Dizziness/floating head feeling. TMS?

So I've been around since March with urinary urgency, I seem to have gotten that under control for the most part with TMS work. Have been feeling pretty good lately actually. This past weekend my family and I went tent camping at a spring. It was hot and humid and pretty miserable to say the least. The car trip there was about an hour and 1/2 nothing I'm not use to. I noticed after we got there I felt kinda woozy, off balance but ignored it. We ended up coming home a day early because of bad weather. We arrived home yesterday late afternoon and I immediately had to lay down. I felt like I was still riding in the car or floating on a boat. I rested all evening, slept pretty good but today I still have it, a little worse actually. I'm sitting here typing on the computer and struggling. I'm so woozy. I wouldn't say dizzy as in vertigo but just floating and my head feels really heavy and I'm fatigued. I took a Clairtin D thinking maybe my head is congested. This happened to me a few years ago after riding Dumbo at Disney (I had a cold at the time) and chalked it up to fluid being in my ears after the ride, it lasted about a week and disappeared. About a year later it happened again after an hour flight to see family. I also had a cold/sinus infection. That time it lasted about 3 weeks then went away. That was back in late 2012. Haven't had it since until now. Could this be TMS? I was pretty anxious before the trip on the flight back in 2012 and again when we went camping. I have anxiety and fear over a lot of things and felt very anxious on teh way over to the campground. Could TMS be messing with me? I, of coursed, googled my symptoms and ran across MDDS and it terrified me! Reading how this could last forever or at least, many months/years. HELP me!!! :*(

 

Hi Leslie, of course it always is sensible to get a condition cleared medically, to ease your fears if nothing else. But I can say that I have had symptoms that sound exactly the same, and in my case they are TMS. I think if you can clearly associate anxiety about the situation at the same time as your symptoms that is a pretty good clue.

One idea might be to check your breathing. Often with anxiety people actually "overbreathe" and that will produce those symptoms. So often we're told to do nice deep breathing but this isn't always the answer if you are a hyperventilator like me. This is apparently especially true for anyone who has ever suffered from asthma. Hope this helps, Terry

 

When you say you've had this happen how long did it last? This has been non stop for 3 days now and it's freaking me out!

 

HI Leslie. I have had Benign Positional Vertigo in which the room spins when you put your head in a certain position. Doctors say that it is from calcium crystals that have broken loose in your ear(so tiny you would need a microscope to see). And I have frequently over the last 10 -15 years had some basic strange, hard to describe, motion sickness type feelings. When it happens I call it "rocky boat" I really can't stand it. I now believe it is caused by anxiety. I treat it like anxiety and use the welcoming, acceptance exercises I learned from a video on here and described on other posts. I have found recently that if I don't give it too much attention and mental focus, that it fades in a day or two. I think there is a very good chance that yours is TMS related. As far as I know, feeling strange and out of balance is not any kind of terrible medical condition. Even full on dizziness is very scary but the doctors don't take it very seriously. I have several friends and acquaintances who are often dizzy to the point they can barely stand up and yet the doctors offer no really explanation or medical intervention. And when they do offer a diagnosis its something that sounds a little scary but has no real cause or treatment, Meniers Disease for instance. Try your best to spoil yourself and relax the best you can. You'll get through this.

 

It certainly does sound scary, Leslie, as well as making every day life harder. I have had periods that last as long as three days, but always intermittent, never non-stop. Have you checked with your GP? One quick thing you might try right away though is: take five minutes and change your breathing pattern to taking quite short inhalations (say, 2-3 seconds) and fairly long exhalations. Don't make yourself really uncomfortable, but it's actually important to feel a little "air hungry." If you notice any improvement, that could be a clue that it has something to do with your breathing. Do you meditate, and do you notice any differences while doing it? One last quickie idea: go to the humor thread on this forum and have a few good laughs; it's amazing how quickly that can improve some things

 

Thank you Anne! This is just strange. The room isn't spinning I just feel woozy/heavy headed and when I walk around I feel just strange. Like I'm floating. Like maybe water in my ears. It's so strange!

 

One more thought-- I don't know if this has any physiological validity, but with TMS oxygen deprivation in the muscles is often the cause of pain like sciatica (that's me). Maybe it makes good sense that if you're not getting enough blood to the head or brain, you're going to feel woozy, though not necessarily to the point of fainting.

 

I do plan on seeing my doctor tomorrow just to be checked out. I'm actually hoping it's something I can take some antibiotics for so I know it'll go away, is that bad?

 

Clearly you're a terrible person, so bad . Seeing your doctor to rule things out is just sensible and will help put your mind at ease so that if you want to use the TMS approach you can do so 100%. I think everyone wishes things could magically disappear and life would be easy again. Maybe you are one of the lucky ones!

 

I am very curious what your doctor will say so let us know, okay? I will be super surprised if it is something requiring antibiotics but I can totally relate to the desire to have it be something you can treat and explain. I have actually had the symptoms you describe go on for much longer than three days. But not recently. The more you freak out and focus on it, the longer it will last. Hopefully, the doctor's visit tomorrow will be reassuring that you are okay. Do you have any Xanax or anything that helps with anxiety? I am not trying to push drugs but sometimes if you take something and feel a little better, it can be reassuring that it really is being caused by anxiety. Do not underestimate the power of your mind! I don't know where you live, but find something that you traditionally find really relaxing - spending a day in bed, floating in a cool pool, taking a hot bath, hanging out with some girlfriends... Find something that you enjoy and tell yourself you are okay. Even if you feel weird, you are okay. Its hard to imagine until you've experienced it for some time the strange sensations your mind/body can put you through. You know you have TMS. Notice how distracting this is! Your urinary urgency has gotten a little better and clever TMS has come up with something new to freak you out with. Its just a weird feeling though. Its not dangerous.

 

Good advice Anne.

 

Hi Leslie,

TMS is such a strange condition! There are times when reading about someone's condition will trigger my unconscious brain to create it in myself. And this is one of those times! I started getting similar symptoms after reading your post, and remember that before I knew about TMS and believed that I had fibromyalgia, one of the symptoms of it that I had at times is called brain fog--which is a good description of the feeling. Of course, I now know that fibromyalgia and all its accompanying symptoms like brain fog, are pure TMS. TMS is so crafty, that it always creates symptoms that at first we feel are impossible to overcome. I felt that I could push through the pain, but if my brain wasn't working right, well that was something I just couldn't do anything about.

And consider the possibility that the symptom imperative is at work here. You overcame one TMS symptom (congratulations!), but as often is the case, your brain may have come up with another symptom. The new symptom is always one that we initially are certain can't possibly be TMS. I still get fooled by this. But it is always good advice to have a doctor rule out a structural cause as Anne and Tarala have said above.

Wishing you well. Let us know how you are doing.

 

I went to see my GP today. He actually thinks I have ETD, which is the tubes in one of my ears is dysfunctional and is referring me to an ENT. The dizziness is a little better today, was able to get out of the house for a bit earlier. Still feel like I'm walking on a bounce house but not as bad. So I'm still not sure, really is something or TMS?

 

Well, it will be interesting to see what the ENT recommends. Sometimes you really need to explore all the medical options first. ENT does not seem too serious and it says that it often resolves on its own so even if that is what you have, you don't need to worry. I am quite certain that the fear and anxiety over it are making whatever it is, worse. I have had vertigo and I know how truly awful it is. It feels like it is a sign of something really terrible but usually it is not. Just really uncomfortable and unsettling. Try to reassure yourself best you can that you are okay. This will pass.

 

Thanks Anne! I'm seeing the ENT tomorrow morning so hopefully he can shed some light on how to get past this. I'm trying to tell myself I'm fine and it'll go away but really hard when I read about MdDs (disembarkation syndrome) scary stuff!

 

There is a good chance it is TMS. Looking back, this was the first TMS symptom I had. I think I was just normally dizzy one day, but I began focusing on it too much to the point where it wouldn't go away. That increased my anxiety and eventually I began to limit what I thought I could do for making it worse. I was diagnosed with "vestibular neuritis" (sp?) and sent to physical therapy. A few weeks of that I didn't have any improvement. It went away about a week after I developed my second TMS equivalent, prostatitis. It still flares up now and again, but I can usually have it go away within an hour by not reacting to it.

I saw this post a few months after I was out of the woods:
http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/psycho-physiological-dizziness-syndrome-ppds.4599/

 

I get dizziness sometimes. I think it comes from anxiety, worrying about something.
When I stop worrying, it goes away.
Deep breathing helps, as does telling my Inner Bully to lighten up on me.

 

Thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement. I went to see an ENT earlier this morning and he diagnosed me with a sinus infection and put me on a antibiotic. Hopefully it fixes this. I'm tired of feeling like I'm walking on a big sponge.

 

24 hours on antibiotics and steroids and I actually feel worse.

 

Hi, Leslie. Sorry that the medication hasn't helped. That means to me that your dizziness
is TMS. I'd stay on the medication but also try to just relax. Maybe take the weekend to do things
you enjoy and try to have fun.