So I feel fine most of the day. Lately, when I get on the freeway and am going 60-70mph, I sometimes get this wave of dizziness in my head which really freaks me out when it happens and I have to grip tight on the wheel until it passes, which happens after a couple seconds. It comes out of nowhere without warning and I can't see a pattern. When I am driving around town at low to medium speeds, no problem. When I'm walking around or up and down stairs, no problem. When I'm at my desk or watching TV, no problem. It only happens when driving and at highway speeds. I don't get it. I was in the Navy and deployed on 4 ships and never got sea sick. Done about 100 scuba dives off boats and never got motion sickness. Since it started happening, I have been taking more back roads to avoid the issue. Any thought? This is weird.

Do you wear glasses? The one and only time I tried to wear progressive lens bifocals, the distortion of my peripheral vision while driving almost caused me to wreck my car at intersections. Cars driving up to a stoplight on either side appeared to be turning into my lane of travel. I went back to regular lined bificals and the problem went away.

I have marginal vision. I've had a prescription for several years but never wear glasses.

Does it seem to happen when you’re looking at things up close that are passing quickly or off in the distance?

Sounds like vision-induced vertigo. Binocular vision disorder will do that. It can be corrected.

Vertigo.

Go see your doc, most likely a problem with your inner ear.

You’re suffering from Bidenitis! It causes the nerves betwix the eyes and a sshole to get crossed up and it gives you a s hitty outlook on life in general!

LMAO you dick I actually copied that and Googled it

Happens to me too. Scares the hell out of me. Almost always on the interstate. Maybe anxiety and or stress from all the morons playing Richard petty while sending emails. It the traffic not the speed, I think, hope.

could it be some anxiety brought on by the speed of cars beside you ?

Dont try bump drafting at Daytona...

Saw this online "binocular vision dysfunction". Never heard of it but may be related.

Do you actually get dizzy or does your view of the road change?

No I feel a WAVE of dizziness in my head for about a second that catches me off guard and I have to grab the steering wheel to "ground" me. I never swerve or anything but it scares the crap out of me when it happens.

hows your blood pressure?

I had sumtin maybe similar about 5 or 6 times happen to me.

It'd just come outta the blue, always on a high speed 2 lane.

Just all the sudden It'd be like I was sitting still and the road was coming at me at a intense speed, maybe sorta like a video game.

First time it happened I tried driving through it, shut my eyes, shook my head, couldn't shake it off.
I gripped the wheel as hard as I could and did my best to negotiate the scene coming at me.
Didn't pan out, couldn't do it, everything was outta control.
First car that was coming at me was unbearable, I was ready to let go of the wheel and turn and duck, I had to get off the road.

Parked the truck, took a walk, I was fine, just couldn't drive.

My buddy took over driving and I was OK, the weirdness ceased.

It happened again and again over a period of about 3 years, I'd just get off the road immediately, wait a couple hours and everything would be OK, I could continue on.

There were two common denominators, one was the high speed two lane roads, the other was....well, I quit smokin' that schit and trying to drive, hasn't happened since.

It's on the higher side and I take Lisinopril. But I can't seem to reconcile why it only seems to happen when driving at highway speeds. And I don't think it's road rage or anything because I have had it happen when there's hardly any traffic. Does seem more common with traffic though but I may be imagining that.

I haven't tried this but I may take some drives as a passenger vice the driver on the highway. If it doesn't happen when I'm not actually in the act of driving, maybe I have some neurological schit going on. Not sure why the speed would matter on that but who knows.

Is it while you’re going through shadows of trees alongside the highway as in late in the afternoon or early morning? That can induce flicker vertigo.

We were all screened for it on our initial flight physical because we could have been assigned to rotary wing aircraft. Helo pilots have to deal with sunlight flickering through the rotors.

I have had the same phenomena happen to me for a few years now. My doctor and I finally narrowed it down to Vertigo caused by a combination of an inner ear problem and my failing vision. The vision has been corrected by glasses. The inner ear was a result of an ear infection that changed the shape of the ear drum in some way. I can replicate the vertigo by standing on my deck and looking up at the sky. Immediately feel the world start to spin and have to grip the railing to keep from falling down. Doc mentioned a surgery that could be done on the ear to correct the drum issue but the odds of hearing loss afterwards has kept me from going that route. For now, I have learned to deal with it by looking down at my gauges when it occurs. That usually helps. Eventually I will need the ear corrected.

For what it's worth, I also take Lisinipril for blood pressure but the vertigo started long before that medication was added to my breakfast.

I think it's some form of what they call "highway hypnosis."

Pretty simple, just stay off the freeway.

Cardiac arrhythmia can be the result of outside stimuli. I had non-sustainable VTac for several years that was exacerbated by driving certain roads.
Seemed like the actual motion/rhythm of certain roads could bring it on. Experienced brief episodes of dizziness with it occasionally

AFIB is more common, and some report dizziness because of it. Some report dizziness due to the meds used to control it.

Interested concept.

Wow, that sounds almost impossible to diagnose.

Ciuld
It be a mild form of Vertigo. I used to have similar symptoms occasionally. It eventually went away.

Sounds a lot like monkey-pox.

Not at all...

Get checked for meniers, vertigo soon as you can.
Inner ear can cause dizziness in milliseconds.
These attacks can happen at any time just so ya know.

If you also feel "something" in your chest, it could be cardiovascular so don't rule that out.

Happened to me on several occasions for about 2 years. It would be sudden like as you described, then progress to full blown vertigo. It took all I could to get off the freeway and home safe. By the time I got home, it was full blown carnival ride spinning, terrible bed spins, nausea and eventually vomiting. Ended up being severe vertigo. Doc said the crystals in my ear were out of whack. He had me do these weird head exercises that supposedly got the crystals realigned.

Strangely, it must have worked. After 2 years of this, gone! Boom! Nothing since around 2018. Vertigo is the worst thing I've encountered! Hope it never comes back

^^^^^

Get your ears checked. Meniers disease maybe?

I have experienced that before. Vertigo almost to the point of passing out. Not fun. Had to pull over a few times.

Non sustainable V tach. Good God! I worked dozens of cases of Vtach while a paramedic, Vtach is one step away from death. AKA cardiac arrest, Vfib.

Google this and they say limit salt, nicotine, caffeine, carbs, and avoid dehydration. Think I'll do low carb, no coffee and drink plenty of water for a couple weeks and see what happens. I'm sure I'll be a joy to be around

I just can't picture asking for medical advice on a forum. Call your doctor.

Went through that a couple times. Hasn't happened in years now, but it truly sucks. Talk about feeling helpless.

I just figure with as many of us old farts in one place, someone else had to have experienced it LOL.

Go see your doctor and get SINGLE VISION good glasses to your prescription for far vision.

Vertigo is a real possibility and you DON'T want to drive with that. You can't, at least not safely.

Using bifocals to drive is really a bad idea, because the image is not contiguous and your brain doesn't like the breaks in input. How do I know? A stroke robbed me of half my field of view, split right down the vertical crosshair with a little divot that lets me see the duplex. So I can't break up what I've got left.

Yes, I did work with a therapist and took a driving test after about three months of increasing "practice." Aced the drive test, because I have always had good habits and excellent situational awareness. Flying and motorcycles helped. I'm the only person she's ever passed with my condition.

But honestly, rush hour on freeways or downtown is not smart. The rest is manageable but driving is no longer casual. With bifocals, I wouldn't have enough uncluttered sight picture to be safe under any conditions at any time. And, if I'm unsafe, I'll stop. I have pulled over to wait for traffic to clear or die down a couple of times.

It might be your ear and it could be your heart.

How long are you driving for, when you get one of these spells?
No problem when home or at the office: this might be because, you're up and down more frequently than driving for a longer period of time.

Stuff like this is a sign of something wrong or a warning sign of something else.

Truely wishing you all the best.

Don't pay much attention to your on-line help for your healthcare, see a doctor and get yourself checked out, it will give you some peace of mind.

Take care.

You shouldn't drink and drive.

Seriously, sounds like an inner ear problem similar to motion sickness. Talk to your doctor. He will be familiar with this, I'm sure.

-Ken

I was thinking vertigo as well.

The Epley Maneuver worked for my vertigo, per my doctor. But not immediately, had to be patient. If that is what's going on with you.

https://www.webmd.com/brain/home-remedies-vertigo

My heart isn't perfect but I don't think that's it. It has happened after 5 minutes on the road. My work is very inconsistent. I may be at a desk for hours, then climbing in and out of fire engines and ambulances doing maintenance or hand loading a 1,000 pounds of computer surplus on a truck. I am typically 50% desk work and 50% "field" work.

Sounds like those inner ear crystals could be the result of chronic dehydration or a magnesium deficiency.

Sounds like anxiety, but doesn't if that makes sense. I used to take lisinopril and the only time it ever made me dizzy was when Dr gave me a higher dosage than needed. Even then it was only when I bent down and stood back up.

See a dr and ask about Vasovagal Syncope along with a complete physical.

Too bad the Dumbassed Corksuckers on the Fire ran Doc Rocket off.

Of course, they werent Drs because they couldnt be perfect and most couldnt have gotten into med school or survived it if they would have.

Blood sugar? Or Faster motion vertigo. Does the freeway have noise walls? Lack of orienting to landscape

Just go to the doctor before you wreck.

Quit drinking before driving.

It's claustrophobia. Move to a rural area.

This.....get tested for Menieres. My daughters is so bad I don't know how she survived before treatment. She'd have attacks on the freeway and seemed to always muster enough to get out of harms way and get to a parking lot. She described it as having intense seasickness along with the worst hangover ever. It was bad enough she couldn't get up out of the floor and had to call her ex for help....thats pretty bad.

I've had this happen on and off for about 4 years now. It's freaky for sure.

I think in my case it was blood sugar related. When I found out mine was sky high, I made some diet changes. So far so good with the driving dizzy spells and warding off the 'beetus.

Ahhh...

Bullshit....

Good drama attempt though.

Non-sustainable Vtac is not life threatening. Does not usually interfere with driving ability. And is little more than an inconvenience. Not that any paramedic would know the difference. Most ER physicians don't either.

Last time I was in an ER getting a leg xrayed, in 2018, the nurse who tried to take my BP told the Doc that I had an active arrhythmia. It was no surprise as I had told her the same thing before she tried to take the BP.

I had a long history of NS VTac going back to 2015. Had had one previous ablation in 2016, which kept it at bay for about a year and a half.But it had reappeared months before and was increasing in episodes per day.
Anyway, the ER doc had an ekg done, and immediately called the on duty Cardiologist, who happened to be my primary Cardio guy. He asked to speak with me on the phone, and advised me to call my ElectroCardioPhysiologist the next business day. He then got back on the phone with the ER doc and told him there was no cause for immediate concern.
I wore a monitor for 48 hours every 6 months in those days and they knew what was going on.

But the ER Doc went nuts. Immediately ordered a $3000 ambulance ride to a city 70 miles away with a higher level of cardiac care ($21000 a day). This was the hospital where my Electrophysiocardiologist practiced. He wasn't on duty that night, so I had to wait til the next day to be released.
EPC told me to maintain my biannual monitoring routine, which led to a 2nd ablation in 2019 that has cured me of all VTac.

I get it that if you're just a paramedic you need to treat everything as a worst case scenario. But my primary cardio guy here locally told me when he first diagnosed me that it wasn't dangerous, and of little concern until it reached a certain number of episodes per day, at which time treatment is indicated, either through medicine or surgery (ablation). He told me to live normally, drive, work, and carry on as usual.

I hit the treatment threshold twice, having an ablation once, and then, after it reoccurred was eventually put on meds til I could get an ablation at an advanced facility.

The worst part of the VTac that I experienced was in trying to shoot groups with precision rifles. Complete PITA...

I was on a med once that gave me Afib when I peed. I'd be taking a leak and almost passport. My pulse would go crazy fast and irregular.
Stopped the med and no more problems.

Bb

LOL that could get embarrassing at the sports bar.

Do not report such to the doctor, or if one does, try to flavor it mildly. An elderly neighbor had his driver's license voided within a day of admitting such. Really took the wind out of his sails as that was his last bit of independence.