Lightheadedness.....

Hey,

Sorry to hear you're going through a hard time. I can relate with a similar story to yours. I am 23 years old and healthy, had bouts of "anxiety" in my life but nothing major.

Back in June of last year I woke up one morning feeling a little "off". I jumped out of bed to then experience tingling down one side of my body, slurred speech and extreme panic and anxiety. My heart was pounding so fast I nearly fainted. An ambulance was called and I was rushed to Hospital. I was discharged as having panic and anxiety the same day. The following day I had an even more extreme "episode" - again with tingling, slurred speech, throat constricting, heart beating, blood pressure sky rocketing, and very unsteady on my feet and I could barely stand let alone walk. I could not even understand sentences! An ambulance was called and I was admitted into the Stroke Unit. After an insane amount of testing, multiple brain MRI scans, CT scans and a whole load of NHS funded and private specialist neurology appointments it was confirmed MANY times that I did NOT have stroke, mini stroke or any event similar. After this happened to me my life fell apart, I could not accept the diagnosis of Panic Attack induced Migraine and became utterly convinced I was sick & I would suffer some kind of catastrophic brain event any moment. I became a nervous wreck, did not eat, sleep, work, leave my bedroom, see family or friends for 4 months, I had panic attacks 3-4 times daily and at least two in the night during sleep. I developed a whole host of new issues such as muscle pain, extreme muscle twitching, headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, heart palpatations, vision distortion in one eye on and off, gastro issues, the list could go on and ON! Eventually i began to accept I was not about to die and that even during all this stress I am still alive! As my anxiety and stress lessened so did these symptoms. When we go through a scary or traumatic experience (which I did!) our brain tends to process pain differently. My advice to you would be to push for more testing and rule out a medical issue. Going private really helped reassure me. If everything is ruled out then you need to work on lessening your stress & anxiety and accepting your diagnosis. Sometimes you might think you are not "anxious or stressed" but even if your mind is thinking about your physical symptoms throughout the day this is enough to provoke a stress response. I hope this helped a little, rest assured it does get easier. It has been 10 months for me and I am much better now but it took roughly 7 - 8 months to get better.

Steve this sounds quite a bit like anxiety. Not sure what your lifestyle has been these past few years, but your story of tingling and feeling as if you wanted to faint along with severe lightheadedness is all too familiar to me. Rewind 5 yrs and I was working two jobs with maybe 2 days off a month and thought nothing of it. It felt like a grind but completely manageable mentally, or so I thought. Then I noticed I couldn't relax at all as if I was always amped or had this mindset that something always needed to be done. Then the severe dizziness and off-balance symptoms started to set it. Also, ringing or swooshing sound in one of my ears was constant. Then one morning I began to have tingling sensations in my hands, arms and feet. Eventually I began to have body-wide muscle twitching as I was constantly worried about my symptoms. I still have these symptoms today but to a lesser degree. The off-balance feeling is nowhere near what it once was; it was so severe I would have to hold on to things just to get my balance. There are days that I don't notice symptoms at all.

At the time of all this I didn't feel depressed or anxious at all and carried out a lot of my interests like bike riding and fishing, etc... Now I am guilty of chronic worrying, but not to the point where I'm flustered or my heart rate goes up or I'm scared all the time. It's as if it's just a thought with no emotional reaction. Yet, I'd do it constantly.

Several years prior I'd gone in for hearing and balance tests as well and checked out fine. At one point I'd worried about Meniere's disease with the balance issues and maybe it's an after thought even to this day, but for the most part I haven't had any severe symptoms with regard to balance or lightheadedness for a good while. I'll admit, denial likely took it's toll on me as well; believing I wasn't depressed or anxious. But, with a lot of introspection I realized that many of my symptoms and lifestyle habits matched up.

Anyway, feel free to message me direct.

Have you ever seen" Brain on fire " it's a true story of a girl who started having bizarre symptoms: hearing noises, lightheaded, confusion, manic episodes etc. All her tests came back negative, her doctors wanted to put her in a Psychiatric hospital. To make a long story short, her parents knew something else was wrong, one of the doctors believed them and got a new doctor to look at her with fresh eyes , after a few days examining her he figured out what she had. It wasn't in her head and she actually had "anti- NMDA receptor enciphillatis ". She was the 217th person ever diagnosed with this illness but since she wrote her book thousands more have been diagnosed. Moral of story::: If your 100% sure you dont have anxiety find a doctor, a Functional doctor who will listen to you.. In the meantime cut out sugar, caffeine, refined carbs, and all processed foods.

your first panic attack story happened EXACTLY how mine happened! I was even in the car. i will say this, once i had my first panic attack thats when the fear of them came and ive been suffering from anxiety ever since. i too sometimes feel like im lightheaded or going to pass out. also its possible you may be experiencing some kind of derealization.

I have the same issue. I had a weird reaction to a preworkout (strong caffiene) back in August 2019. my heart was racing and I felt I was going to die. Ever since that day, I have mini attacks (heart racing) like you mentioned and constant lighthead, dizzy, rocking sensation feeling. Some days are better than others. Heart tests come out good. I was diagnosed with anxiety even though im not stressed. I didn't even know what panic and anxiety was before that reaction. At this point, I feel like is a vestibular disorder. I finally got my Doc to agree for a referral. Does it mess with your vision? I feel like mines off for some reason.