disorientation / dizzyness

[Tina_]

When my anxiety levels are high I can get a weird dizzy feeling. It's as though my brain takes a while to catch up with my eyes when I'm turning my head. This doesn't`happen all the time. I seem to alternate between dizziness and twitching.

Why does this happen? Is it common?

[Gary Turner]

Hi, hope you are nice and calm, relaxed, breathing gently and with a nice clear head!!

Anxiety is a mood, an 'overall experience' of emotion. Something will set off the emotion of fear, which is just an electro-chemical spark in the brain. This brings about real physiological changes in our body. We tense up and close off. We breathe quicker and our heart pumps blood faster round our body. Our livers dump glucose into our blood. Blood moves from the skin. Our stomachs constrict. Our arteries and veins deconstrict. We're getting ready for action. Nerve endings around our visceral organs detect these changes and this creates our 'feeling'. This feeds back into our cognition and we have the overall experience of emotion - mood - the cognition, emotion and feeling - and in this case anxiety.

Get along to your docs and get things like your blood pressure checked, also get your diet and food looked at in case you are lacking energy.

Of course, also pop along to someone specialised in working with anxiety - the dizzyness is a symtom, the anxiety sets it off. Solve the anxiety, no dizzyness.

What do you think?

[Tina_]

Thanks, that's useful. I'm taking some medication to calm me down. Also, I know my blood pressure does go up when I'm stressed. Am seeing a specialist next week so I'll make sure I mention this.

I also crave sugar, almost constantly. Could this be part of the same thing?

Sorry for replying with another question. It's difficult to work out what I should and shouldn't mention.

[Gary Turner]

No worries! There is always so much to everything!

Hence why whilst I can give information, you need to see your doc to make sure everything is fine

On the sugar side - eating sugar causes you to crave sugar due to the hormonal responses it creates. Sugar is also addictive, engaging the mind's reward centres. So sugar could be a problem. Or, you just may need the energy!

Definitely tell your doc about the sugar - you need to present a complete picture to get more of a complete answer.