Persistent off balance feeling for weeks, vertigo or anxiety?

[Ismo456]

This is a bit of a long one, but I feel like I’m slowly going mad!

just over 4 weeks ago, right at the end of the summer holidays I had a dizzy spell out of nowhere while I was out with my children. Since then, I feel like I’ve felt off balance, slightly drunk feeling most days. It’s not all day everyday, and I don’t feel like it when I’m sitting still, driving etc. it definitely feels worse when I’m walking outside or in shops etc. but I do get the sensation when I’m moving about indoors too. I went to the gp a few days into it and he said vertigo and gave me some anti sickness pills and sent me on my way. Side effects of these included dizziness and I felt they were making it worse so I stopped them after 5 days and did feel like I improved. I went on a kid free weekend away and felt 90% better. But since I’ve been back I feel like it’s getting worse again.

I have health anxiety anyway and have the tendancy to get myself into a panic and hyper focus on things, although I’m trying my best not to. But it’s got to the point now where I’m questioning if there’s something really bad wrong with me or if I am just terribly anxious.

I feel so painfully tired recently, I feel like I’m a bit spaced out and not quite with it, like I’m going through the motions every day and once I get one dizzy/off balance sensation my day seems to end up being downhill from there with the symptoms getting worse.

I feel so down about it all, that in 4 weeks I feel like I’ve only had a brief respite from feeling like this and I honestly don’t know what to do.

i had blood tests for ferratin, b12 and thyroid. Ferratin and b12 low but in normal range. Thyroid fine.

im at such a loss and just looking for some advice or a hand hold

Sounds horrible. Menieres is a possibility, or inner ear infection. Try your gp again.

My DD had this. Nothing showed on tests. That was about 3-4 months ago and pretty much gone now. Maybe some kind of infection. I do think bugs in the last 5+ years have become more varied. Common colds have morphed into all kinds of symptoms.

I have every symptom you’ve described. Came on with menopause and a stressful time for me. Google vestibular migraines. I don’t get headaches, I do get aura migraines very very occasionally and I’ve always suffered with travel sickness- two big pre cursors to being diagnosed.

amitriptyline and HRT have changed everything for me. I felt low key drunk for years. My head was too heavy for my neck. I couldn’t look at my phone. Head pressure (not headache) was insane. I thought I was dying at one point.

really hope you find some relief soon. It took me about 18 months to get a diagnosis and that was using my private medical care.

I've suffered from vertigo for years. My first bout was very like what you've described. I felt much dizzier outside and it almost went away when I was sitting. It was very bad for a winter and died down over the course of a few month.
It got bad again the following winter and I had vestibular physiotherapy. It helps to move crystals out of your inner ear. It helped a lot. It's worth doing a bit of research online about it. The physiotherapist I saw was American and she said that vestibular physio is used a lot over there.
It has flared up on me a few times since and I've been back for treatment a few times. The physio didn't completely cure it though. I often feel mildly dizzy, but it doesn't interfere with normal life.

Thanks all

im trying to carry on each day putting it to the back of my mind but I can’t help but constantly evaluate and obsess over how I feel and if I’m dizzy. I go from being fine to getting myself in a state worrrying I have a brain tumour or something awful wrong with me.

its starting to make me feel like I’m going mad 😢

I get this after a cold and have to have epley (spelling?) To correct. I had it got ages during the pandemic until I rang the GP who helped and now I can sort it at home. It got progressively worse for me, it could be something simple like this so worth speaking to your GP, he knew just from reading my triage notes

I'm experiencing very similar symptoms and think it's menopause and stress related. I had to come off hrt recently and have felt dizzy ever since, even after going back on it . I've had a very stressful few months and haven't really had much rest but recently when I went abroad on holiday i felt a bit better so I think its stress. I don't know what to do about it though.

@IsItWickedNotToCare I’m only just 40 so I don’t think it can be menopause, but I really do wonder if it’s stress/anxiety related

a few days away with friends the other week had me feeling 90% back to normal, and a few days after i got home and back to the hectic mum life juggle I’m feeling back to square one

I had similar during Covid. Also prone to travel sickness etc. Diagnosed with bilateral vestibular hypofunction via ENT, saw a balance physio and vestibular rehabilitation exercises sorted it, but took about three months.
They did scan me too though, MRI to exclude nasties as I also had unilateral pulsatile tinnitus. Still got this!

I used to have vertigo frequently, the first time I couldn’t stand for 6 weeks it was hell. Every now and then I get a few symptoms and I’ve now found that if I do the Brandt-daroff exercises it goes away, have a look on YouTube, they’re easy to do and work pretty quickly.