Dizzy Spells

[keiron1850]

Hi,

I am a serving Police Officer in the UK. 9 years ago I was held hostage at gunpoint and my colleague was shot and killed.
I struggled for a long time on my own without realising I had PTSD. In November 2014 I hit an all time low and sought help through work and my GP. I have had counselling almost every week since until around 3 months ago when the sessions just stopped for unknown reasons.

Towards the end of the EMDR my counsellor appeared to be getting a little frustrated as I wasn't progressing too well.

I remained at work for as long as I could but had to go off sick in September last year as things were getting too much. Prior to going off from work I noticed I was having dizzy spells where I literally had to hold onto something to stop me falling down. It didn't matter if I was stood up, lying down, walking or sat. The episode would only last a few seconds then I was fine again.

When I went on sick leave these dizzy spells appeared to stop.

I have recently returned to work after having 9 months off. Unfortunately the dizzy spells have returned.

Are they linked? If so what can I do to prevent them?
I am reluctant to go to my GP as I don't really want this on my medical records.

Keiron

 

[Anarchy]

Hi Keiron,

Welcome to the forum!

I can fully sympathise with not wanting too much on records.

I don't know the full nature of your dizziness, whether it is associated with any other sensations or effects. What follows is based on my reading, I don't have any pieces of paper with "qualified" written on them.

There are a range of responses to extreme danger, which are generally condensed into "the four Fs" : fight, flight freeze and fawn (suck up).

One of the members here sent me a paper which gave a much more sophisticated interpretation, where we initially freeze to assess the situation, we become much more alert and aware, time goes slowly, hearing becomes much more acute

following that we might have flight or fight

however if we are caught by a predator, the response can become freeze, flop (we are paralysed, our system floods with opioids and fear and pain are not felt, blood pressure drops) and eventually, if there's lots of blood around or we're getting stabbed or raped, faint, our system plays dead, it might fool an attacker or predator into not administering a killing blow or killing bite

all of these physical responses are mediated down the Vagal nerve, which has an early (reptilian) system and a later mammalian strand.

The originator of the "poly Vagal" theory is Stephen Porges
he has some good interviews up on youtube. You might like to check those out to see if you can relate to what he says.

PTSD is a pervasive dysregulation of our whole body, our whole system. It is entirely plausible that you could be experiencing a sort of physical flashback, and your blood pressure suddenly dropping as part of a flop or faint response.