please help!!! persistent unexplained dizziness for almost four years straight!!!
I, f20, have been experiencing symptoms of dizziness for almost four years straight. I have been to different doctors ranging from neurologists to cardiologists to ENT, etc. No doctor has been able to really help me so far, and all of the tests appear to be normal- my blood pressure is fine, ekg is normal, etc. I was diagnosed with vasovagal syncope, however I don't believe that to be accurate as I have never actually passed out and my symptoms slightly differ. I am going to try and include the most amount of detail as possible because this has affected my daily life greatly. For starters, I considered myself to be healthy and normal for a teenager before my dizziness started. It started happening one day at school, and it never went away since that day. In fact, over the course of almost four years, it has only gotten worse. My symptoms mainly and most commonly include blurry/fuzzy and darkened vision, seeing black spots in my vision (recently started, not sure if connected), feeling disconnected from reality/feeling like I am dreaming, confusion, loss of memories, lightheadedness, pressure inside my ears and eyes, occasional quick sharp pain behind eye, eyes sometimes forcefully closing, headaches and migraines, and overall just a weird sensation in my head i cannot really describe. Before this started, i drank and smoked occasionally, loved going out to shop, eat, etc. and considered myself an adventurous person who loved to partake in random activities. Now, i have had to stop drinking and smoking as it makes it worse, i dread leaving my house as I can barely make even quick errands, and I am way more anxious than I used to be. The dizziness has been persistent, I do not have breaks where I feel okay. It is just nonstop overwhelming dizziness. It gets worse in bright lighting, or sort of when I lack of sleep, but never gets better. What I mean by lacking sleep is that even if I get 8 hours of sleep but go to bed at 3 AM, I will still be extremely dizzy. It's like my brain has a clock and if it sees me going to bed too late, even if I'm still getting the right amount of sleep, I am in trouble! This whole process has been extremely depressing for me. When I first noticed the persistent dizziness, one of the first things I read online is that dizziness conditions frequently go untreated/undiagnosed because it can be hard to pinpoint the cause. That has left me incredibly discouraged. I would do anything to go back to my life the way it used to be. I can barely go to the store, I have not been able to get my drivers license, I am not sure how I will be able to get a job, and college classes are extremely difficult to attend. The things I have tried to do include drinking more water, increasing my salt intake, trying poses to reposition ear crystals, taking breaks from vaping for months at a time to see if that is the cause, some medication my doctor recommended that did not help, I have changed my environment (so it's not carbon monoxide), stopped taking all my old medications for my mental health to see if they had any cause, eating a balanced diet, researched, fixing my sleep schedule, reducing my stress, got electrolytes, etc. I feel as if I have tried everything and nothing helps, nothing gives any sort of relief. It is just nonstop persistent dizziness that only gets worse. I feel as if I have lost control of my life, and I am so young, it makes me very upset that my "best years" have been taken as all I can do is sit or lay at home and think back on how my life used to be. I would appreciate any help whatsoever, please, this is really the last thing I can think of to do besides going back to more doctors.