Varjag31
Level 3 Valued Member
After more than a year of looking for answers and not getting anything definitive, I’m looking for any advice or pointer in the right direction from the good old internet hive-mind
If someone can share some similar experience or someone in the field here point something out, I would be very grateful. I’m aware of the traps of internet diagnosis, and of the rightful reluctance of people to do this stuff over the net, but I’ve been there, done that, went to all the specialists and got nothing substantial out of it, so I’m looking for any possible venue that I didn’t explore.
Before the issues started, I was regularly doing S&S, slowly, with focus on technique, felt very good on it. That is also the reason I’m posting in this forum - S&S was my main exercise program and I really want to get back into it and continue. Wall of text incoming:
A year and a half ago, I started suffering with mild dizziness under certain conditions, which I still don’t exactly know, but I pin pointed some circumstances in which it is most likely to trigger. The feeling I get is as if my head would be a little detached from my body, like one of those old school toys people used to put in a car that would nod their head. The feeling is not overwhelming, like I would fall, more like when you had a drink to much, and you have to go to the toilet and concentrate to walk straight. No one around you will notice that you are tipsy, but you need to work for it. A couple of months later I had an onset of anxiety, which culminated in two panic attacks, one while driving, another one in a crowd in a tourist place.
I’m an office worker, spending way too much time in front of the computer, but that is my profession, and something I have to deal with. I have been physically active most of my life and I do get up from the desk, stretch and walk a bit on regular intervals. I also walk to work (45 min. one way) unless the weather is really bad, at least in one way if I’m tight with time. My summer holidays used to be long backpacking trips for weeks at a time in mountains. I always came in better shape from holidays than when I left. Not for last two years. I’m having issues walking for a long time, because the dizziness starts and it triggers anxiety after a while. I know that I will not collapse, but the hikes are reduced to me just waiting for it to end instead of enjoying it. Backpack makes things worse.
I’m translating a bunch of medical terms on my own here because I’m not from an English speaking country, so I might miss some of the terminology.
I looked for professional help, both physical and mental. Had X-rays of my neck and MR of the head and neck done.
Also, went to the clinic which specialises in dizziness and vertigo, where I had a complete set of vision, nose and ear and vestibular tests done. It didn’t show anything.
I was examined by an orthopedic specialist, which based on x-rays noted “straightened cervical lordosis with signs of angulation, with pronounced osteochondrosis and uncarthrosis in both sides. Osteochondrosis is most pronounced in median distal segment mostly in C5/C6. Neck musculature painful in the attachment area, limited mobility in end degrees of flexion, mostly in right rotation by ¼. Shoulder mobility is good and free of pain, somewhat sensitive left tubercular attachment. Grip strength symmetrical.”
He sent me to do an MR, which showed degenerative changes and narrowing, mostly on C4-C5.
Based on all that the orthopaedic specialist prescribed me a therapy which I had daily for two weeks. It involved manual therapy, chiropractic, magneto-therapy, electrotherapy and postural exercises. He also sent me to the neurologist (who was also specialised in vertigo and dizziness), which after examination concluded that none of the present issues are causing the dizziness.
Had some manual work done on my neck and jaw and skull musculature, and I felt good after, but I really can’t tell if it solved anything.
Psychologist who I worked with for the onset of anxiety, said that it can be a chicken and the egg situation, where the structural issues are triggering dizziness, which leaves me in a constant state of insecurity, driving the anxiety, or it can be come underlying issues causing the psychosomatic reaction – or by now, bit of both combined.
I started getting sick of all and decided to slowly, on my own, very carefully start moving again, and explore the limits. During a month of holidays, I did daily a combination of squats, push-ups and rows with a rubber and I felt good on it. Focus was on technique, and the rep where I started thinking about finishing the set and not about the movement itself was always the last one. I was periodically dizzy during the day, but never during or immediately after exercise.
Came back home and decided to start S&S again, very VERY slowly and with a very light bell, focused on technique, following Kalos Sthenos principles. After a week, I started feeling more tension in my neck and back of the skull. I’m not sure, but I think that carrying things overhead might trigger something.
I decided to back off, let it rest, and downscale. I started the Original Strength program from Tim Anderson, planning to focus on that for some indefinite time. I noticed almost immediate better feeling in my neck and a decrease in sensation of head being detached. I noticed another interesting thing, which is with standing diaphragmatic breathing exercises I start getting the exactly same feeling of instability and dizziness. I plan to continue doing them, to see whether it gets better over time with exposure.
So, my own conclusion, based on exploration, exercises and some anatomy knowledge (which I have to go verify, but frustratingly so, cause no one so far gave me any answers) is that I’m either jamming something in my neck which gets pronounced whenever I lift something overhead, but since it happens with walking it could be in the shoulder/upper chest region, or maybe, since it manifests during standing deep breathing, it is something connected to the firs rib, chest or diaphragm that does not get poked when I’m lying down and very rarely when sitting (it has to already be present, to get amplified when sitting).
I was thinking also, maybe it is some breathing pattern issue, that does not rear it’s head out when in a rested state, but starts showing when moving. I was a mouth breather until my late teens, when through sport I taught myself to breathe through my nose.
So … any ideas, advice, frankly, I’ll go for anything that might be worth exploring.
Thanks,
Mihael
edit for some basic info:
41 years old, 176 cm, 75-80 kg. Sleep ok, +/- 7-8 h/day. Paleo, but not religious diet. Focus on eating things that were alive at some point. Not eating grains cause of mild gluten sensitivity. It will not kill me if I eat a pizza a few times a year, but it will pile up over time if I do it regularily.
If someone can share some similar experience or someone in the field here point something out, I would be very grateful. I’m aware of the traps of internet diagnosis, and of the rightful reluctance of people to do this stuff over the net, but I’ve been there, done that, went to all the specialists and got nothing substantial out of it, so I’m looking for any possible venue that I didn’t explore.
Before the issues started, I was regularly doing S&S, slowly, with focus on technique, felt very good on it. That is also the reason I’m posting in this forum - S&S was my main exercise program and I really want to get back into it and continue. Wall of text incoming:
A year and a half ago, I started suffering with mild dizziness under certain conditions, which I still don’t exactly know, but I pin pointed some circumstances in which it is most likely to trigger. The feeling I get is as if my head would be a little detached from my body, like one of those old school toys people used to put in a car that would nod their head. The feeling is not overwhelming, like I would fall, more like when you had a drink to much, and you have to go to the toilet and concentrate to walk straight. No one around you will notice that you are tipsy, but you need to work for it. A couple of months later I had an onset of anxiety, which culminated in two panic attacks, one while driving, another one in a crowd in a tourist place.
I’m an office worker, spending way too much time in front of the computer, but that is my profession, and something I have to deal with. I have been physically active most of my life and I do get up from the desk, stretch and walk a bit on regular intervals. I also walk to work (45 min. one way) unless the weather is really bad, at least in one way if I’m tight with time. My summer holidays used to be long backpacking trips for weeks at a time in mountains. I always came in better shape from holidays than when I left. Not for last two years. I’m having issues walking for a long time, because the dizziness starts and it triggers anxiety after a while. I know that I will not collapse, but the hikes are reduced to me just waiting for it to end instead of enjoying it. Backpack makes things worse.
I’m translating a bunch of medical terms on my own here because I’m not from an English speaking country, so I might miss some of the terminology.
I looked for professional help, both physical and mental. Had X-rays of my neck and MR of the head and neck done.
Also, went to the clinic which specialises in dizziness and vertigo, where I had a complete set of vision, nose and ear and vestibular tests done. It didn’t show anything.
I was examined by an orthopedic specialist, which based on x-rays noted “straightened cervical lordosis with signs of angulation, with pronounced osteochondrosis and uncarthrosis in both sides. Osteochondrosis is most pronounced in median distal segment mostly in C5/C6. Neck musculature painful in the attachment area, limited mobility in end degrees of flexion, mostly in right rotation by ¼. Shoulder mobility is good and free of pain, somewhat sensitive left tubercular attachment. Grip strength symmetrical.”
He sent me to do an MR, which showed degenerative changes and narrowing, mostly on C4-C5.
Based on all that the orthopaedic specialist prescribed me a therapy which I had daily for two weeks. It involved manual therapy, chiropractic, magneto-therapy, electrotherapy and postural exercises. He also sent me to the neurologist (who was also specialised in vertigo and dizziness), which after examination concluded that none of the present issues are causing the dizziness.
Had some manual work done on my neck and jaw and skull musculature, and I felt good after, but I really can’t tell if it solved anything.
Psychologist who I worked with for the onset of anxiety, said that it can be a chicken and the egg situation, where the structural issues are triggering dizziness, which leaves me in a constant state of insecurity, driving the anxiety, or it can be come underlying issues causing the psychosomatic reaction – or by now, bit of both combined.
I started getting sick of all and decided to slowly, on my own, very carefully start moving again, and explore the limits. During a month of holidays, I did daily a combination of squats, push-ups and rows with a rubber and I felt good on it. Focus was on technique, and the rep where I started thinking about finishing the set and not about the movement itself was always the last one. I was periodically dizzy during the day, but never during or immediately after exercise.
Came back home and decided to start S&S again, very VERY slowly and with a very light bell, focused on technique, following Kalos Sthenos principles. After a week, I started feeling more tension in my neck and back of the skull. I’m not sure, but I think that carrying things overhead might trigger something.
I decided to back off, let it rest, and downscale. I started the Original Strength program from Tim Anderson, planning to focus on that for some indefinite time. I noticed almost immediate better feeling in my neck and a decrease in sensation of head being detached. I noticed another interesting thing, which is with standing diaphragmatic breathing exercises I start getting the exactly same feeling of instability and dizziness. I plan to continue doing them, to see whether it gets better over time with exposure.
So, my own conclusion, based on exploration, exercises and some anatomy knowledge (which I have to go verify, but frustratingly so, cause no one so far gave me any answers) is that I’m either jamming something in my neck which gets pronounced whenever I lift something overhead, but since it happens with walking it could be in the shoulder/upper chest region, or maybe, since it manifests during standing deep breathing, it is something connected to the firs rib, chest or diaphragm that does not get poked when I’m lying down and very rarely when sitting (it has to already be present, to get amplified when sitting).
I was thinking also, maybe it is some breathing pattern issue, that does not rear it’s head out when in a rested state, but starts showing when moving. I was a mouth breather until my late teens, when through sport I taught myself to breathe through my nose.
So … any ideas, advice, frankly, I’ll go for anything that might be worth exploring.
Thanks,
Mihael
edit for some basic info:
41 years old, 176 cm, 75-80 kg. Sleep ok, +/- 7-8 h/day. Paleo, but not religious diet. Focus on eating things that were alive at some point. Not eating grains cause of mild gluten sensitivity. It will not kill me if I eat a pizza a few times a year, but it will pile up over time if I do it regularily.
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