what causes the dizziness with anxiety

Christian73

Most of the time, it's probably an indication that you're holding your breath. Or you're breathing in shallowly and letting out more air than you take in. All of this can make you lightheaded and dizzy. Since I've been in therapy, I've been stunned to realize how often I hold my breath. It's an autonomic nervous system response to fear. Many animals stop breathing when they're threatened so the scary thing doesn't hear or smell their breath.

__________________
"Don't believe everything you think."

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shfiven252

I agree with Christian. You may be suffering dizziness for different reasons, but I've recently started meditating and being more conscious of my breathing, and I've also started noticing that I'm holding my breath without realizing it. Depending on how your own body reacts to stress and anxiety, it could also be that you're hyperventilating and actually getting too much oxygen. Try sitting quietly for 10 minutes and just focus on your breathing. Don't change the rate of your breathing, just be conscious of it. It might open your eyes and hopefully lead you to a way to help with the dizzy spells!

eloise_girl24

i too find myself holding my breath. i have to remind myself to breathe sometimes. i think i need to start meditating or at least paying attention to my breathing. its weird that my body just stops breathing and i have to tell it to breath. i dont have apnea or anything like that, i think it's just anxiety.

granny0

It could also be rapid heart beat and high blood pressure. When I was having an anxiety attack, my pulse would race and blood pressure would sky rocket. Even though I don't have high blood pressure when I'm not fired up, I now have to take a blood pressure med because it would get so high when I was anxious the dr said it was dangerous. I also felt dizzy. I still have anxiety attacks but not getting the dizziness I was prior to taking the blood pressure meds.
Just an FYI.
JB

wishsong

I had this symptom 24/7 for about 4 months, it was my worst symptom. Do you find you are very tense all the time? A tense neck and shoulder muscles can affect the balance mechanisms in your ears and cause you to be dizzy. Also when we are anxious everything is working at top speed including your digestion, burning yoor food a lot quicker and causing low blood sugar levels which can also cause dizziness. Try to eat small amounts, but often, I found this helped alot with my dizziness and also the churning stomach!
I also found just ignoring the dizziness helped too. It was really hard to do, but I told myself 'OK, I'm dizzy its OK, nothing is going to happen, I'll just carry on doing....'. Sometimes I managed it, other times I didn't, but gradually it worked and the dizziness passed. I think because I was expecting it and was scared of the feelings I was making them worse.
If you haven't had your dizziness checked out by a doctor, make sure you do though, it could be an inner ear disorder.
Take care - it will get better