I’m amazed you’re able to drive at all with Laby. No way in hell I could. I have enough trouble even remaining stationary in front of a screen without having a spell. If that disorientation occurred when I was out in traffic, I’d end up killing someone, probably myself.
As for the SSRI, that’s too late. I was on Lexapro for nearly 2 years. I had to go on it or I was in grave danger because I could no longer get out, and I was well over a decade past needing serious medical care for other symptoms. Yes, I do have anxiety (since I was 11, so that’s about 24 years), quite severe (probably the most severe any of my doctors have ever seen) and routinely have epic bad panic attacks. They are absolutely crippling. Combine that with a smorgasbord of side issues and you get the idea. On the Lexapro and with behavioral therapy, I was able to get out (and some months after, train myself so that I could at least ride in a car), and I was literally unable to get out for the better part of a decade. It was just that bad.
For part of ‘04-’06 I was able to get out and travel for the first time in a decade. I decided after having enough of some of the worst side effects (violent nightmares, zombieish feelings, desire to sleep upwards of 15 hours a day, and all the nasty stomach stuff/digestive problems and muscle tension, nevermind the weight gain, and I wasn’t heavy to begin with). Coasted for 6 months with no problem and finally crashed and became extremely ill. And so I’m back in the same boat as I was prior to ‘04. More than likely will have to go on the Lexapro again just to be able to get out to doctors again. An awful nightmare.
The problem with the Labyrinthitis is that, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, that depending upon your level of anxiety, it can either be relatively mild or absolutely crippling (to the point you’re on a bed or on the floor so nauseous and disoriented, you’re just trying to keep the contents of your stomach in). When people ask what a moderate case of Laby is, I offer this suggestion to them. Spin yourself around several times. Stop yourself suddenly and orient yourself to the room looking all around, and you get an idea. Just to have that sensation of falling when you’re sitting firmly upright in a chair... ugh. I hold my head and neck so rigidly I frequently get neckache and back cramps as a result, too. Fun stuff.
As for the low frequency stuff, I live in Nashville, which is, as you know, a bit larger than Knoxville and Oak Ridge. Given this part of town, you can’t escape the idiots driving down the street with their tricked-out radios at full tilt. I’m to the point now that I believe those types of stereos should be completely outlawed in cars. They’re not only disruptive to the driver, they’re also extremely distracting to others. For that matter, they should probably even be outlawed in apartments, if not homes that are less than 100 feet from another. Nobody, and I mean nobody has any business being out on the road with that. It’s a threat to the public safety, and for people like us with this condition, it’s a physical assault.
With consistent but low dosages {very important to take like this} the risk of developing a Tolerance is minimal. Those issues usually come from doctors prescribing up to 2 MG 3 times a day and that is not necessary nor healthy. Dependence will happen. But hey I've been on it 15 years and often have my needed dosage down to 2 per day instead of 4. On real bad days I've taken 5 or 6 but that's rare because I learned some adapting techniques. I can stop an attack for example by playing my 6 string. Odd but it works.
I'm not a doctor but SSRI's in general don't set well with this and Lexepro is such. To give you an idea I went through about 4 of them before I said No More. Paxil blocked my bladder and I almost went into dysreflexic shock and I know I was experiencing as I'm trained to diagnose it. Impramine {sp} had me sitting there and point a finger at my head clicking till I said WTH am I doing? Buspar tore my stomach up. Which brings up another matter. SSRI's are bad for causing stomach problems. Serotonin is a digestive chemical of which 98% belongs in the stomach. When it stays there all is well in body chemistry. For some reason persons with Central Nervous System impairments or Neurological issues such as nerve damage and sensory disorders are a lot more prone to Serotonin Migration. This generally happens when taking SSRI's. Migration means it travels to the brain and very bad things happen. One is major headaches. That is just the beginning. Next can come hallucinations or tripping just like taking LSD. Take this for what it's worth my wife went through it twice in a week while being treated with SSRI's. The only thing that saved her life was she was also taking Xanax which Benzodiazepine is the drugs used to treat Serotonin Migration.
With a damaged sensory processing system the last thing needed is enhanced sensory impulses as the brain and CNS can't translate and process what it is handling now. That is what triggers the Panic attacks. You have to slow things down to a level it can function at. Thus the reason for Benzodiazepine.
Benzodiazepines get a bad reputation they don't deserve mainly due to lack of knowledge on the part of the doctor prescribing them. When I first took them I was on 2 MG 2 times a day at one point and was yo-yoing from it. It didn't help. Finally I found a doctor who said no SSRI's but take Xanax .5 mg {half a MG} 4 times a day. It works. My wife is about like me. When she went quadriplegic the first thing to go was Inner ear. She's been on Xanax since 1985. No Tolerance build up issues no craving more because it's a low dosage and consistent. She went on SSRI's because of PTSD from a dentist in Knoxville that nearly killed her with a medication over-dosage. A shrink put her on SSRI's. That was when the Serotonin Syndrome hit her.
If you can find it try this book as well. "Phobia Free" by Harold Levinson MD. This guys book saved my life and helped me put the pieces together. I found the book in a second hand store and almost didn't get it. I'm glad I did because he had the answers. It's not a it's all in your head and you need to meditate etc kinda book. Don't let the title throw you. He links anxiety to Vestibular disorders. He was one of the first and the mental health community scoffed at him for years. Vestibular research is proving him right though.
Doctors still don't know much about these disorders. Even fewer doctors realize that anxiety can be of neurological origin and dysfunctional sensory processing rather than phobic/traumatic which is what SSRI's treat.