hi Erick. I've had similar feelings of dizziness as you describe, in somewhat similar circumstances. in the shower, the movement of the water rushing out of the showerhead so close to my eye, causes me to feel dizzy and disoriented. I worry a lot that I'm going to lose my balance and fall in there. every time I have to go in or out one of those doors that open automatically in front of me, like at stores, I always get waves of intense dizziness/disorientation. and in the stores where there is a lot of visual noise, as you say, and just noise in general. I had to stop driving on the freeway because I'd get the waves of dizziness when driving at high speeds and seeing all the traffic around me moving at different speeds, directions, and angles. like in my rearview mirror, and traffic going the other direction on the other side of the freeway, and driving under traffic on overpasses, and then the commuter train running alongside the freeway also going at a different speed, all of this at once is too much! usually, if I'm sitting down, with my butt planted firmly on a chair and feet on the floor, I'm ok. But not when driving. it's just too much movement going on around me for my brain to figure out where my body is and what it's doing. Even the windshield wipers on continuously cause the waves of dizziness, and I've stopped driving in heavy rain. I can handle them on intermittent, where they go and then stop all the way before going again. sometimes I have to turn the driver's side mirror away, because even a glimpse of it in my peripheral vision while driving forward, under the right conditions, will cause the dizziness. needless to say, for safety reasons, I've cut out driving except to close-by necessary grocery shopping and then I take the residential back streets.
My AN is smaller than yours, but is growing laterally out of the IAC, into the cochlea. I've also decided against surgery or radiation, so am just trying to get by as is. I've not had a cold for a good long while, but I do have allergies, and have noticed recently that my balance and dizziness/feelings of disorientation are worse on bad allergy days. Storms coming in make my ear hurt, sharp stabbing pains, probably because barometric pressure changes (I'm just guessing). also, being tired makes a Huge difference. The later it gets in the day, especially if its been a long tiring day, the more I'm falling around, feeling disoriented and dizzy. had to stop showering at night before bed, and move that to mornings only. Another change I've had to make is the speed at which I do things. I've had to slow way down. if I try to walk too fast, or even turn my head too fast, instant dizziness. I've only had what I think is true vertigo a few times. Once playing with my cat and swinging her toy that's attached to the end of a long stick around too fast, then my head started spinning around too and I had to lay on the floor for awhile to make it go away. and another time when my grandson started twirling around on a pivoting barstool in front of me. just seeing him do that was instant nausea, dizziness, spinning.
I think it's only natural to feel a bit of anxiety about these things. I drink calming teas and take frequent breaks and just try to be as nice to myself as I can.
judyette
