Anyone else feels “drunk” 24/7 with PPPD? It’s been over 3 years.
Has anyone recovered after 3+ years of PPPD? I’m starting to lose hope.
Hi everyone,
I’m a 24-year-old woman, and I’ve been living with what has been diagnosed as Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD) for over three years. It all started after an extremely stressful day when I got very angry. I suddenly became dizzy and went to the ER. Since then, my life has completely changed.
I’ve seen multiple ENTs, neurologists, and two neuro-otologists, and they all agreed on the diagnosis of PPPD. I’ve had a brain MRI, videonystagmography (VNG), somatosensory evoked potentials, neurological exams, and everything has come back normal.
The symptom that completely disables me is a constant feeling of being drunk 24/7. It’s hard to describe unless you’ve experienced it. I don’t feel like the room is spinning—I feel intoxicated, disconnected from reality, like I’m living in a dream. I also experience frequent derealization, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, and I constantly forget words or what I was about to do. It never goes away. Not for a minute. I’ve felt this way every single day for more than three years.
I’ve tried so many treatments that I’ve honestly lost count. I’ve been prescribed paroxetine, clonazepam, flunarizine, sertraline (currently 100 mg with plans to increase), and even modafinil because ADHD was suspected. I’ve also seen psychologists, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, and even tried neurofeedback. Nothing has changed the constant “drunk” feeling.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve also developed several other health issues, and I don’t know whether they’re connected or just bad luck. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism after suddenly gaining a lot of weight despite eating healthy and exercising consistently. I also developed persistent gastrointestinal problems, including gastritis, daily nausea, the sensation of food getting stuck in my throat, and exercise now makes me feel like I’m going to vomit. My endoscopy was essentially normal except for mild gastritis, but I still feel terrible.
Earlier this year I was also diagnosed with POTS/dysautonomia after developing severe fatigue, exercise intolerance, near-fainting episodes, and blacking out when standing up too quickly. Walking upstairs leaves me exhausted, and sometimes I feel like I’m going to pass out while working out.
I also have joint hypermobility, chronic neck pain, tingling in my feet from time to time, and chronic nasal obstruction that makes it difficult to breathe through my nose. At one point I became convinced that my breast implants were causing all of this and spent months researching Breast Implant Illness, but I was too afraid to undergo surgery without any guarantee that it would actually help.
At this point, I honestly don’t know where to go from here. I feel like I’ve spent the last three years going from one doctor to another, researching symptoms every single day, trying to find answers while watching my quality of life disappear.
I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I eat well, and I exercise as much as my body allows because I genuinely want to get better.
Has anyone here had a case as severe as mine—with the constant “drunk” feeling 24/7 for years—and actually recovered or improved significantly?
I’m also curious if anyone with PPPD also has POTS/dysautonomia, hypothyroidism, GI issues, or hypermobility, and whether treating those conditions made any difference in your dizziness.
I’m starting to lose hope, but I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been through something similar.