Brain Fog / Lightheadedness

[JWakeham]

Hey,

26,M, 5ft 10, 68KG, Caucasian, drink around 18 units a week (tend to avoid drinking mon-thurs)

Live in the UK.

Hoping someone can help shed some light / help me find a solution to a problem I have been having (I am seeing a GP / going through normal channels as well, but secondary opinions can be great)

For around one month now I have been suffering from brain fog and lightheadedness and more intense light headedness when moving my head in circular motions (as soon as I stop and return my head to neutral the light headedness happens), if I look up or down for a couple seconds and return to looking forward (again lightheadedness occurs when returning to neutral looking forward), or sit up from laying down etc, almost like I need a 1/2 second period to re-adjust. Just randomly woke up one morning and I was like it, at first I thought i could be hungover or something, as it felt a bit like that, but as the day went on and the next day and the next, it was clear it was a real issue rather than something that would ‘go away’.

I would describe the brain fog part as feeling slightly disconnected and recessed, not feeling as confident in social interactions or any sort of movement, I can certainly do everything I would normally do, but its distant.

Some days it's better, some days it's worse but in the month it hasn't really gotten way better or way worse, the only 'relief' is that it seems to be pretty much resolved 'to some degree' when laying down and staying there.

I have been to my GP twice and this was the result -

Blood Test fine, no issues.

Blood Oxygen Level checked, fine

Blood Pressure checked (standing and sitting), fine

Eyes checked, fine

Ears checked, fine

Cranial nerve checked, fine

Heart rate checked (was high at the time (over 100) but I do get very anxious etc about Doctor visits, but in general on my fitness watch its fine (resting is 57))

Doctor on both visits said it was probably something viral, had a catch up with him yesterday on the phone as the time had past he recommended to wait it out if it was viral, he's now recommended I do Brandt Daroff Exercises and I am on 3 x 5mg tablets of Prochlorperazine a day to see how that works out.

Going down onto my side during the BD Exercises is fine, however when sitting back up I get light headed and a have tingly rush that goes from my head down through my body, no visible signs of improvement thus far, cant comment on the tablets yet, just making me tired thus far.

Cheers.

[AnnieBrooke]

Has the doctor talked with you about benign positional vertigo? It's the first thing I'd think of given what you have described.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/vertigo/symptoms-causes/syc-20370055

[JWakeham]

I think that's the route they are going down with the prescription of Prochlorperazine and the Brandt Daroff exercises, never explicitly mentioned Vertigo but kept it vague 'potential issue with audiology organs'

[AnnieBrooke]

I'm also thinking about you saying you drink 18 units a week, which is not considered a low amount, and that you concentrate it on the weekends. That won't give you vertigo, but it might give you other problems. Any chance of cutting back to fewer than 14 units? And possibly not all in three days of the week?

[AnnieBrooke]

I ask, because a British friend I love but cannot help is pretty clearly an alcoholic. He has firmly built alcohol into his way of being social, and his pattern of living. He goes to the pub, plays darts, drinks a cart-load of gin, vodka or beer. If he had caught on early that he was going down that path, and if he had taken it seriously, he might have been able to keep himself from building up such a tolerance for alcohol that he can now down a half bottle of vodka without looking or acting drunk. (Whether he feels it, I haven't had the nerve to ask him. But a half bottle without even looking affected is pretty scary.) He has the chance of killing himself by destroying his liver, or killing someone else if he gets behind the wheel, and the worry of friends is no more than the croaking of a crow in his ear, he just thinks they are being fussy.

[JWakeham]

Hey, thanks for your concern.

I am pretty happy with my relationship with alcohol / always trying to ensure that's kept in check, going to weekends only was a positive change in my eyes. Brought it up with my Doctor and my Liver function is fine per Blood Test Results.

Only mentioned alcohol intake in case someone had a potential cause of my symptoms from that.

[JWakeham]

Thought I'd bump this with an answer of my own although its just an update of sorts.

Still not a huge way on tbh, vertigo exercises and medication did nothing.

Spoke to the GP again have been told to re-introduce caffeine into my diet and eat more salt, because he thought my blood pressure looked a little low (was not mentioned by the other doctor) and said "i was being too healthy"

I've also started taking some multivitamins and magnesium as a test alongside that.