Weird head sensations / dizziness

[Rob1987]

So I’ve been dealing with acid reflux /swallowing issues for a while now which my HA has really enjoyed. We’re dealing with a long lockdown still where I am overseas too which hasn’t done much for my anxiety at all either.

Anyway, I had a brief period whilst playing a video game where the whole room span for about 5 seconds and then stopped. This obviously peaked my anxiety but I don’t have a PA (I’ve not had one of those for years). Since then I’ve become hyper aware (i think) and now over the last 2-3 weeks I have started to become dizzy at rest and I have vertigo like feelings all of the time, despite not actually having vertigo. I can be scrolling on my phone and all sudden I get a feeling of the eye roll thing you get with vertigo without actually getting vertigo (if that makes sense).

These have become more and more frequent. I haven’t gone to my doctor as I had an MRI of my head done July 2020 and that was clear (I have 6mm cyst on my left temporal lobe but it was an incidental finding and the neurologist was adamant it was tiny and harmless). My neck muscles are very tight and a large part of me feels it is anxiety causing these issues but we all know how HA can cause doubt. Anybody felt like this? If I am out on my motorbike to get food, I have none of these issues from what I have noticed so far.

* I have read a lot of threads looking for similar things to no avail. I’ve found dizziness and vertigo threads but this isn’t traditional vertigo as I’ve had BPPV previously and it feels nothing like that. I’m likely just in my own head given the amount of time I’ve spent starring at the same four walls.

[PanickyGuy]

Do you take any PPI meds for the acid reflux, Rob? If you do, with some PPI meds the side effects have been known to cause dizziness. I have acid reflux and GAD/Panic Disorder, and I take PPI's for my acid reflux. And you're the first person I've seen on here that has talk about similar problems I've had for years. The head sensations, dizziness (more like lightheaded for me, like I'm swaying and need to lay down), eye roll, which feels more like my eyes are twitching on their own and rolling back and forth into my head for a few seconds. But I always figured it was a combination of the PPI's (side effects) I take and my anxiety, so I never asked my doctor about it.

[Rob1987]

I take Nexium (omeprazole) 40mg once per day and have been for the last two weeks.

I think mine is unrelated to that in all honesty. My occipital muscles at the back of my head are incredibly sore to touch and as I mentioned in my initial post, when I’m out on my motorbike I have none of these issues. I’ve managed to go all day today without any issues until about an hour or so ago. I do feel a bit on edge which to me makes me almost certain these are being caused by anxiety.

HA can literally manifest any symptom; why the hell do we live this way? I need to do something about all of this now, it has taken away so many years of my life.

[Angibec]

Absolutely Rob. I’ve had the above and especially the eye thing. It started with me a few years back when I played a certain video game and my eyes went all weird and made me dizzy. So I stopped playing it cos I hated the feeling. Last week I was watching a chef on tv chopping something and he sliced the knife towards him really quickly and my eyes just in that moment moved back and I went dizzy again. That’s how bad it is for me, silly things like that. I’ve also got swallowing issues and voice problems too. Neck and shoulders very tight and cervical spondylosis. Also really bad light sensitivity for my eyes. Using a smart phone doesn’t help so try not to look at it often, my eyes can sometimes do the same thing when scrolling. It’s horrible. I’m pleased you had relied while riding your bike.

[Rob1987]

I can totally relate the phone scrolling thing setting it all off. If anything that was one of the most concerning parts for me as it could appear out of nowhere and it’d cause a big anxious response that would keep it happening for the next few hours.

I’ve noticed that it isn’t there when I wake up of late, but it’ll be there by midday like today or later in the evening. No coincidence that something remotely stressing had happened prior to it and that the muscles at the upper part of my neck were super tense at the same time. My overall stress levels are much, much higher than they should be of late with many small things accumulating and now they’ve formed these symptoms. I’ve had some wild symptoms from anxiety in the past (like feeling like I’m drooling out the left side of my mouth yet nothing is there 😂) but my vision had always been left unaffected until this bout of it.

[sammiej123]

I feel off kilt alot of the time i have chronic BPPV. I have had bad bouts in the past where I cant even stand up but this is different it is like an unsteady, off balance, swaying feeling like on a boat and i do get a kind of motion sickness with it. It is debilitating i do fully empathise with you. I have just started Lansoprazole a PPI for stomach and digestive issues i am having, I really hope they dont make me feel worse :( the thing with anxiety is you dont know what is real as in anxiety and what isnt sadly..

[Angibec]

I feel that when people see my walking , I must look like a puppet on a string haha when the swaying boat ride starts. Sammie do you have issues with your eyes at all? I have a sore scalp too, my hair hurts. All my ailments are in my head and neck.

[sammiej123]

I have had issues with my eyes thinking i cant see properly (again its anxiety, adrenaline can cause this i believe). my neck is super tense and i went through a stage of feeling like i was being strangled around my neck (anxiety again) i finally managed to get over that.. But yes my neck is very achy and i find it hard to get comfortable at night. I dont have a sore scalp but again this could be stress and it might be psoriasis which my daughter gets flare ups of when she is stressed about school or anything. it is nothing to worry about though not serious .. I hope this helps

[Angibec]

Thank you Sammie. Yes it does. Hope you ok Rob.

[helenclaire]

It's a horrible feeling, it puts me off going out. I feel off balance, dizzy but not spinning dizziness, shaky, weak and nauseous. There seems to be no pattern to it , ive tried breathing exercises to calm down at it sends my anxiety sky high. The only thing i have noticed it how tense i am in my neck, its painful to move sometimes and moving it does sometime bring on the head rush feeling so thinking it might be that. But it's the worse symptom I've had. Wish i knew how to stop it

[Rob1987]

I have been trying to avoid being online for the last few days so I’ve only just seen the replies.

My dizziness is much worse but I do only seem to get it after using technology like my phone, iPad and laptop for a while whilst working. I’ve had two video meetings in the last two days where I felt super dizzy and the vertigo like feeling without the full-on spinning. Strange thing is that I haven’t even felt anxious the last 3-4 days but I wouldn’t be being honest if I’m not concerned now about this dizziness. It genuinely doesn’t bother me in a morning, doesn’t bother me whilst riding my motorbike nor does it bother me whilst I am walking around going about my daily life. It seems screen induced but also my neck is more tight and sore than ever, like I can feel my scalp muscles pulling tightly when it is bad. I don’t have headache at all though. I had my eyesight only checked again the other week and it was fine too.

I am really confused by it all now. It is reassuring others feel similar but at the same time it also isn’t, contradictory I know.

[PanickyGuy]

Well the thing is, anxiety, even marginal anxiety, stress, tension can cause a person's neck muscles (other muscles too, like shoulder, chest, etc.) to tighten up enough to the point they might get slight dizziness/vertigo. And bad neck posture doesn't help either. On the other hand, anxiety and psychosomatic seem to go hand in hand with each other; like the eye roll thingy.

But I always got neck issues after looking downward at my laptop for too long. I even went to a chiropractor to hopefully help with that, but him resetting my neck didn't seem to help much. I needed to watch my neck posture more than anything.

[boy]

I feel unsteady when I stand or walk, like if I lean I have to be extra careful to steady myself or I could easily fall over. When it’s bad it feels like being on a stationary rowing boat when I walk - imagine how the floor of a rowing boat gives and moves underneath you. I also I really notice when a floor is slightly uneven and it’s exaggerated by this. At its worst the room bobs up and down when I walk or stand, and feels like when I lift jolts.

It started in January 2020, but when I switched to glasses during the first lockdown it stopped entirely!

Then for no reason last August it crept back and it’s stayed with me since. Glasses don’t seem to be getting rid of it this time, though I can reduce it by using the magnifier at work and giant text on my phone. Sometimes I swear it all but goes away, but right now I’m in the midst of a big wave of it and I’m finding it hard to look at my screen at work (eyes tested three times - they’re fine).

Both times the initial symptoms were starting to feel more and more dizzy and eye strained using screens at work. I’d feel like I had to take breaks every minute and look at the distance, and I’d keep pushing the screen further and further away. A couple of times I felt like the room span but mostly it was/is just feeling like my screen, keyboard and phone are too near.

I don’t feel dizzy just sitting here and I only get dizzy if I turn quickly, for me it’s mostly about feeling unsteady when up and about.

I can deal with the symptoms if I’m to have them forever, but it’s the worry of you-know-what that bothers me.