Dizziness/foggy feeling

[Just concerned...]

Hello.  For a few months now, I have been having this somewhat bizarre feeling in my head.  It comes and goes - sometimes lasts a while - sometimes goes away for a week or so.  It's almost like I'm dizzy, but not like I'm about to pass out.  It's almost a similar sensation to motion sickness where I feel like what I'm focusing on with my eyes suddenly makes me kind of nauseous.  I feel kind of "foggy-headed" - kind of like when you have a bad head cold and you're "disconnected", so to speak.  I had been given a new type of contact lenses by my eye doctor, so he switched me to another kind, thinking that these may have been drying out too much and re-shaping on my eye to cause focusing problems.  I'm not sure if this is related to my eyes or something in my head or something else!  It scares me when it happens and it can sometimes last for a few hours where I'm incredibly aware of my head feeling foggy - probably causes me to worry about it more than I should.  I do work most of my day on a computer.  Is this something I should look into?  I was told it could be related to allergies?  Is this something to be concerned about?  I am scheduled for my annual physical with my doctor at the beginning of January - would this warrant seeing him sooner?  Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer.

[CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS]

Dear Kevin:

Yes there is a test that looks at eye movements in concert with vestibular function.  It is done only at specific centers such as Harvard, UCLA, and the Cleveland Clinic.  

Sincerely,

CCF Neuro MD

[anon]

go see a neurootologist (inner ear specialist) at a teaching hospital.

[CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS]

thanks for the comment.

CCF Neuro MD

[Adam]

Hi,

You really need to
a) have vestibular testing first.. pray that its negative.. a vestibular problem is definitely something nasty to have as there is not much you can do about it.
b) have a CT scan of your sinuses.

I had the same problems as you, but when vestibular testing came back negative, the neuro assumed there was nothing wrong with me and that I'd be better off at a psychiatrist.

And I did go to a psychiatrist, who said my problems sound like they could be sinus-related. I was given a nasal spray called 'Beconase AQ' which got rid of most of the pressure I would get in my head and I could focus properly and my vision cleared up a lot. Dizziness/imbalance still remained somewhat, so I had a CT scan of the sinuses which showed a very badly deviated septum, polyps, very little flow in ethmoid and maxillary sinuses but no sinus infection. There was no way to tell if surgery would fix my problem for sure, but I had it done and now I feel 100% again (after living for 2 years with fogginess, lightheaddedness, dizziness/imbalance and feeling detached).

Please give it a try.

-Adam

[Margaret Roosa]

I don't know if I'm in the right place or not, but if I'm not, please forgive me.  

Several months ago, I began to have what I call "spells."  It feels like something in my spine that gets weak and then I feel very light headed as though I'm going to pass out.  

I've had 5 major spine surgeries - 2 lumbar and 3 cervical, the last being for spinal cord compression at the C3/C4 levels.  I've also had a total hip replacement.  Because of these chronic conditions, I'm currently a patient in a Pain Management Clinic at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Washington, D.C.  I'm treated with MS Contin 30 mg, MS Contin 15 mg, 2 percocet at bedtime, 100 mg of elavil before bed.  In May of this year, I became very depressed and was given Wellbutrin and Trazadone.  These spells started after that.  

Most recently, I've had cataract surgery on both my eyes.  Upon recovery from the cataract surgery, when my doctor (ophthalmologist) was examining my eyes, he found that my optic nerve is swollen and immediately sent me to other doctors who agreed that it was swollen and told me I need to see a neurologist right away and the swollen optic nerve meant an increased level of pressure in the brain.  My initial physician wanted these other folks to determine if I have papilledema or pseudo papilledema.  The second physician I saw, as I said above, said that I needed to see a neurologist right away.  

I had a brain stem stroke in 1988 and tomorrow, I'm going to see the neurologist who treated me for that.  I'm a military dependent and wanted to keep my care at Walter Reed, but for some reason, they've dropped the ball on this and thus I decided to see the physician who treated my stroke simply because of the doctor's sense of urgency.  I seem to remember at that time that something was said about my optic nerve, but I cannot remember what.  I do remember that I was given cortisone to try to bring my vision back to normal after the stroke.  However, I'm sure they have my records archived and can easily find out.  It didn't, but it did get normal over a period of time by itself.  I had double vision then.  When I mentioned this to the second ophthalmologist (the one who told me to see a neurologist), he said no, this is more recent than that - meaning this swelling.  I don't know how he could know that.  

Anyway, as I said above, the only unusual symptom I've had are my weak spells and I've been told that I get very pale during them.  It almost feels as though my blood pressure rises and then suddenly drops.  

I would appreciate any comments you may have regarding my condition.

Margaret Roosa

[Jonathan]

I am very interested in the comments about the dizzy feelings.
For the past three weeks I have been experiencing these dizzy feelings but not as a headache. They have been at their worst when I have been eating and having a glass of wine with dinner. At that point I become dizzy and feel very hot. I immediately lose my apetite.
I have recently changed my reading glasses for a slightly stronger pair but I would be amazed if this caused such an effect. I have also been taking a course of Roaccutane but my specialist who prescribed these does not believe they would be having this effect.
I have now lost my appetite and don't know where to go next.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.