Is stress alone enough

Specific Illnesses & Conditions VM/MAV
1

… to cause vertigo?

I know this is a huge and probably unanswerable question but it’s one I’m facing at the moment. If the answer is YES then I feel I have no hope of once again getting past a bad spell. I’m not sure what more I can do to improve things and that is really depressing.

I feel as if I’ve covered all angles and the only thing left to do is eliminate the stress in my life, which at present is just impossible. I’m aware of all the methods of reducing stress - reframing and the like - but my real question is whether or not stress per se can be responsible for vertigo. I’m not talking about stress being the last straw trigger that puts you over the top into an attack but about it being the actual cause itself, when other triggers are not present nor are contributing to an overall overload effect.

Is stress alone enough?

Brenda

2

I think the answer is yes. Stress is somehting that I continue to struggle with in general and I think it is the most difficult of the triggers to eliminate or even reduce depending on your personal setting (job, family, etc.). I wish you the best.

3

Thanks for your thoughts and good wishes benh. You’re right - the stress thing is a struggle to deal with - and the one thing that is difficult to quantify and assess. Very subjective and hard to be honest about - I mean unwittingly. I have denied for years it’s possible effect upon my vertigo, as in being able to singlehandedly set it off, but I’ve got to the place now where I’m beginning to seriously wonder.

Brenda

4

Hi Brenda,

I know that stress is/was a huge trigger for me and I too wonder sometimes if stress is what set me “over the edge” and led to the 24/7 dizziness. My situation started in May of 2008 and during that time my husband had just lost his job, I was under huge amounts of stress at work, my husband was also in school working on a medical program which kept him away from home all the time, I was taking two college classes that I needed to finish within 10 weeks, and I was basically a single mom to my then 2 year old daughter so I was also responsible for all of her day to day care and keeping my house in order (as well as bills, groceries, etc.)…whew! I think it would send anybody over the edge. Thankfully the stress has “calmed down” somewhat. My husband will be finished with school in Dec. 09 and I have started to take on less at work so that I am not as overwhelmed. Right now I have the summer off (I’m a teacher) so I get to really wind down for a few months before the craziness starts again. But yes, I feel like if stress wasn’t the cause for me…it was a huge trigger in pushing my “migraine brain” over the top.

I am happy to report that I am still feeling pretty good since starting Cymbalta in March. My days are pretty much 95% consistently. My sleep schedule is messed up b/c of the summer so my body is adjusting and will have to adjust again once school starts, but overall I feel really good. I don’t feel limited like I did last summer. I’m not anxious about going anywhere or doing anything b/c I feel pretty much back to myself. The Cymbalta helped me manage my stress and anxiety which has been a real blessing these past few months. I plan on sticking with it as long as I need to.

I wish you the best as we all try to make sense of this craziness.

:slight_smile: Colleen

5

Hello,

For me anyway, how stressed I am seem to be a major factor in terms of how much other triggers affect me. I don’t think we can ever eliminate all other triggers. For example, I can get ill if a storm is coming as barometic weather changes affect me . I am also hugely susceptible to sunshine as a trigger. Changes in sleep patterns can also tip me over. However I can be ok with these things if I am not stressed.

I have a massive stress load as a moment through my job. I was despairing this evening of how I can ever get things to completely calm down when I know this work pressure won’t be off for a number of months yet. I am pretty sure the stress is ramping things up big time so every single trigger becomes a problem.

Like you I am not sure what can be done about this. Even if I wanted to I couldn’t give up the work I am doing at the moment as I would be letting a load of people down and would cause chaos. It’s depressing to be caught in this bind.

Wish I had a solution - personally I am trying to get myself to make the time to meditate and also trying to teach myself to remember not to stress out. I let myself get over wrought about something work related a few days ago which I had no control over anyway, so worrying was a waste of time and it all worked out ok anyway. I think that along with blistering sunshine and storms in the uk has set off a really bad few days of symptoms. I’m cursing myself for having stressed out because if I hadn’t I might be ok now. It’s a hard lesson to learn and I make this mistake again and again.

Hx

6

Brenda…i also say “Yes”…that too much Stimula or Stress can bring on an episode of Vertigo. Stress is just one symptom that can do this…if i were to go back to drinking 4 cups of coffee per day…eating and drinking whatever i wanted…working a more stressful job (full-time) like i use too…i am very certain the Vertigo would return. I feel pretty fragile…don’t need alot of surprises in my life…keep most things pretty structured and routine. Sounds a bit borring…but you have to do what you have to do. :slight_smile:

Joe

7

Yes definitely. I have kept a diary for years. I had a severe vertigo attack after getting back from an overseas adoption. I had a vertigo attack the night I was due to go in for an operation, I had a bad vertigo attack after a week of a lot of stress at work once, and I got them in the past, after I had an argument with my husband :roll: So, yes, definitely.

Hannah, the weather in the UK has been a killer for me too. I went out on the Sunday in that humidity and kept getting big waves of dizziness, unbearable so came home. I then went out with a friend on the Tuesday, same thing, I gave in and stayed in all week, couldnt cool down in the house either. Oddly I had little or no headache, until the day it cooled down, then migraine.

Christine

8

I think the fact that we see so many responses here is a telltale sign that stress is a huge contributing factor to MAV. Then to top that off, once the vertigo sets in it makes my stress level soar even higher. So it is a definate circle or “catch 22”, which came first the stress or the MAV. But I think stress effects us differently depending on other factors, such as hormones, weather, etc. So some days mild stress is enough to set off an episode and some times mild stress has no effect. I take yoga classes twice a week and I find it helps. Good luck everyone and keep posting, I know it helps me to hear other’s stories of both success and dispair.

9

Thanks so much for responding everyone. You’ve provided much food for thought.

Colleen -
— Begin quote from ____

I don’t feel limited like I did last summer. I’m not anxious about going anywhere or doing anything b/c I feel pretty much back to myself.

— End quote

Feeling limited is my biggest frustration of all time. Feeling that I can’t live as I’d like to, missing out on things all the time. That’s a huge stress for me in itself. Encouraging to read it’s better for you now. I hope it continues.

Hannah -
— Begin quote from ____

I’m cursing myself for having stressed out because if I hadn’t I might be ok now. It’s a hard lesson to learn and I make this mistake again and again.

— End quote

.

Me too. But how to stop the cycle! I do try though and have had measured success but sometimes I just can’t stop the gravy train. Or worse still I deny that “that particular” stress can’t possibly be accountable for my vertigo. Denial I suppose. Funnily enough, the big, crisis sort of stresses I cope with better than the insidous, ongoing, almost internal stresses. The kind that are not so easy to identify.

Joe -
— Begin quote from ____

I feel pretty fragile…don’t need alot of surprises in my life.

— End quote

That really struck a chord with me.

Christine -
— Begin quote from ____

Yes definitely. I have kept a diary for years. I had a severe vertigo attack after getting back from an overseas adoption. I had a vertigo attack the night I was due to go in for an operation, I had a bad vertigo attack after a week of a lot of stress at work once, and I got them in the past, after I had an argument with my husband So, yes,
definitely.

— End quote

I appreciate your definitive answer and examples. You’ve made me think again about looking for patterns. I’d more or less given up on that because I could never see any. Trouble is when dizziness is 24/7 to one degree or another it’s difficult to pinpoint exact causes sometimes when it worsens.

Joan -
— Begin quote from ____

So it is a definate circle or “catch 22”, which came first the stress or the MAV. … I take yoga classes twice a week

— End quote

Catch 22 it is indeed. I was thinking of taking up Tai Chi, simply because there’s not a lot of quick movement involved. I can’t even do Pilates at present. I have a machine at home but can’t lie flat all and the constant backwards and forwards has me dizzy within seconds.

Once again, thanks everyone. Reading all your comments has given me renewed determination to press on.

Brenda

10

My wife knows how I react to things better than I do at times. She intentionally schedules days for me to spend on the couch because she knows that I will be pushing myself the day before. If I don’t let myself rest after anything stressful, I will end up dizzy and forced to take the rest anyway. As long as I give myself breaks, preferable rest of some form, I can deal with stress. If I keep pushing myself, I end up at a point that I have to stop because I’m just to dizzy.

11

I know that there is an article on mvertigo.org about Migraine Anxiety Related Dizziness (MARD). I wonder if there have been any more studies on just stress/anxiety alone causing 24/7 dizziness…without the migraine component. Maybe Scott would know.

This is a very interesting thread because there are so many of us for whom stress is a huge trigger. There also seem to be many of us who remember a stressful event or chain of events pushing them over the edge to where the MAV became 24/7.

12

I am not sure if this makes any sense to people, but I seem to be ok during the stressful event, but it seems as if after the stressful period, whether a day, week or month, is when I start to feel dizzy, off balance, etc. When I actually get the time to relax and unwind is when I can’t. It is like my brain is so use to stress it can’t shut it off. I know when I feel dizzy, off-balance, I go to the gym. I know it is the last thing anyone of us feels like doing when dizzy, but 1/2 hr. or so on a treadmill really does make me feel better. Although at times I am straying to the side on the treadmill, I do feel better after. Also, going to yoga class really helps me. When I feel the worst and think I can’t do yoga, is when it is most beneficial. Sometimes I have a hard time sitting up straight in class, I find myself leaning over to the right and have to fight my body to stay upright, but in the end it really helps. When I enrolled in the class I told my instructor about my MAV and I tell her when I am having a bad day and she understand if I slow down of don’t do some of the poses. I have been doing yoga for about a year now. And my instructor has given my name to people in her other classes who have similar problems and we correspond and share information.

13

Joan…i agree… sometimes the Vertigo has come a day or two after the stressful event. For me it can come hours later or days later.

Joe

14

Brian,

This is how I try to live my life too. If I do too much two days in a row I am in trouble, so if I know I am going somewhere I rest the day before if I can. Also, if I have to plan two or three stressful, physically, or mentally days in the week, I make sure there is a day in between if I can. With me, though, along with more dizziness, comes the fatigue, sweating, fluey feeling (thats where the diagnosis of ME came in) but who knows. I can get the severe vertigo attack from a short stressful event, I can also get vertigo when I run myself down over a period of a few days or weeks and dont rest enough. I am referring to the severe vertigo attacks. The daily dizziness is constant.

Christine

15

Christine,

It sounds like you know exactly what I mean when it comes to handling stress. :smiley: