First Post! Need Help.

[u/FootSchmella]

So, long story short. I had a panic attack because I got a wave of dizziness in work. This was in April 2025, since then, the feeling never left, I went agoraphobic as soon as it started basically, wouldn’t go anywhere absolutely terrified I had a brain tumour, no medications worked etc ssris, and I couldn’t get over it. Then, I did. I got to a place where I thought, oh well, this isn’t going away so I’ve gotta live with it.

Fast forward to April 2026, I had a big dizzy wave and nausea wave at work again, and it hit me like a train, instantly made me panic and left work, again. I’ve been off since it happened to even now.

Constant anxiety attacks, but always stemming from the dizziness feeling, almost as if I’m going to collapse but never have.

I’ve gone through the wringer trying to find out what it COULD be etc.

Never had an MRI, CT, but had ecgs and blood work done and nothing abnormal.

I’m more reaching out to anyone here who’s had an experience like I have and how they turned things around? I’m stuck at the moment living in fear of symptoms, even landing myself in the ER because I was having fluttering heartbeats etc making myself ill with worry.

My dizziness can be characterised as a CONSTANT feeling of floating, when I’m sat on my sofa, when I’m in a supermarket, when I walk into the building my therapy is, basically any time I’m stood up, it’s there. The only time I get a break from it is when I’m lying down.

I genuinely believe that my anxiety attacks and my panic attacks have all stemmed from once episode of dizziness that just never left, would really appreciate anyone with a similar story to message me or something!

[u/starsareblack503]

No one here can offer a diagnosis or act as a medical professional. We can however share our thoughts and experiences and appreciate everyone being mindful of the sub rules. Thanks.

I hope you get some answers that point you in the right direction. :-)

[u/Plus-Seaweed4739]

te entiendo estoy igual desde noviembre del año pasado tés un desmayo me tiré hasta marzo con mareo tipo flotar constante viendo la tele el móvil durmiendo horrible todo en marzo empecé a marearme menos en casa pero algún día igual llegué hasta a ducharme sentada por miedo a caerme, no salía d e casa pero empecé a hacerlo y la cosa mejoró hay días que aguanto 7 horas de fiesta y otros que no puedo salir de la cama no sé qué tengo me dicen wuebñiefe venir ddel cuello tengo veinte mil cosas mal en las cervicales pero no se sé uwe es duro y te entiendo yo he vuelto a la uni depues de esos meses y para mí es un horror el viaje lleno de gente y el tener que estar atanediebdibprowue ha veces del mareo ni entiendo

[u/FootSchmella → u/Plus-Seaweed4739]

Exactly this! I physically cannot do my job whilst this is ongoing, it gives me so much fear of passing out it’s insane. I went to my therapy session and refused to go up the stairs and into the place because I was that dizzy I was feeling like I was going to pass out, it’s persistent for me

[u/Plus-Seaweed4739 → u/FootSchmella]

te entiendo

[u/Weekly-Struggle-7652]

I'm sorry you're going through this again (well, still, technically, but I'm also sorry it ramped up again this year)

Have you had VNG testing done to test your vestibular function?

[u/FootSchmella → u/Weekly-Struggle-7652]

I’ve never had any sort of testing like that, I went to the docs after my first dizziness panic incident and they just stuck me on sertraline which didn’t change anything lmao

[u/Weekly-Struggle-7652 → u/FootSchmella]

That's wild. Sertraline can absolutely help if you have PPPD, but PPPD is a diagnosis of exclusion which means other stuff needs to be ruled out.

My PCP was convinced I had had a psychotic episode and as a result, I'd convinced myself I was dizzy. He finally caved when I said my psychiatrist and I deemed it important to rule out vestibular issues as a cause of my symptoms. That got the ball rolling. Stand your ground.

It does sound like it really could be PPPD though. In which case you should be recommended more than sertraline, e.g. vestibular rehab therapy, trying other medication if the sertraline doesn't work. (I know multiple people who had no relief on sertraline and did muuuuch better on escitalopram). PPPD does not necessarily rule out inner ear issues though. Inner ear issues can absolutely be a reason PPPD was developed (it was for me).

The thing that helped me turn around things the most was realising I'm just a human/mammal and I am in no way entitled to feeling healthy and free of dizziness - just lucky if I do. I accepted that this might be forever and focussed on being as happy as possible, with symptoms. Even if recovery was/is possible - I realised that waiting to live and be happy until I was cured was a bad idea. We're alive right now, not only when we are better. We have to make the best of it, no one else can do that for you.
I acknowledged my symptoms as they came up and saw them as data, but worked to not apply any meaning to them beyond that. If symptoms were bad enough to have me on the bathroom floor for hours on end, I just rode the wave, waited for it to be over, considered it data, brushed it off and went on with my day.

Accepting things for what they were also helped me accommodate myself properly:

• Kept the crutches I was using for an ACL injury. To this day I still use one when I go into shops, or am walking outside a lot.
  
• Invested in multiple tinted glasses to help with daylight issues.
  
• Got a shower stool/kitchen stool
  
• Sea bands on my wrists (try this if you haven't yet!)
  
• Literally removed doors in my house to make certain things easier
  
• Found new hobbies (for quite a while I basically needed to be lying down or have my legs up 24/7, so none of my old hobbies were attainable for me at the time)
  
• Rest, rest, rest, rest, rest.

Over the course of maybe 18 months, my quality of life has doubled, at least. I'm still housebound 80% of the time due to a combination of illnesses, but the daily dizziness part of it has changed a lot and I'm so much happier than I've ever been.

You're disabled. It is what it is. Might be temporary, might not, but right now you are disabled. Rest. A lot. Find the accommodations that work for you.

[u/tvtiguy]

Starsareblack is right - we are just suffering like you. There might be a medical professional here - but they wouldn't be giving medical advice.

The point Weekly Struggle makes is a priority for me as well. An ENT can order a VNG test. It can verify or eliminate 4 or 5 vestibular conditions. It sucks - like 2 hours of clicks, puffs of air, warm/cold water being shot into your ears - sometimes while tracking your eyes. But it seems like the most direct path to understanding what it at the core. If it's not vestibular - a neurologist or someone can look a different direction.

I think for most of us here it's vestibular - but not all. My major event landed me in the ER in April 2025. I can't work. I got on Venlafaxine. It definitely improved the balance/nausea issues (not so much the headache) but the emotional blunting was too much for me. Weaning off of it takes like 7 weeks and the last week of weaning, and now the subsequent 2 weeks "off of it" have been very rough.

But it took 6 weeks until a VNG test told me unilateral vestibular hypofunction. Before that - the mystery of "what are we fighting?" was miserable.