Dizziness with Anxiety

My grandmother has been diagnosed with Anxiety and Depression.  She has been experiencing dizziness that will not go away and we are desperately trying to find something she can do to stop the dizziness.  She has recently stopped taking the anxiety medications, so this should have stopped the dizziness but it did not.

She just cannot stand to live with the dizziness any more and is begging us to help her, but we don't know where to turn.

Can you help?

[ativan]

hi did your grandmother have the dizziness before stopping the meds? I also suffer anxiety and I get the dizzy of balance feelings and there not nice, but Im afraid it is part of anxiety. I just wondered how long your grandmother had been on her meds and if she came of them to quick. you have to withdraw very slowly, I do hope she soon feels better, if not then a visit to your gp might help her. I feel she may need reasurence.

[SLO6975]

She started the medications when she was first diagnosed and had dizziness ever since.  She had been on the meds for 6+ months and they did just stop them abruptly.  Her primary care doctor is definitely not specialized in any type of mental illness and I feel she doesn't know what to do or what to prescribe.  We hope to get her to see a specialist.

So, you would say that the dizziness is just something she will have to live with as long as she suffers from anxiety?  I read something on the internet that said something called Promethazine would help with dizziness.  Have you ever heard about this or know side effects, etc?

I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to my questions!  Thank you!

[Bmacosta]

try Cymbalta...it worked really good with me...i'm off of it now but it helped me feel alive

[Cuz10]

Being dizzy was one of my worst anxiety symptoms and it happened all the time, especially in open spaces, while I would be standing talking to someone or when I was in a shopping mall. Are there only certain times or places she has these dizzy spells? A Dizzy symtom is among the top 5 symptoms for anxiety suffers and especially in those who have Agorophobia.

I was able to fully resolve my dizzy spells by facing and accepting them. What I mean by this is you want to accept them and not fight them. What keeps this alive is the fear of the "effects" such as passing out so you try and fight the effects. If she is in the comfort of her home and she has a dizzy spell, have her prove to herself that it wont do what she fears by "allowing" it to do what she fears the most about it. For example, if she fears pasing out, have her let it do what it wants by "allowing" it to let her pass out. What she will find is that she wont pass out. By repeating this over and over she will no longer fight the fear of it and it will then subside.

Hope this makes sense.
Recovering from anxiety is all about acepting the sypmtoms and over time by doing so they will subside.

[Maggernator52]

The dizziness may have been a side effect of the medication. Conversely, stopping the medication cold may have led to withdrawal which can cause dizziness. Either way, I hope you have gotten her into a psychiatrist by now so she can get probably medicated and diagnosed.