# Dizziness



## Guest (Oct 26, 2006)

Does anyone have dizziness hand in hand with dp? When ever I move my head fast or do anything physical that involves head movemend I get very dizzy. Even when I move my eyes far to the sides, or make a "lazy eye" I get this lightheadedness that immediatelly melts into acutte and severe DPDR and lasts upto 10 minutes.

I was to neuro and did many tests with no diagnosis. Now I am waiting to see a specialist for inner ear disorder.

Maybe I should see an eye doctor as well.


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## Guest (Oct 26, 2006)

my dp started out as dizziness


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## +[ thedeadpoet ]+ (Jul 23, 2006)

Indeed. This is anxiety, or so I've been told by various professionals in the field.

Unfortunately my anxiety involves tremors when the situation is tense enough. These tend to occur directly before the dizzy spells become unbearable.

But apart from dizzy spells, I have issues with balance even when I'm in my 'comfort zone'. I swear, a stiff breeze could send me over.


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## Dreamer (Aug 9, 2004)

Interesting topic that comes up now and again. I should put up a poll.

In an earlier DSM (the III) I think, dizziness *was* considered part of DP/DR. Don't quote me, but I remember such relief in reading that.

My DP/DR were also preceded by about 6 months of dizzy spells, again as a young girl. The dizziness comes and goes. Again, before meds, and no rec drugs here.

Over the years dizziness has come and gone. I also have vertigo that seems to be related to an ear problem however.

I know in reading medical journal articles the "dizzy" factor is accounted for by anxiety. But I don't know. This past weekend I was extraordinarily anxious, horribly so, to the point of endless crying, and a splitting tension headache that responded to nothing ... no dizziness.

Just now I got up from a nap, and this has been happening on and off for a couple of years now -- and I feel "unsteady". I have always, and again before being on meds, "run into things" etc.

I honestly believe, the more I read, the more I live this that there is indeed something neurological going on -- temporal lobes, who knows. I've read a number of theories that keep coming and going.

People can have DP with head injury, but studies wonder if anxiety causes the DP after head injury. But individuals who have DP/DR as part of the aura of a seizure (who have epilespy).

One can poke into a brain during surgery and cause all sorts of perceptual distortions including dissociation.

I believe that psychology/enviornment can affect the brain's formation, I believe talk therapy can also affect the brain's formation or "programming and reprogramming". Early intervention is critical for this.

Also some people are simply born with these illnesses. I know for certain, I have studied my own life enough, my own journals, that I was clearly "feeling odd", anxious and depressed as early as age 4/5. And I know this as I've recorded these things in journals as a young girl/teen and/or have passports from trips where I have the date of the vacation where some of this started. One trip to Mexico and one to Tobago.

(With my parents years ago -- they traveled a lot) and I with my mother later on.

Anyway, again, my two cents.

This does not mean this won't go away for some here. But for me it hasn't. And having a lifetime of the evolution of this crap I have a certain perspective. And sometimes when it is hideous (and mind you it hasn't been hideous for about 2 years, except in dreams) there is no other explanation for the way I feel other than something has gone BADLY wrong in my brain.

What I don't know. Some connections are miswired or have lost the connection.

Chemical imbalance is an overused term. The brain is more complex than that. The various interactions in the brain are infinite.

Yes, dizziness has been recognized in a good many DP patients.

I wish I had clear statistics. But they're out there.

Best,
D


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## Max_Power (Oct 26, 2006)

That's interesting...

I do have lot's of random unexplainable dizziness and didn't relate it at all to DP/DR... makes sesne though...

-Max Power


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## Guest (Oct 27, 2006)

thedeadpoet said:


> Indeed. This is anxiety, or so I've been told by various professionals in the field.
> 
> Unfortunately my anxiety involves tremors when the situation is tense enough. These tend to occur directly before the dizzy spells become unbearable.
> 
> But apart from dizzy spells, I have issues with balance even when I'm in my 'comfort zone'. I swear, a stiff breeze could send me over.


I had balance problem too and just like you said, a mild wind can make you fall. It lasted about a year and a half. I thought it was permanent. However it went away.

For most of us underlying cause for this problem is anxiety. I know when I relax and have nothing to worry about (that happens for 1 second every 3 months) I feel very fine. But anxiety sometimes kicks in without a cause. Often just a bad thought can trigger all this. But anyway, life is a war, you gotta fight something :lol:


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## Guest (Oct 27, 2006)

Dreamer I love your optimism. You are a real worrier. When ever I read optimistic posts I feel better. I guess that shows I need psychotherapy but I fear it. I fear talking about my problems because my situation was so severe that when ever I talk about it I feel it is coming back.

Anyway, what Im trying to pull here is, they say anxiety causes inner ear problems. But some theorys suggest otherwise, that inner ear-disorders can trigger anxiety. I hope that is case with me because my symptoms are weird, for instance when i put pressure on my left ear and then release, it almost knocks me out. (faint)

Inner-ear = anxiety = dizziness/panic=DRDP

May be possible


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## Dreamer (Aug 9, 2004)

yasko said:


> Dreamer I love your optimism. You are a real worrier. When ever I read optimistic posts I feel better. I guess that shows I need psychotherapy but I fear it. I fear talking about my problems because my situation was so severe that when ever I talk about it I feel it is coming back.
> 
> Anyway, what Im trying to pull here is, they say anxiety causes inner ear problems. But some theorys suggest otherwise, that inner ear-disorders can trigger anxiety. I hope that is case with me because my symptoms are weird, for instance when i put pressure on my left ear and then release, it almost knocks me out. (faint)
> 
> ...


Ah yasko, I'm not a real worrier. I am a 47 year old woman with chronic depression, GAD, and DP/DR. I write from doing a tremendous amount of research (years of research), and from my own experience. AND from my experience of interacting with others who have a variety of mental illnesses.

I am also in therapy as well as on medications. I have never said that therapy isn't important when someone has a mental illness. I have also been in psychoanlysis which in my case, JUST MY CASE, was very destructive. I went backwards in my progress.

Each case here is UNIQUE. I say this in many of my posts. And I am indeed entitled to my opinion.

I've stopped "worrying". My DP/DR has faded somewhat in the past two years. Also, you are undoubtedly younger than I am. I have been through a lifetime dealing with the mental health profession and seen the changes over the years.

I'm sorry you find my posts discouraging. I find them encouraging. Understanding mental illness as a medical disorder means it's being taken seriously by the research community.

*My experience is not yours. And I do not intend to discourage anyone. Try therapy. I myself see my psychiatrist FOR therapy. He is a 3rd year resident who is focusing on dissociative disorders. His training physician is an expert in Borderline Personality and Dissociative Disorders.*

I also attend group therapy. I have had DBT and CBT. All of these help, along with my meds.

No, I'm not a worrier. That doesn't make sense. Knowledge is important to me. I never stop learning. I have a BA and MA, and yet I love to learn about many things.

*"To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom is to observe."
- Marilyn vos Savant - (spelled her name wrong I think)*

Seeking answers and understanding, isn't worrying. That would mean researchers are worriers. Also there are many in the mental health profession who have mental illnesses themselves. They have sought to understand their own illness and help others with thier knowledge and experience.

Also, many psychiatrists went into the field as a family member, such as a sibling or parent, is mentally ill. They are taking a lemon and making into lemonade.

Would you say Michael J. Fox is a worrier about Parkinson's? He has it, he has educated himself about it, and helps educate others and provide money for research.

Is Doug Flutie sp? (football player) a worrier about autism? I believe his son has it (not daughter? sorry) and he has become an advocate for that illness.

Best,
D


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