Is this anxiety or something more serious?

[Sandy0702]

About 2 months ago, I began having dizzy spells here and there. There was a chance I could have been pregnant, and dizziness was my first sign of pregnancy with my first, so I kept testing. Long story short, I wasn’t pregnant (confirmed with blood test).

Since then, I keep having these momentary dizzy spells, but I was ignoring them because they weren’t really interfering with my life and they were few and far between.

I began to google dizziness, and decided it could very well be that I have anemia (iron, B12, and/or folate deficiency). The doctor ran all these blood tests, and they called me with the results Friday; they all came back normal. Now, they want to do a brain MRI.

Ever since they mentioned doing a brain MRI, I feel like I’m spiraling. I have a one-year-old daughter, and I keep imagining leaving her motherless. I keep thinking how I might not get to watch her grow up, and what I could possibly leave her to let her know how much I love her. I have also been experiencing the dizziness much more often, feel like I’m living in a fog, and having headaches. I’ve never in my life had anxiety, and even though the people in my life who actually do have anxiety are saying that it sounds just like it, I’m hesitant to believe them because I’ve never had a history of it. I’ve been plenty stressed and worried about things before, and have never felt like this.

Because it’s the weekend, I went to urgent care to see what that doctor thought about it (because I don’t feel like I can just wait patiently for the MRI, which hasn’t even been scheduled yet). They said the dizziness is super worrisome to them, since it’s been ongoing for 2 months. They said vertigo usually comes and goes.

The only other thing I think it COULD be is that my contacts prescription is out of date. I haven’t had an eye exam in maybe 3 years. I called my optometrist, but they can’t get me in for an eye exam until August. I just feel like I need answers NOW; the wait is affecting my life.

[Paxiled]

Lots of things can cause dizziness.  Improper hydration, inadequate levels of certain nutrients, allergies, sinus congestion, inner ear problems -- just a lot of things.  Oftentimes the labs docs run aren't very good at picking up a lot of this stuff.  Even changes in barometric pressure can cause it.  It doesn't usually stick around, but it's not sticking around in you, either -- it comes and goes, as you say.  But if you're not thinking anxious thoughts, then you're not an anxiety sufferer.  Stress is present in everyone's life and is altogether different from anxiety, which is irrational when chronic.  So I'm with you that if you're not sitting there thinking really anxious thoughts a lot before this happened, it's probably not an anxiety problem.  

[Sandy0702]

Thank you so much for your response!

Regarding the dizziness “coming and going” - I guess this confuses me. It has never been constant, like an entire day of straight dizziness. But it’s like this: I’ll be walking, and it feels like the world starts to tilt for just a moment. Or I’ll be washing dishes and I feel for a moment like my eyes are crossing. It always lasts just a second, but it happens frequently throughout the day.

Regarding the anxious thoughts - it has just been since Thursday when she first mentioned the MRI, that I am dwelling on the possibility of a brain tumor and since then, yes, I am literally thinking all these anxious thoughts 24/7.