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Head waves and weird attacks undiagnosed

Hi all, it all started a year ago I was in my bathroom and was smoking a cigarette and all the sudden I got this rush, I was extremely dizzy everything was spinning I could barely stand up the room was just in going round and round. I started shaking and I stumbled out and tried to drink some water but I dropped it everywhere I tried grabbing my thing to go upstairs but I kept stumbling into things, I was extremely hot and sweaty. I crawled upstairs to my bed and laid flat and everything started tingling and it stopped. I felt back to myself but still was like wtf? Then I had to throw up. And I went to bed to sleep it off and all was okay. 3 months later it happened again while I was again smoking a cig outside with my sister. I felt the familiar feeling come over me so I sat down and put out my cig but it still came over me I thought maybe I just need to get sick so as things were spinning and I was numb and out of it I stumbled to the garage cans but I couldn't throw up I just fell over the cans and started shaking violently. This went on for a couple minutes until I did throw up and then I collapsed to the ground and it stopped but my feet were so tingly and fuzzy I can hardly explain I felt the extreme urge to #2 so my sister helped me upstairs to do what I needed to do and after that my legs and feet stopped tingling and I went to bed. Everything was good until this past December. I was at work smoking a cig (you think I would've quit by now right) when I felt the feeling again I threw my cig and was aggravated and thought not while I'm at work, not right now! I stood up and started walking and I just felt dizzy and disoriented but never the whole room spinning dizzy. I ran inside to get help and nobody knew what to do so I sat down for a little and laid my head down. I felt okay so I went back to ringing up my customers when it hit me again and I ran into the room and sat down and put my head down and started throwing up. I was stuck in the feeling usually it would've went away but it didn't. So they sent me home my friend dropped me off at my house and I felt okay again for a little and then I went to the store with my boyfriend when I walked off by myself I got so disoriented and dizzy I ran to the bathroom and sat down but nothing helped I coukdnt find my boyfriend so I called him to come get me. We went home and I went to bed but the next morning things were far worse I was dizzy and felt almost non existent. I thought I was truly dying. We waited a couple days before I went to the hospital to see if it would pass but it didn't. It only got worse and worse. My heart during the attacks would pound btw but I hadn't had that exact attack but my heart was still constantly pounding things just didn't make sense all I could do was sleep. We finally went to the er and they took my blood, did a cat scan and everything was normal so they put me on Ativan and said it was anxiety and to get therapy. But I never had anxiety like this before and to last like this? So for the next 3 weeks thongs didn't change. I coukdnt get into a car because it felt like it was floating and I would freak out. I was bed ridden. Over the course of the next couple months I was on atarax and I still had anxiety but I dealt with the feelings. Then I stopped taking my meds because either felt strong enough to get through it. I still have constant feelings of if I relax for a minute I will go into an attack and go back to square one. Dr's say they've never heard of these attacks before and they don't really sound like anxiety but they can't think of anything else. I even had an mri and it was normal. It's now been 6 months and I'm still stuck in this hell. I was doing very good for a while. But I was getting my hair done and suddenly darted getting those waves over Mt head and hot flashes and my mouth gets thing numb tingly feeling but not one of the attacks. Ever since I feel this constant head pressure again and like I can't do anything. I had to take off work this week so I can sort things out but I'm so sick of feeling like this. I hate leaving the house, I don't do anything anymore because if this and I can't travel more than 30 minutes away or o start feeling weird. I'm sorry this was long but details mean everything. I hope someone can help me. My new Dr thinks it's definitely not anxiety but maybe an inner ear disorder? If any one can help me I would so very appreciate it
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Avatar universal
I'm not a medical doctor, but I've been dealing with Anxiety for many years, I feel like an expert.  A lot of your symptoms sound Panic Attack related to me.  You should read up on anxiety and panic attacks.  There are so great videos on the web.  The main thing to remember about panic attacks is that they are uncomfortable and scary, but not dangerous.  Our nervous system is doing exactly what it was made to do, which is help us, not kill us.  Having a fearful reaction to these symptoms can cause the anxiety and panic to return, because we're training our brain that the symptoms are something to be concerned about.  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be very successful at helping with Panic and anxiety.

If your medical tests keep coming back negative, like all of mine did for years, and you continue to experience this, it wouldn't hurt anything to see a therapist who can help you learn to control your thoughts and feelings when these attacks happen.  Retraining your brain to think "okay, this is uncomfortable, and it sucks, but it's not going to kill me, and it will go away," is a really good place to start, after getting some information on what anxiety and panic attacks actually are.  Everybody can have very different symptoms, from nausea to tingling, heart palpitations, dizziness, choking sensations, etc etc.  My own symptoms changed over the years.

If you feel stuck and aren't getting any firm answers as to why this is happening, I really encourage you to get informed and find a CBT therapist.  And just remember, the symptoms are awful, but not dangerous.  Our nervous system is there to help us, and keep us alive, not hurt us.
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I have a counselor though not through the state she is licensed. She's been through a lot of what I went through but to am extent she doesn't believe it's anxiety either. She thinks it's more medical. I do wanna try a more experienced therapist though. See I wake up not dizzy really but it's like a heavy foggy head and it doesn't stop. I get very uncomfortable with movement lying in bed is the only thing comfortable thing for me. Lying flat specifically. I can't work, leave the house or do anything for that matter. It's weird I'll go through the bad stage for about a month and then I bring my self out of it eventually and I'm good for a month and then it's back to square one. And thought I've been through it I do everything I can to get my self back but it still takes a lot of time like I have no control over it. I used to smoke a lot of weed the past few years, like all day going through my stoner phase and then this happened. Since then I can't smoke at all it makes my head feel like it's gonna explode and depersonalized. I've had minor anxiety before this but since the attack it feels like the event gave me ptsd and I'm suffering to get back to feeling normal. The only medicine that truly works for me is Ativan and klonipin. But because I'm only 18 they believe I'm too young to be prescribed such an addictive drug. I do understand their reasoning but it would be nice to still have medicine that can help me. I've dropped out of school because I can barely leave my house, I did cyber school last year but failed because I coukdnt understand so it isn't an option this year. And I have to quit my job because im not reliable some weeks I truly can not do anything but sleep. It just strikes me as odd that the attacks began when I first started to get sick with my ovary and bowels being stuck together. And the last attack was 1 month after my surgery to get fixed. I know no one here is a Dr but it brings comfort knowing someone understands me or at least knows what I'm going through. Though my Mri is clear my brain is the most affected part of all this. I've had a friend suggest seeing a chiropractor since being out of line can cause a lot of problems even neurologically.
Avatar universal
We're not doctors here.  But it doesn't sound like anxiety.  You might have developed anxiety because you're scared of what's happening.  Your first experience sounds a bit like what happens the first time you try a cigarette, but I assume you've been smoking them a long time.  Don't suppose you thought of getting the cigarettes tested to see if they were just cigarettes -- sounds almost like someone put PCP in them, but usually that happens on purpose to you.  Many years ago I smoked some pot and it turned out they had been laced with PCP.  Right now you might be feeling what you now expect to feel because of the continuing stress, kind of like PTSD, but that's not what caused the original reactions.  You need to find better doctors and figure this out.  Peace.
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I buy my cigarettes, and i have been smoking for 3 years, I've seen a few different Dr's and they all just don't know what to say I am still trying I'm just worried seeing if anyone else has been through this because I feel so alone. Dr's gave me a wide variety of meds to help anxiety but only benzos actually help me specifically klonipin and Ativan Xanax doesn't help at all but since I'm 18 they think I'm too young for such addictive drugs and therefore I can't actually get the meds that help me.
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