u/Neither_March5328

Hi! I’m currently trying to get in with a headache/neurology specialist, so I’m not looking for anyone to diagnose me. I’m mostly curious whether people with vestibular migraine have experienced anything similar, because some of the posts here are starting to sound surprisingly familiar.

A few years ago, I got sick with what doctors thought may have been something viral. Afterward, I developed severe head pressure and vertigo. By the time I finally found doctors who took it seriously, the original illness seemed to have resolved, but a lumbar puncture showed elevated CSF pressure. I was eventually treated with acetazolamide, which helped significantly. An MRI also showed a mild Chiari malformation, although I was never told whether it was actually causing symptoms.

Things gradually improved, but ever since then I’ve had occasional “flares.” I can go long periods feeling completely normal, but when one happens, I get a really strange collection of symptoms.

The biggest ones are: • Pressure/fuzzy/heavy sensation around the base of my skull and neck. It’s usually more pressure than actual headache pain. • Ear pressure/fullness. In-ear headphones can become uncomfortable and sometimes make me feel dizzy. • Extreme fatigue. During a flare I can suddenly feel like I desperately need to lie down or sleep. • Significant neck/shoulder/upper-back muscle guarding. During this most recent flare my trapezius muscles became incredibly tight and my arms started feeling tired/shaky (although I still had normal strength/function). Urgent care confirmed that my traps were extremely tight, and baclofen helped tremendously. • Positional symptoms. Certain head/neck positions make everything substantially worse, and keeping my neck neutral tends to help.

The dizziness is particularly difficult to describe because I experience two different kinds.

When lying down at certain angles, especially during the original severe episode, I could get actual room-spinning vertigo. For months I could only sleep completely flat on my back with no pillow because other positions could trigger it.

When I’m upright, it’s different. I’ll be standing/walking normally and suddenly feel like I’m standing on a boat that abruptly lurched sideways, almost like I unexpectedly missed a step. Then it passes.

I also sometimes get a strange sensation with larger eye movements during flares. If I shift my gaze significantly away from straight ahead, I can sometimes feel a brief zing/pulling sensation behind my eyes. During the original illness I also occasionally had visible eye twitching in certain gaze positions.

Probably the strangest symptom is something I tried to explain to doctors years ago. When I would go from being upright to lying down, it felt like the weight/pressure inside my head needed 10–15 minutes to redistribute. The closest analogy I can think of is tilting a sandbag and feeling the sand slowly settle toward the new lowest point. I know fluid isn’t literally sloshing around inside my head—that’s just what the sensation felt like. When I got up the next morning, I’d sometimes need a few minutes for my equilibrium to feel normal again.

I also occasionally feel/hear my heartbeat starting around the base of my skull during a flare.

What’s confusing me is that I don’t typically get a painful migraine-type headache. My head can feel pressured/heavy/strange, but pain isn’t really the defining feature.

This latest flare also seems very connected to my neck and upper body. I finally got everything to relax and felt completely normal over the weekend, but after going back into the office today, my shoulders/upper back started tightening again and some of the head pressure/dizziness returned.

Again, I’m pursuing medical evaluation and not using Reddit as a substitute for a neurologist. I think I mostly want to know whether anyone else has experienced these bizarre, difficult-to-describe sensations, because trying to explain them makes me feel like I’m speaking another language sometimes. I live in a big city and Neurologists are booked out months in advance so even though I’m on the waitlist for several my actual appointment isn’t scheduled until December.

I’m 30 and have a master’s degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. I’ve been at my consulting firm for about 4.5 years and currently work as an analyst in leadership consulting.

The last 6+ months have been incredibly discouraging. Our practice has been slow, and my utilization has stayed very low despite doing everything I know to do. I’ve reached out to partners, engagement leaders, and colleagues asking for work, volunteered for proposals, asked for feedback, pursued internal development opportunities, and made it very clear that I have capacity. I recently made a list and realized I’d proactively contacted over 20 people looking for work.

When work does come in, it’s usually small requests that take an hour or two rather than projects that meaningfully fill my time. I spend most days waiting for something to do, which honestly has been harder on my mental health than I ever expected. I always thought burnout came from being overworked, but there’s something uniquely demoralizing about wanting to contribute and feeling like you can’t.

At the same time, I’ve been applying externally for about a year. I’ve had hundreds of applications, numerous rejections, a handful of interviews, and several opportunities that seemed promising but ultimately went nowhere. I’ve had recruiters disappear, positions put on hold, and jobs canceled. I’m still applying regularly, but it feels like I’m making very little progress.

Today I hit a breaking point after hearing about another internal opportunity that I wasn’t able to participate in. It wasn’t really about that specific opportunity—it was more that it felt like the thousandth disappointment after months of trying to move forward.

My biggest question is this:

When you’ve done everything you’re supposed to do—network internally, volunteer, ask for feedback, apply externally, continue developing your skills—and nothing seems to change, what do you do next?

I’m genuinely asking because I feel like I’m out of ideas. Is this just what a slow consulting/job market looks like? Am I missing something obvious? Has anyone else been through a period where they felt professionally “stuck” despite making a real effort?

Stanley and I were only together 4 years but he was my everything. He was medically complicated and dramatic and I loved him more than life itself. He was 15 but still in good health until yesterday when he declined rapidly. He eventually lost the use of his back legs and was unable to go to the bathroom which was my sign it was time. My baby passed peacefully at the emergency vet and I haven’t been able to sleep or stop crying since. I’ve tried to sleep but keep rolling over and pulling the curtains back thinking he will be there like always. I keep seeing him out of the corner of my eye. I opened a can of food this morning out of habit and lost it in the middle of the kitchen. I’m all alone now and don’t know what to do. Everything hurts and it doesn’t feel like it will ever get better.

Hello,

Hopefully this is a good place to post this. My cat Stanley is 9 on paper but the vet seems to think he’s well into his teens. I adopted him three years ago and he has been a medically complex cat. First he was diagnosed with CKD, then heart disease, and finally hyperthyroidism. He’s on medication for the hyperthyroidism and a renal diet for the CKD but the vets are hesitant to treat either the heart or kidneys with meds because it could exacerbate the other. About a month ago he wouldn’t stop vomiting so I took him to the vet where on xray they noticed degenerative disc disease in his back as well. He was doing well but recently I’ve noticed he has been really wobbly on his back legs. They keep falling out from under him and he doesn’t take more than a few steps at a time before sitting down. This morning it was really bad where he wasn’t using his back legs at all and he was vocalizing in a way that made me think he was in pain. I took him to the vet but didn’t get a straight answer. They did bloodwork and noticed all of his levels are up for CKD and heart disease. They sent the xray off to the radiologist and I won’t hear back for a few days. In the meantime they want me to schedule an ultrasound. He’s home now but still having trouble walking. It kills me to see him like this. I asked the vet about quality of life and she said as long as he is still performing basic functions (eating, drinking, litter box) we aren’t at that stage yet but I just can’t help but think about him being in pain walking and how that can’t be a decent quality of life. Has anyone gone through this before? He’s my first cat and my soul cat. We’ve only had three years together but I love him more than life itself. I’m just not sure how to measure quality of life for him

Hello,

Hopefully this is a good place to post this. My cat Stanley is 9 on paper but the vet seems to think he’s well into his teens. I adopted him three years ago and he has been a medically complex cat. First he was diagnosed with CKD, then heart disease, and finally hyperthyroidism. He’s on medication for the hyperthyroidism and a renal diet for the CKD but the vets are hesitant to treat either the heart or kidneys with meds because it could exacerbate the other. About a month ago he wouldn’t stop vomiting so I took him to the vet where on xray they noticed degenerative disc disease in his back as well. He was doing well but recently I’ve noticed he has been really wobbly on his back legs. They keep falling out from under him and he doesn’t take more than a few steps at a time before sitting down. This morning it was really bad where he wasn’t using his back legs at all and he was vocalizing in a way that made me think he was in pain. I took him to the vet but didn’t get a straight answer. They did bloodwork and noticed all of his levels are up for CKD and heart disease. They sent the xray off to the radiologist and I won’t hear back for a few days. In the meantime they want me to schedule an ultrasound. He’s home now but still having trouble walking. It kills me to see him like this. I asked the vet about quality of life and she said as long as he is still performing basic functions (eating, drinking, litter box) we aren’t at that stage yet but I just can’t help but think about him being in pain walking and how that can’t be a decent quality of life. Has anyone gone through this before? He’s my first cat and my soul cat. We’ve only had three years together but I love him more than life itself. I’m just not sure how to measure quality of life for him