Weak neck, dizzy, fatigued, heavy head, feel sick

Same feeling here, too! When I explained it to my doctor she said I don't have vertigo or I would be holing on to my chair or something. She mentioned blood pressure drops when you stand up, and I said no that's not the same feeling. In fact, when I'm standing up and walking around I usually feel a little better. She thought I should try some anti-anxiety medicine. So I started taking Wellbutrin, and it helps a little. I still feel dizzy, but now I don't get as anxious about it and make it worse. I am pretty sure it is the anxiety, since it is worse in certain situations (driving, sitting in boring meetings, grocery store...). And when I first wake up in the morning I feel pretty good for like 30 minutes. So I figure if it's MS or a brain tumor or something I would feel ok sometimes in my bad situations and feel bad sometimes in my ok scenarios. But I'm only about 85% convinced!

When searching I did find something interesting: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=79520. Where the guy says it is like shaking your head back and forth 20 times pretty much is exactly what it's like. I wish I read this before trying to explain it to my doctor! So we'll see what the medicine does once it fully kicks in. If she is right, then I don't want to be the dummy that spends $2000 on an MRI for no reason. So I'll put some money towards some alternative therapies such as acupuncture, hypnosis, massage, etc... instead. If it doesn't cure the dizziness, at least I'll feel more relaxed!

Sounds like I have been experiencing the same thing for a year and a half. I have had headaches and my neck aches constantly...with varying degrees of severity. My head feels heavy on my neck. Acupuncture, Chiropractor and massage only helps temporarily. I have had CT and MRI done on my brain/head...and both were normal. Also went to ENT...everything normal. Blood tests...normal. This totally sucks! I have felt absolutely miserable for a year and a half. The pain in my head and neck make me feel disoriented, tired all the time, it's very hard to focus, I feel less motivated, even feel stupid at times and I've always been a smart person. It's very depressing and I totally feel for all the people out there with the same problem. Nobody understands and it's frustrating going several different doctors and never really getting and answer. One doctor said it's tension headaches..gave me meds, but they didn't help. This last time I went...just a week ago...the doctor swears it is just muscle tension. She gave me muscle relaxants...and guess what...those don't help either. I don't know what else to do.........................but I don't want to live the rest of my life feeling like this!

Hello I have had the same problem for 1 1/2 years it has destroyed everything in my life. Relationships jobs everything.
When it first started I went to 5 different doctors, specialists , physiothearapy everything.
The first year I was depressed angry so I tried anything .
Now I have large breasts so I have bad posture . I went to a physo who
Told me what it is.
The blood from your body can not flow to your brain
Because your neck musles are to tight. So what she did was massage
My neck and my jaw bones. I got up and went home feeling worse
But later that day at work my ear unplugged and my eye watered
Which ment that the blood started flowing to my head again!
But I never went back for a second treatment because I was dumb.
I want you to try some things that help me alot?

1. Sleep with your back on the bed so you are looking at the celing
And sleep with a pillow between your legs( makes the spine straight)
And make sure your head is all the way on the pillow with your neck because
If your neck is not on the pillow there is no support for it that is why the mussles are so week.

2. Go and buy a very firm pillow. The firmest you can find so you have more support and your
Neck musles get strong.

3. Massage your lower head neck and shoulders for
Half an hour each night. Firm to get the knots out and get the blood flowing.
Finally the thing that made me feel so much better is cranial sacral thearapy.
It is a massage with no pressure but it relaxes your musles and makes you better
It is the best thing that will cure you. Google it I think it's called sacral cranial thearapy .
Let me know how it goes

Dear Wannahelpout,

1- You are absolutely right. Right spinal postures are essential.

2- Accidentally, I started practicing Yoga. The damnest thing happend:

All the back stretches like Cobra, Bending forward, Triangle, ... and neck and shoulder stretches (While avoiding all the upside down postures like sirshasana) are the ultimate cure for this problem.

I practiced them for 2 weeks and ALL my symptoms were gone!

Then I thought it's over. 1 week later, I was light headed again, so I practiced those postures again. Since then (I'm practicing everyday)
I haven't had a single episode of dizziness, fatigue, lightheadedness, ....

My only concern is: Do I have to practice yoga for the rest of my life?

I have same thing degenerative disc disease but testing showed I had vestibulopathy which is damage to the balance area of the ear.
We balance from the eyes, ears, and neck muscles so if one is NOT functioning the others get overloaded. So the neck muscles get tight and we can I think experience dizziness from the neck area from nerve impingement which no test can show not even MRI or Xrays can show IF a nerve is getting irritated. Good luck to all

This has become common and baffled medicine on the whole. It is weakness in your neck or cervical spine. You can test if this is cause yours by doing a simple movement. Lie on the floow (no pillows) and let your head tip back, for example at the top of some steps. Your arms should be flat down your sides and palms up. Allow your head to tip back slowly, then exercise it back to midline. This may well feel very difficult, sparkles in your vision, pain, dizziness and nausea. Some people actually vomit, very unpleasant. I like this way rather than weighted attachments - do you know what your head weighs? Allow your head ti be the weight, hence the step. This horrid test is also the treatment. Work through it. If the first day you can only do two reps then so be it. Do reps on your back, and the same on your belly at the step. It took me 2 weeks of this before I noticed the difference. I do this twice a day now. When you are walking about your head is making movements and keeps muscles built. We spend so much time sitting and keeping our heads still gawking at screens or just thin air, it starts to hurt us. I am sorry there is no easy fix here, you have to get the special and sometimes tiny muscles back to strength. You will feel sick and all the rest of it, but you do already, right? Good luck to you, I had to find this out as my shoulders were so painful too, I thought they were frozen. This is a cultural disease. You may find some things in ergonomics literature. There is no money in you exercising on your steps, so good luck getting the advice when folks are on 'duty'.

Hi Okay I'm back....

I have not stopped trying to solve this problem. I am much worse now than ever.

Okay for one thing - Again make sure you describe your symptoms correctly, If you say VERTIGO they think room spinning dizziness.
I have been saying balance problem,or disequalibrium problem...

Okay here some NEWS - Those with Neck pain,stiffness,soreness,burning. There is a problem called CERVICAL VERTIGO
Now most MD's will only consider this as it's pretty rare, if you have been in a recent accident or had an injury to your neck. BUT It can also come from degenerative discs in your cervical spine.

So MRI your cervical spine and see what's going on there. I have burning in my neck,back and pain in my lumbar. I used to lift 350 tires off the ground for years, But the trick was my DIZZY like symptoms showed up LONG before my neck & back problems.

I have now seen 41 doctors and specialists and have had this problem straight for 13 years... I know the frustration all to well. I have lost nearly everything because of this.. No job, no disability.no life I NEVER go anywhere, accept to doctors...No HELP! I have done.. EMG,MRI Brain,Neck.Lumbar, CT Scan, Flex X ray, ENG, VNG (goggles) Allergy, 4 Chiropractors etc... I KNOW my dizzy balnce problem is coming form my neck & or back.. sooner or later your problem will rear it's ugly head.

I recently tried Upper Cervical Treatment It's special very SUBTLE chiropratic technique. They were WONDERFUL people as most non MD's are I have found. Here is a link to a video explanation of the procedure.
I went for 12 visits and it didn't work for me... But that's me maybe it can help one of you.

Try to avoid letting chiropractors be too aggressive with your neck if you have herniated bulging discs.. Just be careful

The ENG will be the best way to rule out INNER EAR problem. That kind of vertigo is spinning and it usually does not last, certainly not 13 years :) Look for a Balance Dizziness Center near you. They use that head positioning technique and it often works in one or two visits.

I'm going to try Accupunture next,,, but really it's so hard because not only are we dealing with BALANCE problems,/dizziness we have the pain and stiffness of spine damage.

GUYS & GALS - Try to write down your symptoms, also make a NOTE of anything that makes you feel slightly better. See test are needed but often we don't get answers,, but knowing things like what makes you a bit better or worse is HUGE evidence.
For me going into a swimming pool dizzy and all helps me 75% of the time... I figured I'm weightless in the water and it DECOMPRESSES our SPINES...

This is how I know, it;s neck/spine problem causing my off balance,tipping,dizzy, sinking into the ground sensation,,,,,

Best of Luck to all of you - You are not alone....

i been haveing same prob i get these headaches and now today i woke up feeling dizzy and my head feels havey like inside my head feels werid:-( wat can this been should i worry???

its funny you mention this. i noticed a while back while doing situps that my neck seemed to be weak; something i'd definitely never had. at the time, though, i just chalked it up to stress-caused muscle tension. i live in an apartment with an upstairs loft. coincidentally, a few days ago, i started doing 'neck ups' while laying on my back at the top of the stairs, dangling my head over the top step. unfortunately, i can't comment on the success of this remedy as i've only done this for a couple of days. i plan to continue for a while and see if my condition doesn't improve. ill make another post with results.



this 'disorder' can be really frightening. its really hard not to worry that something is seriously wrong but i do think worrying only makes it worse. here are some things ive noticed, aside from (due to) chronic head and neck pain:

i have more trouble focusing now.



my memory has definitely taken a hit although i think much of it is due to my decreased focus level and increased self-monitoring.



when the pain is bad, i feel very disconnected from the world. its a strange feeling but people seem almost alien to me.



jogging helps.



don't let yourself get hungry. this is when it is worst for me.



i can't look at a computer screen very long now without my eyes absolutely killing me. i've purchased artificial tears but they don't really seem to help. i've developed a couple of wrinkles on my forehead due to squinting so much.



my vision fluctuates from sharp to snowy, depending on the intensity of the pain.



the pain will subside a bit, if YOU allow it to. stay busy and interact with other people. if i'm not involved in the conversation, then i tend to turn inward and start monitoring my pain which only amplifies it.

p.s. what this person says about these exercises - nausea, dizziness, sparkles, etc is all true. the first time i did this, i almost yakked.

I have the exact same symptoms from last 4+ months. MRI, CT, blood test (sugar etc) all normal. The worst time for me is while driving (even though my work is 3miles) and working on computers. Some additional symptoms are my left and top part of head also gets numb or I feel there are some layers. Someone said about changing vision, blurriness and hard to focus, this also happens to me. Apparently, I got RX glasses now for that (nearsighted). I had my doctors read through this bog so they would understand my symptoms and frustration. They (my physician, neurologist, sleep specialist, Physical therapist) are trying really hard to figure this out and working together. Currently my Physical Therapist has shown me how to exercise the neck muscle. They also think I may not be sleeping well, so they will monitor how I sleep. I will update if anything helps me. - Sonik

I wrote in earlier stating my problems/symptoms. Well, it's still happening. My neurosurgeon mentioned the Barre-Lieou Syndrome, which fits my symptoms to a tea. I am now awaiting another MRI and waiting to see a new neurologist. I hope they can figure this out someday, as it is very depressing to not be able to focus properly. It's hard to concentrate at work. So frustrating.

Same symptoms, they said it was anxiety, i knew it wasnt. turned out to be Meniere's Disease, a disorder of the middle ear. Do you have ringing in your ear or hearing loss? check it out

I have the same symptoms, they dignosed it as anxiety, i knew that it wasnt tehn finaly a dr dignosed meniere's. meniere's is a disorder in the middle ear, Middle ear problems can cause all kinds of problems with your surroundings almost makign you feel like a dream state. If you have ringign in your ear and some hearing loss go get checked out. There no cure but atleast now i know im not crazy.

Hi,

I have been suffering from all of the things that have been described here for many many years. In the last few years it has gotten worse - I woke up one day in a brain fog, I have trouble standing/walking /driving - I feel weak/off-balance/blurred vision/dizzy and spaced out. I've had every test there is and they all came back negative.

I think I may have found the answer (I'm hoping!!). I saw this Dr on a news show and I went to see him - I tested positive for heavy metal poisoining. I am in the middle of doing his detox pgm and I feel a lot better after only a few weeks. Metal poisoning causes weakness in your muscles - usually starting on the left side (I have had neck and shoulder pain on my left side for years - i keep having to go to the chiro) and it messes up the signals in your body that makes you dizzy and spaced out. You can get it if you don't eat properly (ie. too many carbs and not enough 'good' fat ) and are vitamin deficient.

Check out his website:
I'm glad I did!

Hi again,

For some reason the url did not show up in my post.
The doctor's website is
You can google him: Doctor Jackson - he has a lot of info on veritgo/pain...etc. It's very enlightening! It's not at all what you think can be wrong with you. I went though all of the chiro visits/acupuncture/massages etc - those treatments only offered temporary relief.