can anxiety cause dizziness and lightheaded ness?

[Clairejanet]

hey everyone! I recently began struggling with anxiety ever since a severe panic attack I had seemingly out of no where over a month and a half ago. I have depersonalization and sometimes feel like things are a dream and it's a terrifying feeling. My biggest concern is my lightheartedness/dizziness. I feel as if it comes on out of nowhere, even when I feel relatively calm. I don't think it has anything to do with hyoerventalition because I'm pretty aware and steady of my breathing. Is it normal to feel lightheaded and dizzy from anxiety even when I'm calm? My biggest fear is passing out and everytime i get dizzy/lightheaded (lots of times in a day) I don't stop thinking about it and why it happened !! I get panicked that I am going to pass out everytime I feel lightheaded and that makes things worse because I start getting nervous and panicked! I've taken a blood test and all my levels are normal and I do not have hypoglycemia or anemia (which can cause dizziness) can someone please give me advice? I'm also pretty sure it's not dehydration because I drink 2 liters of water a day

[sunnyg]

Being dizzy and lightheaded is for sure a sign of anxiety. When we have anxiety, the adreneline rushes through us and causes this. Even after we have settled down from some panic feelings, the lighthead remains for a while. Be sure you don't have a head cold, sinus infection, or allergies as those cause you to be dizzy and anxiety causes us to really focus and intensify any harmless dizzy sensations. Look at earthclinic.com for some natural nasal rinses that could help get rid of any allergens or viruses in your nose/ears. Also, does breathing help with your dizzy spells? Try that. If it does, it's anxiety for sure. So, yes, the dizzy thing is annoying and scary and part of the pain of anxiety. Peace.

[pblife]

You described exactly how I feel too. My first panic attack came seemingly out of the blue a year and a half ago in a supermarket. I spent months and months worrying so so much and the dizziness and feeling of going to faint was the worst.

I found once I knew these are so common in anxiety/panic attacks and I was sure it wasn't anything else (got blood tests done) they gradually improved. I still get dizzy, but I tell myself it's anxiety and now accept it. I still have bad days where I worry, but generally things are a lot better x

[sunnyg in reply to pblife]

YES! Anxietynomore.com helped me see that my panic and worry were just that-feelings that are escaping my overtaxed body. I am working to say "so what" when they get me and just accept it's a symptom just like sneezing is a symptom of a cold. We need to let our bodies rest and letting our bodies "vent" anxiety is a form of recovery. It's hard not to worry about "going crazy" when I feel the horrible symptoms, but they DO subside when I shrug my shoulders and just let it happen while I say this is GOOD and NOT harmless. It's a process of letting the air of anxiety leave the body.

[pblife in reply to sunnyg]

I agree with this reply 100%... anxiety/panic attacks are really hard to accept and it is only when you start to accept the symptoms as non harmful that they begin to subside. It's a hard thing to do, but working through each symptom as they come is the only way x

[Icanbeathis2016 in reply to pblife]

Let me tell you I had to make sure this wasn't me posting this because every thing you said, every symptom, and even how you fear of fainting or passing out as your worst fear. this is exactly me and my fears all day. Even down to me having my first panic attack out of nowhere a year and almost a half ago for me too. And this june was the first since then that it has gotten to be this bad or the worst for me as far as the anxiety/panic/stress. The dizziness is the most annoying for me lately with this anxiety situation and because it lingers around the most, I still some times question is it really anxiety or could it be something about to happen (faint). and I get so scared I was just crying out to my boyfriend just the other morning about this same worry. I had woke up and had to go to an event that morning and I felt anxiety lingering right on me soon as I woke up so I was already on edge and anticipating the worse and I guess that brought the dizziness on even more, the blured vision, the eye dots floating in my vision , the nausea. So immediately when I start feeling those symptoms I automatically start thinking about fainting and I get so petrified because I fear fainting the most. And i can remember expressin this to him what if I faint , can I faint if I keep thinking about it? and he kept saying the mind is powerful it can almost make you doing anything you keep thinking and I just started crying even more because I was like oh God please help me I don't want to think myslef into a faint. But low and behold I went to my event was pretty much distracted from even thinking about my anxiety and hey I didn't even notice much at all. Got through the day pretty good. So I can truly say, times like this I try real hard to use that as an example that it's my mind and it's just anxiety. and just like you said, I still have many bad days where I worry so much but things are getting alot better for me. I'm learning to accept it more. I think back to 3 months ago I was a wreck mentally, a true nervous wreck. I can really say I've come a long way. still a long way to go but I see some progress for sure.

[pblife in reply to Icanbeathis2016]

I feel exactly the same way as you... today is a bad day for me. I have vision problems and imagined tingling of my scalp. I keep thinking I'm going to faint and only feel ok when I'm sat at home in my lounge. Not easy to work through days like today x

[Eva888667]

Hi Clairejanet, I want to tell you that it is very common to feel lightheaded and dizzy from anxiety even thou you are calm! I am very familiar with that and I truly understand how it feel! I am on Zoloft for the anxiety becaude I could not continue like that, I hate to be on medication but its the only thing that is helping! I used to also get the heart palpitations with lighthheaded and dizziness! I also had blood work done and all show normal! Good luck to you.

[Clairejanet in reply to Eva888667]

Thank you! I just get so worried that I'm making light of my symptoms and saying "oh it's just anxiety" when it could be something serious! Like I think maybe I should go to the hospital for my dizziness and get a CT scan and mri!

[Stay_strong85]

Big time.