Question for Jan

hi Jan,

I see that you suffered from dizziness. Do you still suffer from dizziness? I have this constant funny feeling in my head, the room doesn’t spin but I feel like lightheaded sort of and foggy sort of. It’s an awful feeling. Been to lots of docs mri of the brain the whole nine yards. Any words on this would be helpful.. thanks so much

 

Hi MrsB -

You describe the same thing that I experience - when I mention it, I tend to call it "vague dizziness" so that I don't have to explain that it is not vertigo. I've also seen it referred to as "brain fog" which is a good description, but I also sometimes feel off-balance.

These are all typical symptoms of psycho-physiological dizziness. I started complaining about it to my doctor at least ten years "Before Sarno", and her response was "a lot of my post-menopausal patients complain of dizziness". She didn't think there was anything wrong, so I didn't worry about it. But it became really bad in the summer of 2011 and was one of the main symptoms that I believed was going to end up with me becoming housebound. Thanks to Dr. Sarno, Claire Weekes, and what I learned doing the SEP, I conquered most of my symptoms and got back my life.

But this is the one symptom that comes back immediately when I'm under stress. And I'm quite the stress hog, so I still have it quite a lot. I don't fear it, which means that for better or worse, I tend to tolerate it until it gets really bad, then I get serious, sit down with paper and pen, and start doing some therapeutic writing/journaling. This always helps. Being mindful and staying relaxed (not clenching everything from head to toe 24/7) also helps, a lot, but my problem is that I can only seem to do that for a few days, then I start "slipping" and allow the stress to get in the way again.

The source of the stress is our old friends: perfectionism and goodism. I take on too much, and I spend too much time doing it all perfectly!

The relationship between the stress and TMS is that my primitive brain is trying to keep me distracted with fear, and always alert for danger.

The cure for all of this is more mindfulness! If I can stay on track. Which my primitive fearful brain really, really does not want me to do.

~Jan

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer. It is very hard to deal with the lightheadness feeling.

 

How do you lose the fear of it? I am so fearful it’s going to make me bedridden!!

 

Claire Weekes, Hope and Help For Your Nerves

 

I have that book...love it!

 

@MrsB I've had the same off-balance feeling, brain fog, just not feeling right. It's happened to me for several years. I generally find it worst when I am feeling anxious. A friend told me it's because when you are anxious, you don't breathe properly and you are depriving your body of adequate oxygen. That explanation fits with the mild oxygen deprivation that Dr. Sarno talks about with muscle pain - at least to this non-medical professional.

It can be unnerving and I remember being very worried that I would pass out, particularly in public places.

Practicing mindfulness can help calm your entire system down. That's what has helped me the most.

 

Hey @Cricket313 do you mean mindfulness meditation? Did you practice daily? I find it hard to take the practice and apply it throughout the day

 

Hi, I do it most every day but it is usually in very short stints. I downloaded an app for my phone called Aura that offers a daily 3 minute meditation for free; if you subscribe you can get 7 minute ones and more than one per day. There are other mindfulness apps out there, I just happened upon Aura first.

It's a great start. In addition to the Aura meditations, I try to practice mindfulness throughout the day. If I feel pain starting, or start feeling anxious, I focus on the present and try to observe what is going on rather than reacting to it (thanks to Alan Gordon's program for that).

I don't know if I could sit for 30 minutes. I'm not even working up to that. The short, quick mindfulness exercises are working for me.