep.  (Beta is the level where real rest occurrs and cell repair takes place, where you get the feeling of restedness)  I was sleeping for several hours, but waking up every 30 seconds or so and then going back to sleep.  I knew that I was what I called a "light sleeper" and blamed it on being responsible for my household, you know, like being on guard all night long as if I was a soldier keeping watch while all the others sleep.   I though I was keeping a light sleep going so I could wake up if something went bump in the night.  BUT,,,, it turns out that I have "SLEEP APNEA"'.  Now I wear a cpap mask when I sleep.  

Sleep Apnea robs you of your ability to stay in the "Beta" level of sleep.  It can lead to a wild life style of over eating to get calories so you can feel like you have energy.  It makes you feel tired all the time and feel like you need to eat more than normal and drink coffee a lot. That leads to a viscious circle of eating too much and not moving much to conserve energy, and then eating too much and not moving and that all causes weight gain, which in turn makes you feel less energitic, so you slow down and although you don't stop doing things altogether, you don't do much, trying to conserve what energy you do have.  Hence the vicious circle.  It is not unusual for a Sleep Apnea victim to be quite obese and the last thing that the Sleep Apnea victim wants to do is diet and try to lose weight. If they don't eat a lot, they will become narcoleptic.  Narcoleptics fall asleep during normal daily activity including driving.  Sleep Apnea also leads to an oversize heart, which results in conjestive heart failure.  Infact, up until now, most families found out that they had Sleep Apnea in their family by someone, fairly young, in their family, dieing during their sleep from a heart attack.   Now days we have highly technical tests to see if Sleep Apnea is present, not just snorring.

The mask is very uncomfortable and it took me several months to get used to it enough to really use it.  Now that I do use it, I sleep without interuption for 3 or 4 hours at a time, and the rest I get is profound.  AND I feel that I am not as "short of breath" when breathing through my nose lately.  So, you might investigate the possibility of having Sleep Apnea.  The Neurologist I had suggested it might help with the dizziness, I cannot say that it has, but it is so unhealthy to have Sleep Apnea that I have taken these steps to try to stop it from complicating my symtoms, like feeling as if I can't get enoiugh air if I breath through my nose.  I don't feel that need nearly as much since beginning to use the cpap mask setup.

So, Ms. Deb, I hope some of this will help you in your search for answers about what is happening to you, and I do hope you feel better soon.

Ben

How you feeling now Ben, any progress? I've been doing my exercises as prescribed by the audiologist but sadly I feel no different. Still lightheaded, memory still affected and vision blurry.

Out of interest, have you ever been on any SSRs? I was on Citalopram 3 years ago and I noticed all of the symptoms I describe started when I lowered my dose. I've been off them for over 3 years now and the symtoms are still here, wasn't sure if Citalopram was the cause or if it's just coinsedence?

I cannot believe that after two and half years of suffering thinking I had alzheimers, or ME or something really bad as felt so dizzy and cofused etc that after a few jabs of b12 I feel so energized and back to my old self!

When you say dizzy - there's so many different interpretations, I feel like i'm hungover and when really dizzy i feel drunk - it's so exhausting. Anyway another way of describing it is like the weird dizzy high you would get from inhaling a balloon...does that make sense? That's when my eyes are feeling very blurred and my memory is at it's all time low.

Yes it was same feeling from what you are saying. We have spoken before when i did not know what it was and for me your description was accurate.

It is a separate blood test specifically testing b12, vitmin D etc. It is worth ringing your GP to see if this you've had this as felt so ill and now feel back to my old self!

If you google these dificiencies you will find lack of B12 has dementia like symptoms felling dizzy etc

SSRs,  I was on an antidepressant a little over 10 years ago for a few months right after my divorce.  The divorce was not my choice and it affected me quite deeply and the doctor prescribed Zoloft and it did help a lot, but it made me feel like I was being controlled by the pill, so I stopped it as soon as I could.  I don't really have any good input for you about past use of an antidepressant.  

My gp gave me some Valium as an experiment because he said some people get anxious and nervious when they have vertigo and the Valium might help....it didn't help me, it just put me to sleep.

I would like to mention my exercises.  They are simple.  I am to look at a 1 inch tall letter about 5 feet away and a smaller letter ( about 1/2 inch tall) up close and focus back and forth.  Also I am to turn my head side to side and up and down for minutes at a time while keeping the letter in fucus.  Slowly at first and then faster as I can.  

Then I am to walk looking far away and up close left and right and front.   This is supposed to help with the dizziness becasue the information about balance has an affect on how we "track" objects with our eyes as we pass by them.  

I cannot tell you if it has helped me at all, but I am continuing to do them because it is all I have.

Another note, I have experienced a period of 10 or 12 minutes with no dizziness several times in the past month.  Not this past couple weeks though, and in fact Tuesday I had severe dizziness and was housebound.  So, I don't know what's going on, but I am keeping my exercise schedule.

Ben

Not sure you are still reading this forum, but if you are, would be happy to hear whether your issues resolved as I am suffering a similar fate.

Best wishes

E

If I may chime in, I think you have something other than "Labs", or at least based upon your note to Deb it appears that you do.  I am not a doctor, but I have been so imersed in this whole dizziness issue, that to me it must be something else.  If you had Labs it would not come and go, it would be something that stays until the swelling goes, or longer depending upon how much it did damage to the nerve (vestibular neuritis).  There are a great many things that can cause dizzyness, from inner ear issues to vitamins to nerves, so even if it sounds like a lot of misdiagnosis, you have to start somewhere and I'd say go to a gp, see what the gp says, if no hlep, start climbing the ladder of referals.  But please do something, if it is Labs, and I am wrong, the damage that is being done could get worse, which means more recovery time.

Hope I helped.

Ben