always feel lightheaded and dizzy

[DIZZYGRL]

Hi I'm 25 female and I have been told by my doctor that i have a panic disorder. I am always lightheaded and feeling dizzy. I feel like I could pass out at any second. This is ruining my life. Im scared to do anything alone. I cant go to a grocery store, mall, nothing. I am too scared that I'm going to pass out and I have tried to overcome it but I cant. As soon as I get into a place I get so dizzy and my vision is all messed up. I get so hot and sweaty and my heart races. I want my life back. I still dont believe that its just anxiety causing all of this. I feel like I have something else wrong that the doctors cant find even though i have had bloodwork, mri, ekg, and they were all normal. I started taking .25mg of xanax once a day. still dont feel any better yet. So if anybody has any help please give it to me. I feel like i have hit rock bottom

[dmbfan07cb]

You and I sound almost exactly the same.  I feel dizzy ALOT and I am afraid to be alone or go to a store, When I get in a store I get dizzy, hot and I can feel my heart racing in my chest.  I too have had all the various workups for my health and am otherwise fine.  

I took xanax, and the first pill worked fine then after that they didn't work anymore
Now i've started prozac and I feel even worse, everytime I stand up I get the feeling im going to black out.  Hopefully this will go away soon.

I feel like my life is over, like I will never have it back and I am just destined to lie in a bed all the time worried about everything and be dizzy.   I find that talking to people about it does help though, so anytime you need someone to talk to you are welcome to give me a shout on here

-Doug

[dmbfan07cb]

P.S.

You should fill out your profile so we will know more about you :)  

[DIZZYGRL]

thank you so much for responding. it feels so good to know that i am not alone with this and that i have someone to talk to about it because nobody understands it like my friends or family. they think im crazy and its all in my head. why would i ever want to make something up? nobody understands and i hate feeling so alone with it. i am so happy i found this forum, i will try to figure out the profile thing. ttyl

[dmbfan07cb]

Hey you ARE NOT alone.  My parents and friends are the same exact way, they just say "shake it off, you will be fine".  They just don't understand how hard it is to shake off, IT IS VERY HARD.  I've even been accused of making all this up so people will feel sorry for me, I WISH I WAS MAKING IT UP!!!  It's so horrible.

I feel so unstable, and when I say unstable, I mean I feel like I cannot control anything and my panic and anxiety can just take me over.  But have you ever noticed that even in the middle of the worse anxiety attack, if your in public with friends or something, you will aways excuse yourself properly before running off?  I notice I do that, it's weird.  Some may not, I dunno.

The most important thing is that you are not alone and you are not crazy!  This is a real problem, just as real as someone with diabetes or something.

Do you ever get full blown panic attacks?

[stephk821]

You are definitely not alone here.  Back in August of 2007, I started getting really bad panic attacks almost every single day... things kept getting worse and worse as the months went on... I could barely go to my classes, couldn't go out to bars, malls, stores, anything without panicking(heart racing, dizzy, shaky, feel like i'm going to faint).  It was like this anxiety literally took over my life.  By November I started to get into a deep depression.  I was crying almost every night, sometimes for no reason, but most of the time because I felt like I had no life.  I even had my mom crying for quite a long time because she literally could not help me.  This is something you have to manage yourself.  And no one will understand what you are going through unless they have been through it.  That's the toughest part.  I was completely against medication up until this past February.  I tried everything... going to the doctors to get several tests done that all came back normal, went to a therapist, tried exercising, completely got rid of caffeine in my diet... NOTHING worked.  That's when I broke down and said I NEED to at least give medication a try.  My therapist first put me on zoloft... I had pretty bad nausea with that and it didn't seem to work so we switched to celexa.  I have been on that for about 10 weeks now and I can't say enough about it... I still get very minor panic attacks about twice a month, but it is NOTHING compared to what it used to be.  I am soo happy now, even my friends and my family have noticed such a big change in my mood... I wouldn't go back if someone paid me.  So, my suggestion is, if nothing else works for you, you should definitely try an SSRI and see if it works... it make take more than one try, but it's totally worth it.  Good luck!!!

Stephanie

[DIZZYGRL]

I have always been against medication I guess because I feel that its not anxiety thats causing me to have these panick attacks. I think that im dizzy all the3 time because i got some brain tumor or some rare disease that the doctors keep missing...but thats most likely just the anxiety giving me these thoughts so 3 weeks ago i explained to my doctor how bad its really been. she gave me xanax and celexa. so im so excited to hear that you take that and it works because alot of people havent really heard of it. i take .25mg xanax once a day which doesnt do anything and i have been staring at my celexa pills debating to take them for the past three weeks (dont ask me why, just scared to start them i guess) but now since i hear some positive feedback on it i will start it tonight. thanx

[stephk821]

no problem.... I was exactly like you... petrified... but I got over it.  And don't be upset if Celexa doesn't work for you... everyone is different.... I heard a lot of positive things about Zoloft and it just didn't work with my body.  I also took xanax when I first started Celexa... my therapist told me it will help keep the side effects low.  However, I will tell you that you shouldn't continue to take xanax every day for a long period of time (more than a month) because it will become addicting and it is very hard to come off of it... so if I were you I would stop taking the xanax soon and only take it if you are having a panic attack. If you have any more questions or just need to talk please don't hesitate... I will always be here for advice or whatever... we all need all the help we can get! : )

[ChrisR23]

Hey sorry tocome in on your guys convo but I too suffer from the same thing I think something is wrong and cant take care of it. I think the worst and scared to go out. I wanted to say that xanax sucks I took it and didn't work, plus your on the smallest dosage of it so maybe you should ask you pcp to up the dosage. I am trying to find a anxiety med that works because I get no relief from the ones I have had so far. But as for you, you are not alone. Get back at me.

[DIZZYGRL]

the xanax isnt workin for me but thats probaly because i am taking the lowest possible dose. you know what gets me is i was reading the side effects and of course it says dizziness. so i dont know if i dont feel any better because im feeling a side effect or its just not working. but i am going to start the celexa tonight and hopefully it will start working but in the mean time im just trying to get through the day....btw does anybody find that flurescent lights like in walmart screw with their eyes? or is it just part of the panic attack?

[worried826]

Everything that you have described in this thread is anxiety panic related. Dizziness, fear of passing out, vision issues from lights, sweats, and not believeing the docs after they did all your bloodwork. These are all common with anxiety disorders.

If your meds arent working you should go back to the doc to either up your dose or try a different med. Are you doing any counseling at all either? They might be an underlying reason for your anxiety that may come out with counseling.

[DIZZYGRL]

My primary care doc started me on the meds. i have not yet seen a therapist but i am in the works of trying to find one. i know i have a lot of other issues in my life that im sure is making everything worse and talking to someone might help.

[Kerry1983]

I feel the same way. I just started feeling like this really. I got a cold and  my heart was racing and I was getting light headed all the time and dizzy kinda having shortness of breath. I try to stay away from stress