Hello, My name is Riley. I am a 25 year old male living in Utah. I will try to keep this short. My wife passed away a little over 3 months ago (she was only 26), and since then it seems as if my body is falling apart. I have developed anxiety pretty bad, I have gone to the doctors like 4 times in the last month, eventually I was put on Propranolol to deal with the physical symptoms and Lorazepam if my anxiety gets to be too much.
What has me worried is that I have also developed vertigo, or a sense of unbalance/swaying motion during the last month or so. Some days its worse than others. I thought it might be BPPV or Labs, I went and got tested and they looked at my ears and it turns out I don't have either. The vertigo seems to be coming from my eyes. On bad days, when I get up, my eyes feel like they have pressure behind them and are sore. It gets worse as the weather changes or storm fronts come in.
I went to an optometrist and had a full exam. My vision is good and they said my eyes look fine. I wasn't convinced, I went to an ophthalmologist a week later and had an even more thorough exam done, they said my eyes look perfectly healthy.
I am able to walk around, drive (when my eyes don't hurt) and basically do what I want, but I almost always (for the last month) get a swaying/moving motion from my eyes. I tried using eye drops, which made them feel a little better but not much. I take allergy medicine everyday. I just can't tell if this is a result of my anxiety from my wife passing away or what. Even when I have the vertigo, I can still move around and do things (although not pleasant), and that is why I don't think it is related to my inner ear. I have a friend that has inner ear problems and when he gets vertigo he can't even walk.
Anyways, has anyone ever dealt with this eye pressure vertigo type problem? Obviously sleep does make it better, and so does remaining calm. But the constant swaying/tilting is getting annoying. I am not sure who I should see at this point. Any ideas? Thanks!
Hi Riley,
I recommend you visiting this website as you can ask questions and learn more about anxiety and its symptoms.
https://www.quro.ai/dictionary/anxiety/
Hope this helps!
I am so sorry to hear about the passing of your wife.
I am feeling pretty much the same as you - the dizziness, the lightheadedness, the vision. It is exactly what is happening to me. Please let us know if you find out anything else.
My heart goes out to you Riley. I was searching on line for anxiety forums and found your post on the top of the listings. I had to sign up just to let you know how sorry I am to hear you lost your wife at such an early age in life. I take care of my 89 year old Mother and have just about lost her a few times and I have anxiety also. With me, not feeling well makes it even worse because you worry about yourself and all kinds of worry and negative thoughts go through your mind especially at night. I have done a lot of floor pacing at night. It does go away. I have had it off and on for years. I never had vertigo but recently I have found something that I think has helped the anxiety. I have thought for a long time that the anxiety stemmed from my gut somewhere. Recently I heard that eating yogurt twice a day and eating cream cheese helps anxiety. I feel it has helped me a whole lot. When I do get stressed and the anxiety comes it is not as bad and recover more quickly. I eat Chobani yogurt and Philadelphia Neufchatel Cheese 1/3 less fat. Chobani is the only yogurt that seems to work for me. I also listen to positive thinking videos on YouTube before I go to bed to calm myself down. Wish I could help you more, you are going through a terrible time in your life. You must have loved your wife very much. I don't have much information to give you, only what has helped me. My heart grieves for you and hope you feel better soon.
I will let you know if I learn anything!
Thank you so much, your words do mean a lot to me. Very interesting about the yogurt, I totally agree, my anxiety or nervousness tends to start in my stomach and spread throughout my body. I will try the yogurt! Thank you!
Thank you! I will check it out!
I'm so sorry that you have to go through this.. she was so young.. I understand why u feel the way you feel.. sometimes when I hear about people around my age group going so soon I began to panic because death has no age you know.. I swear I think something is wrong when I have a panic attack.. and I have all the symptoms you have as well and it could be sooo stressful. But my love I feel like the only way you'll get better is with happiness and with time I believe your mental is causing your physical.. I was in a bad situation a stressful situation and I was in pain and had bad symptoms Every Single Day until I left.. I still have anxiety but I swear I'm way better now.. your grieving right now my love.. u lost a beautiful wife so it's just going to take time dear and it will get better.. in my dory voice just keep swimming lol. Hope you get better soon ❤️
Conversions disorder. It is a form of chronic anxiety and how it works is your emotions covert into physical symptoms. Most of the time it happens after a dramatic event or traumatizing experience. I have somewhat similar vision problems and after a full eye exam and neurological work up they are blaming my symptoms on conversations disorder. I recommend a full neurological exam before blaming it on conversations disorder. Very sorry about your wife. Hope this helps you.
Very interesting I will look into that! I am trying to find a neurologist. Thank you!