Balance issues/boat sensations/dizzyness/vertigo

Hi all,

Let me reintroduce myself. I am a 35 years old female with an history of anxiety, various TMS (like chronic pain, "fibromyalgia", interstitial cystitis, etc.). I have an over-achiever personality and work in a stressful environment which I like because for some reason, it also drives me huh.

I overdid it during the pandemic and got to the point of burn out. I took a 7-month work leave and am currently in the process of going back to work progressively. I was happy to be back since I was able to get rid of my insomnia and it feels good having a routine. However, I of course felt stressed. Physical symptoms accompanying my burn out included shortness of breath, difficulty exercising, chest pain and pressure, muscle pain, severe insomnia, etc.

Last thursday, I was waiting for a client at a restaurant and felt sudden vertigo like if I about to faint. I was sweating and was holding on to my chair in case I would actually faint. The symptoms were eventually a bit relieved. The same night I started feeling really dizzy, like I was constantly walking on a boat or a trampoline. I almost feel drunk... I have never had such feelings before and it is constant... I am of course badtripping. Oddly enough, the feeling subsides whenever I am driving.

It really meets the syndrome du mal du debarquement criteria or MDDS: https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/mal-de-debarquement/ (Mal de Debarquement - NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders))

I am a big believer in TMS as i have "cured" myself or other strange symptoms but this new one is quite debilitating and since it has been a few days I am wondering whether I should go to the ER... My gut feeling tells me it's another type of anxiety/TMS.....

Please share your thoughts/expenrience.

A desperate woman.

 

Hi Bananas, I suspect there is some inner tension about going back to work after the long break, even though you love pushing yourself. I'm like that too. Love it but get symptoms because of it. I think perhaps the fear of failure or fear of not being perfect or fear of our symptoms embarrassing us in public make things worse.
If you feel confident that the shortness of breath, exercise intolerance, chest pain and pressure is not underlying heart disease--
then I wouldn't worry at this point about the sudden vertigo/faint/have to hold onto the table thing. I get that sometimes too.
Especially in restaurants while waiting for a client or friend/family!
I think what happened is you had a split second of deep anxiety and then that night you started thinking and worrying about it and BINGO, there you are. Your description of walking on a boat or trampoline is very common form of anxiety. People often describe it as a spongy floor.

I wouldn't go looking for rare diseases at this point because what you experience is more normal than you know. And I guarantee you that symptom searching is going to make it worse.

Note: I'm not a doctor. If you feel better getting checked out. Please do.

PS. The reason you can drive is because there is likely nothing dangerously wrong with you and your mind/body knows it needs to buck up and pay attention when driving so as not to kill you!

 

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Hi - thank you for your quick reply. It seems common with MDDS that symptoms are alleviated with passive movement like driving. Of course once I started googling my symptoms frenetically I entered the panic/fear loop and symptoms worsened. Yep, it does feel like a spongy floor and ive never experienced something like that before lol. Also all my senses seem to be heightened. I just want it to go away lol. I want to actively make the symptoms go away but then I just focus on them...

I don't know what to do.

 

I know it's freaky.
Forget MDDS. It's called rare because it's rare.
If you feel the urge/need to look on line, only look up anxiety related causes of those feelings.
This stuff goes away only when you:
- stop trying to find out what disease/condition you have. Because you probably don't have any disease/condition.
- no longer have to do whatever you are unconsciously afraid of OR work on it from a TMS perspective

Once things settle a bit, you can also create work arounds. Make sure you eat a little something before you go out to keep your blood sugar up, have a cold/wet towel to wipe your head if you feel hot, those kinds of things. (Note: That's probably not TMS appropriate but sharing my own methods for how I got through those kinds of times.)

 

Except my symptoms are not sudden but are present 24/24 meh Only their onset was sudden.

 

Right -- The onset was sudden, which brought on the anxiety which is ongoing as you are trying to figure it out.

 

Well my "boat" feeling and extreme dizzyness are 24/24....

 

Right -- that's what I'm suggesting is anxiety-based. Spongy/boat floor. It's relatively common as an anxiety symptom.

That said, you might feel better if you go to the doc.

 

I just don't know what to do for the symptoms to go away.

 

Well, let's go through some options:
1) You can go to a local doc and confirm it's nothing dangerous. If they confirm it's nothing dangerous, they might have some anti-nausea or other symptom reducing meds. And then you can wait it out. It will get better. Even though it doesn't feel like it now.
2) You can try waiting it out first. Know that the most likely cause is anxiety or other mind inducing weirdness. Stay away from symptom searching and let it be til it starts to clear up on its own.
3) You can do number 2 but build in some TMS type exercises into the mix. Write down where this all could be coming from emotionally. Stay away from symptom searching and when your mind is urging you to symptom search for this disease or that disease, grab your notebook and instead focus on your emotions.
4) Combo of 1 and 3.

 

This thread may help

https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/psycho-physiological-dizziness-syndrome-ppds.4599/ (Psycho-Physiological Dizziness Syndrome (PPDS))

 

bananas - i had virtually the same symptoms a couple years ago. to the point that i was scared i might have a heart attack and ended up in the hospital. they did a bunch of tests including the stress test. they couldn't find any problem. and i knew they wouldn't when i did the stress test without feeling any ill effects. for me, this was definitely a TMS anxiety situation. there are many ways to deal with it. the most effective for me has been the acceptance method. basically don't try to run from it. accept it, even invite it in. surrender to it. there are a number of methods out there. claire weeks, david hawkins to name a couple.

if you feel you need to for peace of mind, get checked out by a doctor. i highly recommend NOT searching on the internet about possible conditions for this symptom and that symptom. that will only drive the fear up and give your subconcious something to work with.

 

you also had the constant feeling of being on a boat?

 

Wow, that was really interesting. Thanks for posting it here.

 

So I went to the doctor this week and she told me that according to her my symptoms are anxiety related. She gave me medication to address the anxiety symptoms… and basically told me to wait since there is not much we can do…

 

Isn't it crazy how the mind can give the body SUCH drastic symptoms?
It seems impossible. And yet......

How are you feeling today?

 

well… as bad as yesterday. What amazes me is that my symptoms are better when in a car or cycling. I took all my courage and went cycling tonight and while on the bike the symptoms lessened. When I got off the bike they all backfired. I don’t understand.

 

Good on you for getting on the bike. That's exactly the kind of thing that's good for you. Not letting your symptoms do what they want to do -- keep you down (to "protect" you.)

I think the reason you are OK on the bike and driving is because you are putting your higher level thinking to work and overtaking the amygdala.
Normally the amygdala (old brain structure which handles emotions) handles survival -- but riding a bike or driving requires the cortex or newer part of the brain in order to survive cycling and roadways.

That's super good that you got on the bike. Doing more things will hopefully tell the rest of your brain, "Ok, turns out I am safe. I don't have to force Banana down after all."

 

Wow, @plum Thank you for sharing that! I've got that info bookmarked.

One of my most bothersome (and freaky) symptoms with CFS was dizziness. It has gotten dramatically better applying TMS/mind-body techniques. But I had never seen a scholarly, PhD level article written on the mind-body aspects of dizziness. It's always helpful for my doubting mind to see something authoritative and well thought out.

 

Likewas. and it is pretty well written.