Can Anxiety Cause Dizziness And Blurred Vision

Wendy Received Three Different Diagnosis

Shes no quitter. When one doctor didnt work, she sought another.

And another. And another.

From three doctors, she was diagnosed with:

• Ménières disease
• Low blood pressure
• The third doctor said her vertigo was caused by the medications she took for Ménières disease and low blood pressure.

Of course, these well-meaning professionals had no solutions.

And the medications she was prescribed only made the problem worse.

The Idea Of Nerve Compression From Cervical Spine Instability Causing Blurry Vision

Blurred vision, blind spots, water eyes, and difficultly focusing are very common eye complaints that many people are not aware are from cervical instability. The pupil and iris of the eye function as a unit to produce a sharp focus by eliminating or controlling light stimuli. The pupil is the circular colored area of the eye and is responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupil, which is the part of the eye that allows light to reach the retina. The iris sphincter muscle which receives its impulses from the parasympathetic fibers of the third cranial nerve constricts the pupil whereas the iris dilator muscle are innervated by sympathetic fibers running from the superior cervical ganglia.

• The various nerve centers of the autonomic nervous system are called ganglia and are located just in front of the vertebral bodies in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine.

Cervical instability from ligament damage or injury causes eye symptoms and diseases by two main mechanisms: obstruction of cerebrospinal fluid and dysautonomia. . The assault on eye blood flow, pressure, and homeostatic mechanisms is enough to not only cause various eye symptoms, including palinopsia , oscillopsia , entopic phenomena , but also serious eye conditions, including optic hypertension, glaucoma, and macular and retinal degeneration.

Please see my companion articles:

• Nystagmus Oscillopsia caused by cervical spine instability and neck pain

An Individualized Cervical Spine Instability And Vision Problem Treatment Protocol May Include The Following:

• A certain number of Prolotherapy visits to resolve the instability.
• Chiropractic consultation and treatment
• An initial period of cervical immobilization with a cervical collar in order to limit neck forces while the ligaments regenerate.
• A program is initiated to help restore the correct and proper cervical spine curve.
• Our goal is to provide long-term solutions. Through extensive research and patient data analysis, it became clear that in order for patients to obtain long-term cures the re-establishment of some lordosis, in their cervical spine is necessary. Once spinal stabilization was achieved with Prolotherapy and the normalization of cervical forces by restoring some lordosis, lasting relief of symptoms was highly probable. As with any medical technique, the treatment will not work for everyone. We provide a detailed prescreening process to help assess the ideal candidates for treatment.

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What Does This Image Show The Superior Cervical Sympathetic Ganglion

This is the superior cervical sympathetic ganglion in its native habitat. Surrounded by blood vessels and nerve networks and near the C2 vertebrae. When a condition of cervical instability exists, the vertebrae wander out of position-taking with them and stretching the areas veins, arteries, nerves, and nerve bundles. This causes internal compression or cervical stenosis and reduced and distorted nerve messaging .

The superior cervical ganglion is the largest of the cervical ganglia and as we see in the image, is located opposite the second and third cervical vertebrae. It lies in front of the transverse processes of C2 and C3 and the longus capitus muscle and behind the carotid sheath. The branches of the superior cervical ganglion connect with the upper four cervical nerves, the nodose ganglion of the vagus nerve, petrous ganglion of the glossopharyngeal nerve, jugular ganglion of the vagus nerve, hypoglossal nerve, internal carotid nerve, and the left and right superior cardiac nerves. As you can see from all these connections, the superior cervical sympathetic ganglion is the primary messaging relay center.

When To See A Doctor If You Have Blurry Vision And Dizziness

If you notice blurry vision and dizziness associated with the above-mentioned health conditions, consult your doctor to pinpoint the exact cause and to start treatment and preventive measures.

Blurred vision and dizziness associated with eye problems can be treated with eyeglasses or other therapies. Other systemic causes of blurry vision and dizziness might need medicines and surgical interventions. So, its a wise decision to see your doctor for effective management of blurred eyes and dizziness.

Takeaway

Its important to note that blurry vision and dizziness can be signs of more serious conditions like stroke or brain tumor. If you have sudden onset of these symptoms, it is important to seek medical attention immediately.

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Can Anxiety Cause Dizziness And Blurred Vision

Anxiety is not a common cause of blurred vision but there is a possible link between the two.

What generally happens when you are in a highly anxious state or suffering from a panic attack is that your vision actually improves and sharpens. This is because your body has gone into a fight or flight mode in response to a fear or perceived threat, and your vision often sharpens to help you identify the threat more easily.

For some people, the opposite is true and they actually suffer from blurred vision and dizziness during moments of high anxiety. During a panic attack when the sympathetic nervous system kicks in, things start to move faster. Your heart starts racing, your blood pressure rises and your muscles may start twitching. Because everything is moving faster as your body prepares you to identify threats, you may have difficulty focusing on the things around you. This lack of focus combined with everything moving quickly can be the cause of blurred vision and dizziness.

What Does Not Cause Vertigo And Dizziness

There are many myths about vertigo and dizziness and other balance problems, and I need to tell you about the more serious ones

Myth Number 1:Vertigo and dizziness is just a normal part of aging.

Absolutely not.

You shouldnt accept vertigo just because youre getting older.

It sets on people as they age because of an underlying factor that commonly affects older people.

Ill tell you more about this in a second.

However, if you tackle this underlying vertigo and dizziness factor, your vertigo will be gone in minutes never to return no matter what age group you belong to.

Myth Number 2:Vertigo is a direct cause of another disease.

Ménières, vestibular neuritis and labyrinthitis are commonly blamed.

Yes, these diseases are associated with vertigo. But they arent the real underlying cause.

In fact, doctors have no idea what causes these diseases. They say Ménières causes vertigo and then state that vertigo is the main symptom of Ménières.

Like a dog chasing its tail, this just leaves you dizzier than ever and without a real solution.

Myth Number 3:Medications and surgery cure vertigo and dizziness.

If they dont know what causes vertigo, how are they going to cure it?

Now, Ill always encourage everyone to listen to their doctors and follow their advice.

But if yours is not open to alternative methods, get a second opinion.

In fact, the side effects are usually horrible. Theyll make your problems worse in the long haul.

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How Long Will Blurred Vision Last

Blurred vision as a side effect of tricyclic antidepressants usually subsides within a few weeks of treatment, even if you continue to use the medication regularly. This is also true for SSRI and SNRI antidepressants.

One study found that many people who had vision problems while taking SSRIs, SNRIs, and tricyclic antidepressants continued to experience these effects even after they quit taking the medication. If you are experiencing vision-related symptoms, talk to your doctor about how long these effects might last.

Finally There Was A Solid Solution For Vertigo And Dizziness

Like I said, this was a long, exhausting and expensive battle.

I personally paid over half a million dollars to finance the research.

At the end, our savings account was empty and the house was fully mortgaged.

Again, when I get obsessed about something, there is nothing stopping me.

But it was worth it. Because

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Altered Cervical Joint Position And Movement Sense Static And Dynamic Balance And Ocular Mobility And Coordination Should Become An Essential Part Of The Routine Assessment Of Those With Traumatic Neck Pain

Dr. Julia Treleaven, Ph.D., is a member of the Neck Pain and Whiplash Research Group, Division of Physiotherapy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia. She has also written numerous papers on the problems of impaired function in the cervical neck. The paper cited at the top of this article is one that she co-authored.

In the July 2017 edition of The Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, she wrote:

There is considerable evidence to support the importance of cervical afferent dysfunction in the development of dizziness, unsteadiness, visual disturbances, altered balance, and altered eye and head movement control following neck trauma, especially in those with persistent symptoms.

However, there are other possible causes for these symptoms, and secondary adaptive changes should also be considered in the differential diagnosis.

Understanding the nature of these symptoms and differential diagnoses of their potential origin is important for rehabilitation. In addition to symptoms, the evaluation of potential impairments and coordination) should become an essential part of the routine assessment of those with traumatic neck pain, including those with concomitant injuries such as concussion and vestibular or visual pathology or deficits.

What Do Other Treatment Options For Vertigo Cost

Medications range from $500 $2,000 per year. And I dont think I need to discuss the issue of side effects any further.

A surgery could easily rack up $10,000. And again, these are typically useless.

Even a set of walking-canes, walkers and other support devices will cost hundreds of dollars.

Even if your health insurance pays for all this, it wont cover costly taxi fares when you cant drive yourself and other hidden cost of vertigo.

More importantly, no insurance will cover your pain, suffering and lost quality of life.

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Blurred Vision Common Symptom Descriptions

• Your vision is unusually blurred, unclear, murky, or unclear.
• Your vision is distorted, different, unusual, or foggy, yet there is nothing medically wrong with your eyes.
• Your vision is so blurry it can feel like you are looking through dirty glasses.
• Your vision is becoming unusually blurred as if there is something on your eyes that is obscuring the incoming images.
• It can also seem like the objects you are looking at are unusually blurred, muddied, distorted, skewed, twisted out of shape, or contorted.

This symptom can occur in one eye, both eyes, or randomly switch from one eye to the other.

This symptom can come on gradually or suddenly.

This symptom can occur rarely, frequently, or persistently day after day.

Blurred, distorted, or foggy vision can precede, accompany, or follow an escalation of other anxiety sensations and symptoms or occur by itself. It can also precede, accompany, or follow a period of nervousness, anxiety, fear, and stress, or occur “out of the blue” and for no apparent reason.

This symptom can range in intensity from slight, to moderate, to severe. It can also come in waves where its strong one moment and eases off the next.

This symptom can change from day to day, moment to moment, or remain throughout your struggle with anxiety disorder.

All the above combinations and variations are common.

Summary And Contact Us Can We Help You How Do I Know If Im A Good Candidate

We hope you found this article informative and it helped answer many of the questions you may have surrounding vision problems, craniocervical instability, upper cervical spine instability, cervical spine instability, or simply problems related to neck pain. Just like you, we want to make sure you are a good fit for our clinic prior to accepting your case. While our mission is to help as many people with chronic pain as we can, sadly, we cannot accept all cases. We have a multi-step process so our team can really get to know you and your case to ensure that it sounds like you are a good fit for the unique testing and treatments that we offer here.

References for this article:

This article was updated July 10, 2022

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Our Treatments For Cervical Instability And Related Challenges Of Visionregenerative Medicine Injections

Part of our treatment program is a focus on cervical spine ligaments. The ligaments are the strong connective tissue that holds the vertebrae in place. When you have a slipped disc, a pinched nerve, a herniated disc, or a nerve, the underlying problem is that the vertebrae are compressing these structures and causing pain and possible neurologic-type symptoms. When the cervical spine instability is great enough or even focused enough on a certain neck segment, it can also cause compression on the arteries and veins that travel through and around the cervical vertebrae.

Prolotherapy is an injection technique that stimulates the repair of unstable, torn, or damaged ligaments. In 2014, we published a comprehensive review of the problems related to weakened damaged cervical neck ligaments in The Open Orthopaedics Journal. We are honored that this research has been used in at least 6 other medical research papers by different authors exploring our treatments and findings and cited, according to Google Scholar, in more than 40 articles. In this research, we suggested that:

• In the upper cervical spine , this can cause symptoms such as nerve and tendon irritation and vertebrobasilar insufficiency with associated vertigo, tinnitus, dizziness, facial pain, arm pain, migraine headaches, and vision problems.

An introduction to the treatment is best observed in the video below. A patient with cervical neck instability is treated with Prolotherapy using a Digital Motion X-ray machine.

Adjusting To A New Glasses Also Leads To Blurry Vision And Dizziness

Adjusting to a new glasses prescription can also cause some mild symptoms like dizziness and blurred vision, but this should go away within a week or two of wear. If youre experiencing severe symptoms like vomiting, nausea, severe dizziness, its important to let an eye doctor know as soon as possible.

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How Can I Treat Blurred Vision Naturally

Natural treatments that could help blurry vision Rest and recovery. Human eyes are sensitive and need rest just like the rest of your body, so make sure youre getting enough decent sleep. Lubricate the eyes. Improve air quality. Avoid allergens. Take omega-3 fatty acids. Protect your eyes. Take vitamin A.

How In The World Could Snoring Exercises Treat Vertigo

It is actually quite simple.

You see, traditionally, vertigo is caused by three major factors:

The snoring exercises loosen up and strengthen the muscles around the head.

This does three things:

and when that happens, you wont experience the vertigo and dizziness symptoms anymore!

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Schedule An Appointment For Panic Attack Treatment

Panic Disorder can be difficult to recognize because fear, worry, and behavioral changes can come on gradually. Seeking professional advice is an important first step in understanding your symptoms and getting help for your panic attacks.

The specialists at West End Consultation Group in Minneapolis take a caring and comprehensive approach to diagnosing and treating panic syndrome in adults. We start with a private consultation to learn more about you and your lifestyle. From there, we can start working on a panic treatment plan individualized to your situation.

Schedule an appointment at our St. Louis Park clinic for panic attack help.

Why Do I Feel Dizzy And My Vision Is Blurry

Vertigo and motion sickness

Vertigo is a sudden feeling of imbalance and spinning that occurs even while a person is sitting or standing still. Blurred vision often occurs with the dizziness of a vertigo spell. Some common causes of vertigo include dehydration, migraine headaches and sudden head movement.

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Dizziness And Blurred Vision: Should I Be Worried

It is common for women to experience spells of dizziness and blurred vision once in a while each of which can be caused by various factors. However, many may wonder exactly when they should be concerned about the symptoms and when to ignore them.

Continue reading to learn more about dizziness and blurred vision as well as when to see a doctor and treatment tips so you can stay on top of your own health.

Other Vision Problems Linked To Antidepressants

One study found that the most commonly reported vision problems that were reported by people taking antidepressants were:

• Night blindness
• Vitreous floaters
• Visual field defect
• Visual snow syndrome

Tricyclic antidepressants, SSRIs, and SNRIs have also been linked to acute angle-closure glaucoma. It is believed that the serotonergic and anticholinergic actions of these antidepressants lead to an ocular emergency.

It results in high pressure inside the eye and the blockage of aqueous fluid from exiting the eye. It can lead to blindness if left untreated.

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