What is this strange sensation actually called - it is just dizziness? (funfair rides)

[Bobkitten]

I have always loved the big swinging pirate ship rides and the pleasurable feeling I experienced as the ride lurches up and down.

As a child, I even used to get the sensation briefly when our car was driven over a little humped bridge. Sadly, as I’ve got older, the sensation is much ‘duller’ than it used to be, but it used to feel really intense.

The best description is of a tingling/rushing feeling starting in my head and/or the centre of my belly and then flowing throughout my body. It was such an intense sensation it would make me gasp (not an orgasm, before anyone asks!). I also used to get it when leaning back with my head dangling down on a gently moving swing and suddenly sitting upright in the swing.

It’s doesn’t feel the same as the dizziness I get after spinning around or a head rush after standing up too quickly (the latter used to happen quite a lot to me but that too seems to have stopped).

I ask because I was on a fairground pirate ship yesterday, and while I barely felt the sensation (much to my disappointment), my 10 year old DS next to me experienced exactly what I used to feel. He was laughing and shrieking, describing the sensation as tingles running all the way through his body. At times it made him gasp.

Does anyone know what actually causes this sensation? Have googled but to no avail. Possibly this is something everybody gets and it’s just intense dizziness?

Oh I get this even worse now I'm an adult. Don't know what it is though.

I think it sounds like you are describing ASMR. It is a weird but pleasurable sensation that can be induced by all kinds of stimuli. There are loads of videos available. Some of them work for me and some, like mouth sounds, make me recoil in disgust. I used to get it at school when friends would plait my hair or trace on my back.

I still get exactly the same sensation on the Pirate Ship, also if I accelerate quickly from standstill in the car, no idea what it's called though, its like a stomach churn that spreads but in a pleasurable way not a sick feeling way.

We used to call it our 'tummy going'. For eg you would say 'Oh my tummy went then' when you go over the road bump. I don't know if it has a proper name, or what that would be!

We described it as tummy jumps (different to ASMR). I got it a lot as a kid but not so much - I thought that maybe the bridges had been smoothed out a bit or the car suspension was better, but maybe we just grew up.

I always imagined this to be my tummy going up and down out of sync with my body.

I wonder if its an adrenaline rush. Ive experienced similar sensation during times of extreme stress, not exactly the same though.

I get that from swoopy rollercoasters, especially the first drop. Is it ASMR? Possibly, because I experience a fainter version when watching onboard footage.

Oddly, I’m not great with heights and struggle with vertigo on slatted bridges and walkways.

It's g-force, isn't it?

@UnaCorda

It's g-force, isn't it?

It’s the negative Gs that do it for me, yes.