Day 1 Dizziness/Balance Issues

Hi - I’m here because since I recovered from COVID mid-September, I have been struggling from the most baffling symptoms: dizziness, a feeling of being off balance 24-7, my head feeling like a “fishbowl” where it’s heavier on one side than the other, I feel pulled by gravity to the ground, this feeling of walking on a trampoline when I walk, tinnitus, this feeling of being drunk 24/7, derealization, brain fog, and trouble with my vision where I can’t track people moving without getting dizzy. This is constant. It’s consuming. This makes my job as a personal trainer very difficult, and it has completely destroyed the last 3 months of my life. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life and have never cried so much.

Here’s a list of what I’ve tried:

• Primary doctor: Told me to take antihistamines because I had fluid in my ears from COVID. Two weeks later, no changes.
• ENT: Earliest appointment was 3 months from when I called. When I did finally go to the appointment, they said Long COVID, as my ears and my hearing looked fine.
• Vestibular Therapist: Gave me vestibular rehabilitation exercises (which helped a bit, but not enough to make the symptoms go away completely). She was the only one who had compassion listening to me and said she saw a lot of people struggling with this post COVID.
• Acupuncture, massage, chiropractic care.. nothing gave me relief.

The anxiety, despair, and stress building up from not knowing what was going on peaked two weeks ago. I was at work when my vision went blurry and I fell from being dizzy. I was rushed to the ER, and my blood pressure was 180/110. The doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with me after doing scans and tests, and told me I needed to lower my anxiety as no 32 year old should have this high of blood pressure.

I had the hardest, longest, saddest cry of my life in that room as I felt utterly hopeless. I made sounds I’d never heard before out of my mouth. I couldn’t work, I couldn’t be with friends, I couldn’t be a good partner in my relationship, it has been months since I felt any ounce of joy or happiness.. I felt hopeless of every having a normal life again. I honestly don’t know how I made it through that day.

I started desperately browsing YouTube for anyone who might have been going through the same, when I found The Steady Coach and Dan Buglio. I binged their videos. They both talked about Dr Sarno and I immediately put their practices into my day (even though I was skeptical at first). I listened to the same success stories on repeat every day.

It’s taken me a minute of coming to acceptance that while this may have started as a post COVID infection.. it has now jolted my nervous system into a cycle of panic and anxiety which is TMS. I now believe firmly this is TMS and I have hope for the first time that I will get better.

You know what else is crazy? I pieced something together a few days ago - Two years ago I had a back injury (disc herniation at L5-S1) that took me out of work and working out for 2 whole years. I couldn’t do my job properly, I lost part of my identity, I lost a hobby I deeply loved and made me happy, and I was cautious about everything in life so that I wouldn’t feel the pain again. I went through the whole cycle of doctors with no answers. I’ve been through this cycle before but had no way out so I have just been living as a cautious anxious person since.

It’s no wonder to me that my nervous system has had a full blown meltdown after all these years and stress. I really think going through this program and following Dr Sarno’s teachings will truly be a life changing experience for me, for both my dizziness and my lower back, and will get me back to a better, new life. I have hope.

 

Thank you for sharing your story- it sounds like you're going through a lot of challenges.

I hope the community can be a place for you to find support and healing. I am going through that journey too!

 

Dear @v_nova, I am reading what you are getting through and remember what I have gone through ( with fear, sorrow and other feelings)...
Don't lose your patience and give yourself time to relax, think, feel and decide what to do and how to heal.
I am returning to the past again and again to realize what caused this (very common symptoms with yours) and think that me and my social, family etc background put an enormous amount of pressure on my back and on my mind.
Get rid of what you don't need, either it is something external ( ig a person, a situation) either it is internal ( ig beliefs that are burden) and face the rest.
I begin to assume that as far as dizziness is concerned, there is much for one to handle and feels cannot cope with this.
Anyway, go on ! There is light at the end of the road

 

@v_nova

I read through your posted and just wanted to check and see if you had gotten any relief since starting the program? Your symptoms are almost identical to mine in that I just feel a little "off" in my head from day to day and sometimes it turns into a feeling of dizziness/fatigue/eye strain during anxious events or periods. I had Covid in May and went down the long Covid path also but nothing really matched up. I know my symptoms are not severe or debilitating but they are annoying nonetheless and I am working hard to ease them and break the cycle. I wish you the best of luck and will check back in from time to time to see how it's going!

 

Hi! May I ask how you’re getting on now? I have similar symptoms to you, along with palpitations and breathlessness but they suspect iron deficiency with me, (although treatment hasn’t helped so far). I wondered if you had any breakthrough?