It’s a lot to wrap your head around. I have no idea of provenance, but I have wondered whether a hyper vigilant fight/flight response might have something to do with it. Stress is a trigger for me when I’m in a period of not feeling so great even if it’s really minor. The thing I instantly notice is a kind of shutting down, then the imbalance starts, not rotary dizziness or anything that dramatic. My eyes get heavy, I feel slow and disoriented and like I just need to lie down and not move - maybe like a reptile faced with mortal danger (it doesn’t pretend to be dead, the primitive brain actually shuts down to give it the best chance of survival). Could this be an extreme response by the autonomic nervous system engaging the oldest part of my brain (from an evolutionary standpoint I mean)? It almost always happens during movement.
Low or dysfunctional cortisol is the only thing that I keep returning to that links all my symptoms / others on this forum together. I could be wrong but it’s the common thread for:
- Hypotension
- Hypothyroidism
- Histamine Intolerance
- Exercise Intolerance
- Blood Sugar Imbalances
- Poor Sleep
- Feeling worse in the mornings
- Immune Mediated Responses
- Eventually leading to Autoimmune issues / Osteoporosis etc
When I questioned information overload or input sensitivity I was merely asking why. What causes this. Too much stimulation doesn’t cause dizziness, it triggers it. So what creates this reduced threshold of tolerance.
Very interesting. I’ve been thinking about pituitary and adrenals, but of course the hormones are all so complex and interdependent. I wonder whether this makes sense in the context of cold showers - very good for you, as we’re told - but for me, I feel instantly lightheaded (like with the blood pressure change getting up quickly) and then somewhat exhausted, so not invigorated like I’m supposed to feel!
I had my cortisol levels measured last year through the day. I just checked them. They were within range but at the low end upon waking and in the afternoon. My blood sugar is also temperamental, so I get a funny dip in the afternoon.
So how do we elevate/ stabilise our cortisol? I suppose by pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone with exercise and a cold shower?
Wandering off thread rather here somewhat. I suspect all this intolerance to due to Central Sensitisation.
Central Sensitisation
Autonomic related vertigo
??
Are you thinking this as opposed to migraine related?
Must admit to be pretty hormone ignorant but couldn’t low cortisol, if that’s what it turns out to be, be the result of too much of the hyper fight/flight mode? Then surely levelling out the stress might?
If your HPA axis is exhausted, then I would guess the first step is to give it lots and lots of time to recover with minimal stress and then gradually start exposing it to more stress (such as exercise) to get it responding as it should again? That would make sense to me as a theory but no idea about what that would look like in practice,
Exactly Helen. With high blood sugar you can earn a condition called DAN - Diabetic Autonomic Neuropathy. Depending on what nerves have been affected and to what severity will determine your symptoms.
I believe the constant head pressure is low glucose uptake by the brain along with low perfusion, possibly.
I’d do the opposite. Raising low cortisol is a lot harder than lowering high cortisol. It implies that you have already been through a period of high cortisol (traumatic event, child birth, chronically elevated due to emotional stress etc) and burnt out.
You need to live like a monk whilst supporting your body with appropriate nutrients.
That or just pop some propanolol, LOL. Was doing some electrical wiring a while back and managed to short the HOT wire to ground and there was a massive explosion of sparks. My heart didn’t miss a beat on propanolol and overall I felt unusually calm. There are side effects of course with all medications, but if the tactic is to cut down on stress hormones then propanolol is likely pretty good at that.
Haha, I agree and propranolol can certainly help.
My issue with beta blockers though is that they blunt the effects of epinephrine on cardiac muscles but there are a whole slew of effects that also go on besides a raised heartbeat under stress.
For me, I have low normal blood pressure and it sent me dizzy straight away. Not being on medication has helped me to dial in to what I believe to be going on as I have a blank canvas so to speak without medication possibly adding to the symptom list.
Bringing the conversation back to the title of this thread, I’ve lost 14kg in 3.5 months. This was mainly water weight that is being held by the body as it has poor regulation over fluids.
I have run through my whole current 3 month + episode. I’m not a fast runner but do push myself. Some days I’ve had trouble with vision due to the bouncing nature of running but I haven’t noticed it making me any worse when I run 
I had a light week last week because I just felt exhausted, mentally more than anything. I feel that if I stop running I’m likely to feel worse mood wise so have persisted!
Whose ‘constant head pressure’ are we talking? Yours presumably?
Yes, I’d say the call out symptoms for me are / were tinnitus, headache/head pressure, dizzy.
I’m no longer dizzy, the headache comes and goes and the tinnitus is always there with fluctuation. That would be the last thing to go I’d guess.
At the risk of going off Topic:
Still waiting for that day, @Andy 
What I can say is that the big increase tinnitus on bending over has subsided almost completely, so it’s clearly improved …
At the beginning I’d have chosen to get rid of the tinnitus over everything else including the vertigo episodes but now as long as everything else disappears completely then I’d live with it… but I’m still aiming for a home run 
Keep up the fight, and never give up! 
I’m too stubborn to give up 
I used to do yoga, pilates, & cardio. When I first fell I will with VM, exercise exacerbated my VM symptoms. I could initially tolerate feeling like dog tar for a few hours after exercise. That was 13 years ago.
Since starting menopause, I cannot exercise. I have tried decreasing workout times, not performing exercises that involve bending down or over, & other accommodations for known triggers in exercise. No joy.
Simple, normal, necessary, & non-exercise movements can leave me reeling. (E.g., bending over to retrieve a cooking dishes from lower cabinets, looking & reaching up to retrieve an item in an upper cabinet)
In 2009, when all this was just getting started, I was misdiagnosed as adrenal insufficient, hypothyroid, had MRIs of the head, saw neurology, and put through the full ENT battery of tests. Neurology & ENT cleared me. I was taking corticosteroids including Florinef for low BP (typical BP is high 80s low 90s systolic, diastolic upper 40s/50s)
This past autumn, I was weaned off corticosteroids as my adrenals “came back online.” I am still hypothyroid (TPO positive), but am now menopausal. Showers are hit & miss. Sometimes I am fine until that shower. Other times, shower does not affect me.
I think sometimes it is what it is: it is VM, it stinks, & you have to adjust, listen to your body, & get on with it.
What does your diet look like?