Stress Center Peer Support

Hey everyone, well as I have stated before I pretty much went through about 5 years of having almost no anxiety symptoms at all, just the occasional dizziness and normal anxiety here and there.

Anyway lately I have been kind of stressed because I have felt really off-balanced, dizzy, and lightheaded. Plus sometimes I get this feeling in my forehead, like if something is pressing on it. The thing is my anxiety was on set by a severe infection that gave me pretty bad vertigo, I became depressed and generally anxious all the time. Anyway now my vertigo is gone, but my fear has always been the return of the vertigo.

So anyway now I am dealing with these off-balance feelings and Im wondering if this is a return of the inner ear condition or in fact just dizziness from my anxiety. I have noticed it gets worse when Im stressed, so that tells me its anxiety, but then again sometimes I feel pretty good and I still feel it.

I graduated college about a year and a half ago travelled to Asia, spent some time there, came back and pretty much spent all my time focused on my martial arts training and not working. Now, I feel its time for me to step into the real world and start working. The job search needless to say has not been going well, and I think the stress of all of it has been bringing me down. So I really do feel that is the underlying issue for my stress and anxiety and may be causing me this dizziness. I go out and do things and feel better, but Im still worried its all going to come back, eventhough I know better (I finished the program about 3 years ago by the way). Im currently re-doing the program.

So in the end I feel this is a growth spurt, but I have no idea where this dizziness is coming from. Am I dizzy because Im anxious, or anxious because Im dizzy. I have been doing VRT exercises and they dont seem to be helping me much, which makes me feel that it may in fact be anxiety.

I have an appointment with my psychiatrist to see if maybe my medication stopped working or something, and then Im also going to the ENT to rule out a physical problem.

I take Lexapro 20mg, and ever since I started I have been feeling amazing (about 4 years). So Im wondering if its possible that my medication "pooped out". Becuase I have been under alot of stress before and I didnt feel bad, so why would it come back now?

Alot of questions I know but hopefully someone out there can relate. The dizziness has made me stop training martial arts because I feel dizzy, I hate that, because well Martial Arts is a huge part of my life. Im not afraid of going out but I get so annoyed by the dizziness I stay indoors, which only then makes it worse when I go out.

I been feeling like this for about 3 weeks now, and am doing everything possible to feel better. But maybe I have to slow down and take my time instead of rushing everywhere trying to find a quick cure. I guess Im just so afraid of coming full circle and eventhough I know it cant happen, I still scare myself.

The relaxation has been helping but I havent been doing it dilligently and well I got back on the program (Session 4 right now). Hopefully I feel some relief soon. Just gotta be strict with the relacation and self-talk.

yeah this might be a growth spurt...but you look like you are handling it very well. You are using your tools and they are helping (even if they aren't alleviating the problem). You are getting your ear checked out, so you will know if it is something physical. If it isn't, you will know and can move on from there.

Just don't think the worst and try not to what if! You have felt better before and you will again. You will handle this and everything will work out. You are doing everything you can and good for you. Remember to be compassionate to yourself along with doing the self-talk. "I'm doing the right things! I am taking action instead of just waiting for this to go away. I know what to do and I am doing the best I can. Good for me for going right back to the tools I've learned! I am going to use my skills to figure this out and I am going to be so happy with myself when I do."

Hi Thai,
As a completely unrelated event I had an inflamed inner ear. I completely lost my balance for 2 months. It got so bad that I was throwing up every morning. I ended up going to see a physical therapist that specialized in balance at recommendation from my general Dr. She thought that I had vertigo. Well when I got there and was taken through the evaluation they told me that it was not vertigo. I was too young at 26.
Well I went through some exercises to bring my vestibular system back to normal. I also moved out of my apartment building where there had been mold. Six months later the symptoms were completely gone.
You should talk to your doctor but keep in mind that there is a possibility of something else going on. The fact that I was dizzy brought on the first set of panic attacks for me (I wasn't doing the program yet).
Best of Luck!!
Faith