Feel dizzy and unbalanced while driving on the highways

[honestmale]

I am 44 years old and being driving for years but unfortunately, for couple of years I started to feel dizzy and unbalanced while driving on the highways for long time at a speed higher than 90 km/h (55 ml/h) specially at night.  It starts by feeling flashes at my head and then the difficulty starts. This problem does not occur while driving in the city.  I visited the EN&T doctor sometimes ago and he said I do not have an inner ear infection.  I visited eye doctor and no problem too.  Then I thought of it as driving phobia and started to take anti depressant drug but unfortunately, the problem still.  This issue is irritating me and I do not know what to do?!!!

[tjay1960]

Ok, I think I have you all beat.  But, oddly I don't feel like the winner.  I am a 55 year old woman.  I have been suffering with this dizzy/floating/out of control feeling for approximately 34 years.  I live in California.  It started when I was living in the San Jose area back in the early 80s, out of the blue.  I was on a freeway that I had driven numerous times previously with no problem.  It started to happen with more frequency, only when I was the driver and when my speed was over 55 miles per hour.  Over the years it morphed into just driving on a freeway at any speed, any lane and for any distance.  Being next to big rigs, windy conditions, bridges and the concrete freeway construction dividers make it much worse.  I used to be able to drive without any problem for about an hour.  Half hour away, and then the other half hour home.  I am now stuck in my central valley California town.  If I need to go out of town for any reason, I have to depend on someone driving me.
Over the decades I have been to acupuncture, hypnosis, ENT dr., a general practitioner once told me I had agoraphobia, a fear of crowds!  Idiot doctor, he just didn't want to bother with a "crazy, irrational" woman.  I have no allergies, no high blood pressure, no stress, I am generally in good health.  I do have chronic migraines, but they have come on in the past 10 years or so.  Long after I don't drive on freeways any longer.  My parents and both my siblings have never had any issue with driving.  They can all drive cross country, if they wished, with no problem.
The only thing that has ever worked for me was the hypnosis.  It worked for about a month.  At $250 a visit, I couldn't afford it.  That was in about 2001.  I am sure the price has gone up since then.  
Obviously, we are all suffering from some syndrome or phenomena that is wide spread.  
Hello medical community.  This is real and we need help.  I know I am a danger to myself and others when driving on the freeway.  Therefore, I do not drive on the freeways anymore.  Ever.  This "thing" that we all seem to be experiencing is very frightening when it is happening.  It is very difficult to describe or explain to "normal" people.  They just don't understand it.  It really can make you feel like you are crazy.  Why such a common activity as driving on a freeway would be the trigger for this in so many diverse individuals is a mystery.  There has to be a common thread.  
HELLO MEDICAL COMMUNITY!
HELLO MEDICAL COMMUNITY........

[iraklibox]

Hi I couldnt help but to make few points just for this entry cause u 'beat us all' : ) I live in UK and since UK switched to a digital broadcasting in 2012 being male 73kg  weight, gained 20kg and now I am 92kg.. being just 171cm high this is way too much I am 44 years old and when I checked my self in the Gym on this ultra modern technology new funcy machine it gave a reading that my metabolism was of 59 yers old.. where am I heading with this is that this new tipes of broadcasting digital with few hundreds chanels on or these online television where u are watching things through the lives tream or listening music not through the FM radio or CD but thrugh the internet again live streamed.. this new tipe digital broadcastings are slowly killing us.. and now at the moment nobody has any clue I am afraid, may be one day when its will be too late for our generation they will admit that this was hurmfull but now nobody is even raising questions there was one Spanish poor team of doctors who tryied to challenge ELD screens affect on human eyes but this fact was thrown and hidden away by this tech giants and everybody forgot about this now in UK there is statistics that the number os strokes on 35-50 years old has doubled and again these doctors are coming out with these stupid theories that we are eating too much solt having unhealthy diet and bluh bluh.. nobody is talking about the effects of smart phone screens on our health that u are checking ur phone more than 50 times a day nobody is talking about digital TVs or life stream TVs.. I know exactly what happend with me was direct consecuence of UK switching from telestrial TV to digital one and that my metabolism got like 59 yers old ones and I gain 20kg from that.. but at the moment I feel my self alone and I cant shout loud enough to wake somebody up that our goverments just for extra couple of billion dolars a year are slowly killing us without knowing that yeat.. may be one day.. I do not know if my comment will make u think about this problem but at least I tryied..

[Deepfeet]

This all started with me about three weeks ago.  I was driving to an event and hit a 4 lane highway and just couldn't focus. Like I was seeing the windshield not what's on the other side, almost like in a trance.  Feels like to you, see what there but don’t focus back to what’s important.    I had to pull over and bailed on the event and went home.   This happened to me before going over a bridge and I had that problem for years and thought I got through it with hypnosis.  On the bridge we were doing 55-65, 4 or 5 lanes and it was like a ribbon of cars all going the same so the illusion of really being still was there.  Full blown anxiety attack, sweating, fast heart rate etc.  

Seems to happen mostly on highways, multi lane and actually standing still at a red light a few minutes ago.  Almost feels like I am spinning a little and getting a closed in feeling.   Can't focus on just the road what in front of me.    I have to drive and its really messing with my brain.  It’s very hard to describe.  I sit at a PC terminal all day.  I thought it was my reading glasses and I use them all the time and even tired eyes.   Or even an over lite room and need to give my eyes abreak.  Went to the eye doctor last week and he prescribed some driving glasses and wetting eye drops. My actual eyes are ok.   I also started taking Prozac and Xanax to stop the anxiety.  It’s also feels like I am not registering as I speed up in the car.  Like the car is going faster then what I am seeing and it’s very disorientating.  I have to sit up very straight in the seat and it makes my skin and body crawl.   When I try to focus I start to get a little" out of body" feeling.  It’s very hard to describe.  

[JennyJ776]

Thank you for your post. thomastonct

Please read my comment. You have a hope. I almost gave up. But I think I found the cure! It is a true story.

I am 40 years old now.I used to love driving. My weird dizziness started on November 2013 when I was in a passenger seat while my friend was driving. It was very sudden but very obviously the dizziness were there.  
I used to drive fearlessly for 23 years but all of a sudden I became disabled. Even when I drive 30-40 miles per hour, it was struggling for me and made me so dizzy and I had abnormal visual feeling like a tunnel vision. Driving became a nightmare since then. I stopped driving highway for over one year and six month.

I went to ENT(Ear, Nose and Throat), eye doctor, brain MRI, blood work, acupuncture, Korean traditional medicine, chiropractor and neurologist.
Everything was normal. No doctors couldn't figure out.
On Thursday(June 4th, 2015), I went to a different ENT doctor in a big hospital in the downtown hoping for an answer my ear is the problem but got out with disappointment. Nothing was wrong the doctor said. I am a single mother. It was so devastating to experience this crazy symptom not knowing the cause or clue. On the same day, I came to this site again out of desperation and found thomastonct's comment above. That was new. I went to a book store and bought the book "Trigger point therapy workbook" by Clair Davies. I watched several youtube video of STERNOCLEIDOMASTOID (SCM) trigger point massage.

I had nothing to lose and was going to try anything to be better. I tried the SCM massage(Please search google where to find SCM in you neck) right away several times a day very diligently for four days. Since the next day, I felt more than 50% better and today I accidentally went into high way and drove for 4 miles without stopping. I couldn't even imagine to drive on highway before because even for local road with 40 miles per hour was struggling for me for long time. Today I can excitedly say my dizziness for one year and six months were gone more than 90%. I felt normal for the first time.

I was so excited and so was my son. I really hope many of you can be cured like me. It was so simple and so easy to fix it. Current medical system was far beyond to find a cure or cause easily which is sad. However, thanks to some brilliant doctors like Travell & Simons and therapist like Davies, the author and her father, and someone like
thomastonctand who took time to write a comment for other people, I
think a lot of people will be relieved from this confusing dizziness.
I am so happy. I feel like I am reborn again. Try this massage today and if you got cured, please write a comment and spread the words for others!!!

[Shumba1]

I am 38years old living in NZ and have the same problem as many of us here.  I have a rolling sensation/effect when driving a truck, particularly when going around a curve either side and  driving downhill at speeds over 50km/h.  For me it only happens when driving a truck.  I feel like the truck is going to roll to my right/ driver's side.  I have gone for hearing exam, EN&T, MRI scan, Psychologists all in vain.  I still have the feeling when driving a car but it is well manageable and I can easily drive at 100km/h in motorways.  My biggest problem is I drive for a job and also own the trucks.  I have invested over $500 000 in the trucks and my inability to drive means loosing the business and many of you would imagine what that means in terms of loosing your livelihood.  On some days it's worst such that a 20 minute journey will turn to an hour as I drive around avoiding motorways and only use it to cross the harhour bridge as there is no alternate route.
The specialist who dealt with me categorised my symptoms at "summation somatic disorder" or something like that.   However, since November 2018 till now am still living in the same hell.  I was referred to a psychologist who taught me some relaxation technics, breathing technics, stress management, etc.  I was tried on some vertigo medication which didn't work


I'll take this thread to all the specialists I have seen, maybe someone will be motivated to have further study about it and hopefully one day we'll have some treatment.  As for now I'll keep using all the technics I have in my tool box and keep going.  I now have some small relief that I haven't gone nut as other people have/are experiencing somewhat similar symptoms.

[MVDS_cyclist]

The symptoms described here may have different root causes but here is my story about conquering my debilitating condition.

I had the familiar symptoms while driving a car: at high speeds on highways I could not go through a curve without feeling I was losing control (tipping over), and felt uncertain on wide open roads. What was worse for me was that it affected my road cycling. It started with no longer being able to go through a curve without braking. Then I could no longer ride (fast) on wide open roads. In the end I had to get off the bike for fear of falling over. I almost got myself hit by cars because I started to swerve to avoid falling over.
I was always OK at slow speeds and on narrow bike paths or roads with trees or tall grass or corn fields alongside. So I reasoned that as long as my eyes were getting cues about orientation I was OK. Being on a bike and in the Netherlands with 1000s of miles of dedicated bike paths with no cars around me allowed me to experiment. I started to consciously look for queues. Though that helped in the very moment, after a few weeks it made my symptoms much worse. So much worse that I was afraid I had to give up cycling forever. I was a danger to myself and others.

I read more about "motorist vestibular disorientation syndrome" and decided to try the opposite: on long, straight and deserted bike paths I would ride while staring at the road under my bike. This way my eyes were not getting any orientation cues (riding blindfolded was not really an option :-) ) This was unnerving at first and I could only do it for a few seconds. But I kept at it day after day (regularly looking up of course to make sure there wasn't any oncoming bike traffic!). And it got better. And I noticed my symptoms would occur less frequently. It wasn't like it was slowly improving, but the symptoms would turn on and turn off, sometimes within a single ride. Either I was OK and could take a curve at 20mph or I was not. That was unnerving because going in to a curve I never knew if it would hit me halfway in.
Also I was able to ride wide open roads again, with only the occasional scare.
The first time my symptoms improved I stopped my "experiment". I biked happily for a month or so, but then the symptoms came back. So whenever in a safe environment I would continue to ride "blind". And after several months I was totally cured! I've stopped my "experiment" and the symptoms have not recurred for the past half year.

I don't know the root cause of this condition, but I think I know what happens when you have these symptoms. When standing still or going slow, your brain uses the inputs from your inner ear (vestibular organ) to orient itself. This has never been a problem for me. I'm not dizzy or unstable while walking and I can stand still with my eyes closed.
When you move faster, your brain integrates the signals from your vestibular organ with the signals from your eyes.
This is some non-linear process that weighs both inputs. At slow speeds it gives more weight to the vestibular signal but as speed increases it relies more on the visual cues. This is OK until you go at a high speed without any visual cues: highways, wide open roads. Somehow this mechanism has gone awry. At high speed your brain ONLY uses the visual inputs and completely ignores the vestibular. By "riding blind" I forced my brain to re-calibrate the algorithm. And it worked! I am enjoying going in to highway curves at speed again - and riding my bike!

From the initial recognition of my symptoms it took me about 2-1/2 years to begin my experiment and about 4-6 months to become symptom free.  Though not everyone has the luxury of dutch bike paths I hope sharing my experience will help others conquer this issue.

[honestmale]

Thanks MVDS for sharing your experiences with us. I think this issue is too complicated, especially for those who driving cars. It is also too dangerous. Since one mistake may results in a catastrophic accident. We need to be so careful.

Wishing you all safe driving and happy life.

Adnan

[lucienne139]

Fascinating! Your symptoms exactly match mine. I’ll try this myself, on my bike and see what happens...thanks for posting!

[MVDS_cyclist]

lucienne139, thanks for making the effort to leave a note. Since you found this post you must be as frustrated as I was searching for a solution. I am still symptom free and enjoying bike riding (and car driving) again. I hope this will help you too and would really appreciate an update in a few months - it is going to take time.
And stay safe!!!!!

[kim777310]

Wow you hit it on the nose although its while I'm driving. I've actually experimented the way you did not knowing I was experimenting. Just doing whatever worked in the meantime so I wouldnt have to drive on service road all my life.  I can now drive in the fast lane on familiar highways. Unfamiliar highways I dont even bother....

[entrep786]

so just an update from oct 2017. I got back the same problems again after i stopped going to the gym. Im not sure if its gym related or not. I have alot of stress at my work and at my home.
I feel loosing balance when driving over 100km/h . I canmot drive on highways as much, i take inner roads and it is killing me.  
My ears now have pressure every now and then. no ear infection either. I dont drink. The only medication im on is lipitor. Is anyone else on lipitor here ?
Does anyone else experencing this have high stress workload? Do you have ear infection?

[entrep786]

Hi
I am returning after many years to reply back. I figured out what my problem was. It was a infection in my stomach which was causing issues. I did some round of antibiotics such as rifaxamin and metronidazole . I was also low on b12 , b1, vitamin D . I had to pay out of pocket to naturopath to do private blood work , breath and stool test. I am feeling much better. Make sure you use a biofilm buster when doing the antibiotics.