I have been feeling dizzy, fatigue, off balance and not sure if its IBS related?
I get migraine sometimes and get when I do I also get that similar feeling of dizzy and feeling weak so assumed it was that. I also thought maybe it's a nervous condition, a panic or anxiety attack.
I had a major one today, was laying on the setee after and during the episode, then I could hear my gut grunting, and then off to the loo I went, it was emotional and now I am starting to feel a little better.
I am not sure if it was the chocolate I ate once I started to feel faint and weak or my bowl was struggling and it was the need to go that was causing the symptoms?
Anyone have had any similar experience?
I have been getting these feelings for a while this was the worst and worrying.
Also wondered if its another condition or a deficiency
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ScottishDad
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Me neither but because of my all over the body symptoms I asked for a referral to a neurologist. She came with the working diagnosis dysautonomia. I will have further examinations mids May (tilt table test).
B12 could be because of uptake, not intake. So underlying issues. In my experience B12 is being suggested / advised too soon (happened in my situation), without knowing the underlying cause.
Still under investigation, perhaps dysautonomia. If they conclude it's dysautonomia it could be an inherited form or POTS (postural tachycardia syndrome). The tilt table test will hopefully tell if it's POTS or not.
"POTS is a complex, multi-system, chronic disorder of the autonomic nervous system characterized by orthostatic intolerance with excessive heart rate (HR) increase and symptoms on standing while blood pressure is maintained. Orthostatic symptoms improve rapidly after return to a supine position. Apart from the abnormal circulatory response to standing, patients with POTS may experience a variety of other persistent symptoms such as low energy, headache, cognitive impairment, muscle fatigue, chest pain, non-specific generalized weakness, along with numerous gastrointestinal symptoms (Benarroch, 2012; Brignole et al., 2018; Fedorowski, 2019; Freeman et al., 2011; Raj, 2013; Sheldon et al., 2015)."
In first instance in 2019 diagnosed with functional bowel problems with constipation and overflow diarrhea, after having excluded a lot of other known possibilities.
Gastrointestinal functions are intricately controlled and regulated by the autonomic nervous system and its specialized gastrointestinal specific subsystem, the enteric nervous system (ENS) (Furness, 2012).
Gastrointestinal symptoms are commonly reported by individuals with autonomic disorders, including POTS (Sullivan et al., 2005). Clinical diagnostic studies to identify gastrointestinal dysfunction are limited; however, gastrointestinal dysmotility is frequently diagnosed in POTS (DiBaise et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2019). Patients with mild dysmotility as well as those with complete intestinal failure requiring total parental nutrition or surgery have been observed. The pathophysiology and natural history of gastrointestinal dysfunction in POTS has not been studied. It is intuitive to speculate that dysautonomia may disrupt the intricate neuroimmunophysiology of the gastrointestinal system and gastrointestinal dysfunction may ensue. Further research is needed about how the autonomic, ENS and immune systems interact with each other and with the host microbiota, in order to develop better diagnostic tests and potential new treatments."
I think with my practitioner I should be demanding more, I have just accepted I will suffer with IBs D for all my days. Which is a shame really as I missed a lot of good days out with my kids.
Don't be too demanding, you may scare him/her off 😉 but be persistent, have patience with yourself and the medical professionals and keep hope. Maybe it's possible to discuss the possibility of an underlying autonomic disorder with a neurolgist, if the GP is willing to refer you. If you have all these all over the body symptoms and ongoing problems with your health it's the least he/she could do I think.
Well it could be anything but if we are trying to tie everything to IBS then consider the main nerve that feeds your parasympathetic nervous system, the rest and digest nerve known as the vagus...it runs from the brain all the way to your bowels, which is why sudden fear can make one need a toilet.The other possibility is your middle ear, prolonged laying down can cause the crystals to dislodge and remain in the ear canal, this effects balance and causes nausea and dizziness even when laying down...there is a simple test you can try for yourself, called the epley manoeuvre , find this on youtube.
I fixed mine by doing slow somersaults on my lawn...but follow the tutorial, if it is the displaced crystals, you will see big improvements.
The vagus nerve can also be “flossed” or strengthened by simple exercises, again youtube has many tutorials...deep humming, deepbreathing, cold shower (30 seconds) after a normal warm hot shower will stimulate the nerve maybe help.Sudden trips to the loos with any sort of straining after you have been laid flat for too long can produce a vasovagal syncope attack, where you strain and then feel you might pass out.
Fatigue could be due to anything, but first culprit is often diet, steer clear of sugar in anyform, a quick solution is to take a t-spoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water first and last thing, if after a few days of this regime...you feel more energy on rising, then you are producing too much insulin, known as insulin resistance...this alone is an easy fix, and should bring your energy levels back very quickly...modify your intake of carbs/sugar.
One last possibility is your cortisol being too high due to anxiety, especially rises first thing(normal) but should fall during the day...if it remains high all day you can tip into adrenal exhaustion, hence your lack of energy...hope these suggestions alleviate some if not all of your issues.
Thank you. I have tried the crystal release manouver as my research suggested my symptoms could be this, however I found no improvement. The Vagus nerve funny enough there is a video I watched yesterday on YouTube, as I read another users post on this very medium. Is interesting to think exercise could show improvements?
I was getting these symptoms less frequent but now it's more and more worrying. I am a normal person and a fulltime worker in a professional job. I am worried something is underlying that might effect my career. I know health is more important but I do have kids and a mortgage.
Go with the flow...get checked over by your GP....then hold fast...try not to blow things to worse case scenarios...you can fix most of these symptoms...get things in perspective again.thankyou.
Yes I have ot been to our GP/Dr in years. I have a habit of over diagnosing to my Dr it's n my nature to research and try to give the Dr as much info as I can, I think this does not help. I just look to speed up proceedings to a diagnosis.
I will go in with just the symptoms as first described on my first comment.
I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to reply.
Hi ScottishDad, I get the "feeling dizzy, fatigue, off balance" symptoms that you describe. More so since I had changed from IBS(D) to I don't know what, just IBS (without being one way or the other, ie not really diarrhoea nor constipation as such)!
I find I am getting more migraines too now, which I didn't used to have when I was more runny!
Check out the link below about vasovagal attacks on the toilet, they are pretty awful. I don't know if these are what you are experiencing. I get these a lot now, so I am trying not to keep going back to the loo!
Me and the wife believed it was when I was working around the house bending over picking up things etc. Believed it was as you will know once you got a migraine if you bend over the blood rushes to the head you feel more pain and dizzy. I assumed it was this, I wondered if it was migraines causing all these feelings and today's rush to the loo is just coincidental? To describe the feelings it's like I need sugar Or need a drink of water, but also need to lie down. I thought maybe a panic attack, a sub conscious one, I see no pattern when an attack of whatever it is. I am going to start keeping note of when and what i was eating, feeling, ibs, migraine all that info alongside timestamps of the attacks.
Blocked sinuses can cause positional pain... have you a mould problem or damp patches in any part of the house? Spores in the air often settle into nasal pockets...it’s common in UK and often over looked... also allergies to pets... can cause mucus to thicken and block the drainage of fluids in the head. just a thought.
I had these symptoms for a while when also trying to figure out my other bowel related symptoms. They've come down to IBS diagnosis, but before this they found I had a B12 deficiency. No iron deficiency though and I was taking a reasonable amount in through diet and good supplements, so I was bewildered. However, I started taking sublingual supplements (dissolve under the tongue and 1mg) and they've made a huge difference! I still get some dizziness and fatigue in a bad flare up, but it's reduced enough for me to function almost as normal/pre IBS! Would definitely chase up getting some bloods done to check out that.
Interesting, I used to take b12 when I was at the gym more... I know I crave sweet things, and sometimes salty, strong flavoured snacks when I am feeling like this. May I ask where you got these supplements? Amazon? Are you UK?
Thanks for taking the time out to reply, is appreciated..
I'm in the UK! I get mine from Amazon, but can likely find them in Holland and Barret too. I was skeptical to it helping much when suggested by my GP, but I have to say I haven't felt that fatigued and dizzy since!
I have a migraine thing going on too, ScottishDad. It started that way before it turned into IBS. It was never what I call a 'headache', except for a heavy headed feeling and some twinges over eyebrow, and some flashing lights ('auras') But it brought in a whole range of symptoms, a list of them.
Nausea, intense fatigue, inner tremors, sleep disturbance, peculiar shakiness, twitching, red right eye, dizzy spells, trembling tongue, sometimes vagal spasms, and of course, IBS with bloating, trapped wind pains, heart palpitations and some level of arrythmia, a peculiar feeling of being emotionally cut off from heart and soul, and the 'D'. (or upset gut.)
I was formally diagnosed with migraine after CT scan and neurologist exam.
Believe me, there is a strong connection between migraine and IBS. If it wasn't for this atypical weird migraine I have, I know I wouldn't have IBS.
I think IBS might be an abdominal form of migraine in some of us.
And migraine has so many effects. it can affect vestibular system, hearing, guts, vision, even teeth sensitivity -everything.
I think it's all to do with brainstem and trigeminal nerve, There's a feedback loop going on. Brainstem affects all those base level natural functions....digestion, balance, sleep quality, all the basics.
I hope you don't mind my 'English' but it all is a real bastard!
I have had migraines for nearly 30 years started in school, the blurred vision, numbed tongue and hand, been dealing with them ever since. I can handle migraines if it means no more IBS D however if they go hand in hand that is never likely to be an option. IBS for me only started in my early 20's I remember the first day like it was yesterday.
I had a scan a few years ago as I had constant migraines for 8 week straight, nothing wrong with my brain, well I scan form anyway. They put it down to coming off amitriptyline which is something that is common as it masks the migraines.
I do find this forum very useful and is always great to know I am not alone, as much as my wife thinks she knows what I am going through it's only others who are also suffering with the same truly understand
Yes, my CT scan didn't show anything wrong either. But it's this hypersensitivity between brain stem/trigeminal nerve which isn't measurable on a scan, but sort of happens anyway with migraine. I think that's what causes all our symptoms.
I am so sorry you are going through this, I have exactly same symptoms as yourself. I wasn't sure if it was linked to IBS. My symptoms have been getting worse in last couple of weeks. I am struggling with walking I feel I am going to fall over. Feeling nauseous, dizzy and off balance. I have had ear infection which lasted over two month. Let's hope you get better soon.
So interested to see this, ScottishDad as have the exact same symptoms - louder tinnitus, dodgy balance (been like that for some years now but never this bad) daily migraines lasting all day and soooo fatigued. I Blue Horizon-checked my B12, iron and thyroid hormones - all in range - and wondered whether it's a sinus condition. My ears feel plugged up. IBS has been fine since last autumn (if I'm careful to stick to low-Fodmap) but alongside I'm restricted to a bladder-friendly diet for a menopausal condition. Because of the bladder condition I can't have anything that desiccates, like Sudafed, though I tried the nasal spray and it didn't help the migraines. I don't have nausea, thank heavens. Dizziness isn't there when I lie down. A Facebook member (bladder condition group) said her GP had told her it was a virus and gave her (so-far) unhelpful tablets for the dizziness.
Hi. Bthere sounds very upsetting. Take it easy rest is also understated. We should listen to our bodies more. I've read our gut is our second brain........still exploring this but see nothing wrong in being curious and reading research. Take care what a wonderful job you are doing
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