I haven't had a full-blown attack for a couple of weeks, but I always have a slight to moderately intense vertigo feeling for the past two months. I feel like I'm too tall and too far away from the ground. And things seem too close to my face. I've been told that this is a symptom of the anxiety, but it's starting to worry me because the vertigo just won't go away. I'm not sure if this is what you're having or not.

My doctor thinks it's something to do with my ears, and I'm going to a balance specialist next week. But I can't shake the feeling that there's something wrong in my head...it's this feeling that causes me to worry and start the panic response.

I'm starting to think the spacey feeling won't ever go away!

TMcrews,

BELIEVE ME when I tell you this is a symptom of axiety. When we are anxious there are alot of chemicals released into our systems that throw our "automic" nervous system out of whack and this effects specific areas of our bodies, perticularily, our 5 senses, chest, and lungs. If you calm down and stop WORRYING about the body sensations it WILL stop. Keep your appointment, rule out anything physical, but I am willing to bet my last dollar that it's "ONLY ANXIETY" Everytime you start analyzing these "feelings" tell yourself "this is a symptom of nervous illness, and when I stop feeding the fear with more fear, it WILL dissipate." Get stubborn and don't let your body fool you! I promise you ...it will go away, I though it NEVER would for me and it did!
Take Care!

Chantal

BELEIVE ME I KNOW WHAT YOUR GOING THROUGH! ITS A SCARY FEELING,HANG IN THERE, IT WILL PASS I KNOW IT DOESNT FEEL LIKE IT NOW,
BUT IT WILL ...BEST OF LUCK!
DONNA

There is always that VERY SLIM chance there is something wrong other than panic. Occassionally we're really sick; not too often, though.

When I think of vertigo, I think of my grandmother and mother who would awake one morning and their eyes are spinning and they can't stand up or they will fall. So they have to go to bed for a week with their eyes closed or they will throw up.

Some of us have symtoms of say maybe congestion in the ears, and we think, "OH MY GOD, WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?". A person like my husband says to himself, "my ears feel congested", and he takes some dimetap and it goes away. Us, on the other hand blow it so big, we shopping for coffins.

All my inner ear symptons went away when I gave up caffiene, and sugar.

GOOD LUCK!

What you express is similar to what most of us feel.

------------------
Always Hopeful, Betsy H.
Marietta, GA (East Cobb)
Happily Married Walton High (Volunteer) Mom.
Anyone from this area (females only), I would like to find a support person, and be a support person. Maybe meet and walk at school or the park or the Avenue. I get around, not housebound, but I still keep my problem a secret. You know, I look "IN CONTROL" but inside feel far from it.

[This message has been edited by EastCobbGABetsyH (edited 03-07-2001).]

Thanks for your words of encouragement, everyone. I did go to the balance specialist, a neurologist, and he told me some interesting things.

First of all, I have an inner ear imbalance. The signal my left ear sends to my brain is 47% different -- in strenght or frequency or whatever it is -- than my right ear. He said this is a significant difference. Most people get into his office at around 20% difference.

Anyway, this is at least the major cause, if not the only cause, of my vertigo. It made me feel better to know this. And the imbalance can be corrected with a few simple exercises that sort of "recalibrate" your brain's sense of equilibrium. The imbalance can't be corrected, but it can be overcome. What good news!

He also said that recent studies indicate that up to 60% of people with panic/anxiety disorders have symptoms that originated with this type of inner ear problem. The very first sign of the very first panic attack is brought on in these people (like me) when the brain feels the first sign of imbalanced signals. A rush of adrenaline floods the bloodstream for the fight-or-flight response, and that starts the whole panic episode.

Of course, once you have your first panic attack, that becomes the major catalyst for the next one. But it might help others to have this checked out, especially if your major body symptom is vertigo/spaciness. I'm sure mine is aggravated by the bewilderment that comes with anxiety, but I was just too uncomfortable for that to be it. My eyes can't really hold steady on a word or a shape and sometimes they sort of "vibrate" in my head...so much so that I can't read.

So, I'm hoping these exercises will help, if not eliminate the problem. Maybe this will help others. It sure made me feel better!

Hi! Very interesting stuff. I'm glad you had some results at your appointment I'm just curious....what kind of doctor was this and how did he test you for this? I would be very interested in hearing about the exercises that recalibrate your equilibrium. Good luck......I hope you feel a lot better now. Sue

Please tell us the exercises that help. I too have always felt like my ears were backed up!

I've also noticed that I now tend to attribute some legitimate physical problems/changes to anxiety because I've become so desensitized to the doctors always telling me that my problems are just stress and anxiety related.
I have a kind of funny story about this. I have astigmatism and several months ago my vision became really weird and I felt like I was almost cross-eyed because I felt more pressure on one eye.Also, ordinary objects seemed to have a blurry, fuzzy edge on them. Anyway, I assumed that it was just an outgrowth of my spaciness problem and I thought that this was proof that I MUST be on the verge of a serious mental illness because I'm obviously developing some sort of "visual disturbances" which MUST be a sign of hallucinations to follow. Therefore, I did not get it checked out.
Finally, the time came for my yearly eye exam. It turns out that my astigmatism had gotten much worse over the past year (thus the fuzzy,blurry edges) and one eye was now much worse than the other (resulting in the "cross-eyed feeling". Once again, I was not going crazy and (like Lucinda said in her story about the irritable bowel incident at the conference) the joke was on me!