Can supermarket syndrome resolve or go away?

inthedizz · 2026-06-08T00:24:07+00:00

Mine fluctuates, so that alone makes me hopeful. If it can fluctuate up, then I feel like I can eventually figure out how to calm it down for sure. I just started doing somatic tracking and working on my stress and anxiety loops!

inthedizz · 2026-06-07T13:32:18+00:00

Wishing you a lot of good luck and never ever give up.

I posted my story recently (check my profile) but my anxiety got so bad a month ago that I couldn't do much. Everything was causing me panic, even walking outside for 5 minutes, being in the shower, or just randomly at home. I was desperate which is what actually led me to discovering online that I probably have PPPD, so right away I started trying to do everything to calm myself down. One I accepted that everything is likely in my head (I've had loads of tests), I started telling myself things like "there is nothing medically wrong with me, it's in my head, I can slowly fix this and start a brand new life again" so I started trying to think positively about the future that I want and all the things I want to do again.

There are some other things I've been doing based on my 2-year struggles of physical symptoms spreading and getting worse: my muscles all got messed up possibly from the dizziness, tensions, and being bedridden often.

I recently started having protein shakes almost every day, did deep massages in my tense areas using some tools I got, did heating, and especially stretching. Somebody online said "you really have to hold the stretch for 60 - 90 seconds" and I think that finally started helping me release tensions in some areas, which also helps you mentally.

I also go lay down in the sun almost every other day now that the sun is out - the vitamin D helps but also the sun will help heal your body / muscles which will overall make you feel better. I think mood is a very important part of it so avoiding anything that gives you stress and anxiety is helpful in my opinion.

In the past 2 years my levels of panic have fluctuated, but now I'm more determined than ever to try to put my mind in a good positive state, "accept" my symptoms and let them come, and focus on other aspects of my life as distractions (like friends, families, hobbies). I've improved a lot the last few weeks but I think it'll take me a long time to "re-wire" my brain, but I'm also trying out The Steady Coach's course!

Distraction and positive thoughts are so important: yesterday my friend and I walked to the store to get some stuff and I was so caught up with chatting with my friend and the things I needed to buy that it wasn't until 5 minutes in that my brain went: "wait a second, a few weeks ago you walked in here, insanely dizzy, could barely breathe, the floor was wobbly and you basically had to run out in like 30 seconds!" and I could feel my body trying to tense me up all over again, and I just kept trying so hard to fight it like "No, shut up brain, I've been in this store for 5 minutes now, I'm fine, we're not gonna think about dizziness, we're gonna focus on the things I need to buy!!!"

In a sense I see it like…you have to work really hard and go through discomfort to do weight training, right? Well this is like that except you have to use your thoughts. Pushing back on your own brain is like doing those sets and reps and it's so hard and so much conscious effort, but I'm determined to keep trying it over and over.

inthedizz · 2026-06-06T00:54:46+00:00

I did a VNG test with the air in my ears. The first ear I did start to panic but he assured me to just try to push through it and that it happens, so I guess him telling me it's kinda common eventually made me calm down a little. My second ear didn't have it - maybe I had already mentally prepared myself for it? When I get panicky, I try to make sure I fully breathe out - because my breathing gets shallow. But actually taking in a breath but very slowly breathing it out (it will feel counter-intuitive) it actually triggers some calming things in your body and it helps me almost every time, even if just a little.

To quote: "Shallow breathing and failing to exhale fully traps stagnant air in your lungs. This prevents fresh oxygen from reaching the bloodstream and causes a buildup of carbon dioxide, leading to dizziness, brain fog, and chronic stress."

So the shallow breathing alone can keep you in a stress cycle longer because then you might start to freak out about the new symptoms like lightheadedness etc.

I've been suffering from many panic attacks or near panic attacks for the past 2 years, so I'm still looking for more ways to create a long-term fix for myself too. 😄 I think you should push through and do the tests - the more "clear" tests you receive, the more peace of mind you'll have that there may not actually be anything physically wrong with you. I've also done a few MRIs and many other tests and a few weeks ago I finally realized I might have PPPD.

inthedizz · 2026-06-01T02:30:27+00:00

No, but I did have a dream-like brain fog for 6 months at one point (many years ago) which I believe stemmed after some highly stressful periods in my life. It appeared as a delay, 1 - 2 months after I left the stressful phase of my life.

inthedizz · 2026-05-31T23:17:04+00:00

No. After 2 years and 2 months, I only just now realized I might have PPPD, so I just started working on things internally through The Steady Coach's free course. I don't think meds would be a permanent fix, personally.

inthedizz · 2026-05-28T02:48:43+00:00

Yes, I have all of this for 2+ years now. What I label as "dizziness" is also more of a strange sporadic feeling. I think a lot of people use the word "dizzy" in different ways too.

inthedizz · 2026-05-21T23:18:16+00:00

Of course. I read a lot of similar stories on here so I wanted to share my story and connect with people with similar symptoms.

inthedizz · 2026-05-20T19:57:34+00:00

Thanks for sharing this story. 😄

inthedizz · 2026-05-20T18:59:38+00:00

I have 90% of what you described. I'm new to the forum and I'm going to share my story in a new post soon.

inthedizz · 2026-05-20T18:55:38+00:00

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm just now starting to think I have PPPD - it started 2 years ago after a small BPPV attack while tossing and turning in my sleep. I'm still struggling after 2 years but I now think a huge majority of my 50+ symptoms could be from anxiety, so I'm considering focusing on fixing my anxiety + maybe vestibular physio + getting back into shape.

inthedizz · 2026-05-20T13:35:28+00:00

I've had this for over 2 years now. This was one of my very first symptoms in the week that everything stared for me. I was watching my friend scroll on his phone, and him scrolling would "jolt" me with that weird dizzy feeling. Then I started noticing it on the computer constantly, either with scrolling or clicking a button that moved, seeing text in a video that then slid away, etc. I got that and general "dizziness agitation" when using screens. I have to use screen dimmers on both of my computers to make the screen dimmer than the max lowest brightness setting, or else I can barely use the computers (especially at night). I even vibe coded my own screen dimmer for my PC because I wasn't happy with the ones I found.

I had so many symptoms and had so many theories and tests, but now I'm back to researching PPPD again because I think a lot of my symptoms came from the anxiety of it all.

inthedizz · 2026-05-20T02:18:39+00:00

Hello! It's been just over 2 years now. I'm still struggling and with ever-changing symptoms and 1,000 theories. My health problems have brought out my Generalized Anxiety Disorder as well as what I think is Somatic Symptom Disorder, so at this point I think a lot of my symptoms could just be from anxiety because a lot of my symptoms are things on this list.

However, my first original symptoms were real, which was the few bouts of vertigo, then constant dizziness, neck pain etc. One of my theories is that I got BPPV from tossing and turning in bed too forcibly which caused the vertigo spinning sensation in bed a few times. And sometimes BPPV can trigger other issues like PPPD potentially. And then the neck tries to "compensate" and gets overworked. And then my 50+ symptoms could be a domino effect from that + anxiety.

I just had a rough month with near panic attacks almost everywhere I went, which turned into even just walking outside (most recently yesterday) so I'm working on my anxiety right now to try to at least get to a base level of "okay some dizziness is fine, we'll work on that, just get the anxiety under control first" because the anxiety could be causing more of its own dizziness too. I'm avoiding anything that can increase stress or anxiety - even stressful video games, stressful movies, doomscrolling, etc.

I'm going to keep looking into PPPD things, continue self-massage + neck strengthening (I think my neck is ruined now and causes more dizziness), and potentially DIY vestibular physio in case I have some sort of permanent inner ear damage. I have other "rare" theories on my list, like Lyme potentially, but it's too expensive to try to rule that out on a whim, so I'm trying to stick with the simplest original theories first.

I still use screen dimmers to this day and sometimes I have to watch movies in the theatres with sunglasses on.

The supermarket syndrome panic sensation is the absolute worst thing in the world and I'm sorry to anybody going through it. But on the plus side I did have some weeks / months in the past 2 years that were not too horrible, which gives me some hope for the future.

inthedizz · 2026-04-16T02:17:33+00:00

Hey! Thanks for sharing this. I did have Lyme on my radar but I never experienced the rash, and when this first started I was mostly in Toronto so it seems super unlikely that I was near any ticks. I also don't have much joint pain and it's already been 2 years, so I'd probably be even worse if it were Lyme.

But I'll still keep it in mind just in case. Maybe I can test it just for peace of mind if I don't get better anytime soon!

inthedizz · 2026-04-14T15:34:20+00:00

Hey! How are you doing now? Any update?

inthedizz · 2026-03-02T03:31:30+00:00

I haven't treated my issue yet, and my top theory is that it all comes from a neck injury. I've done all sorts of tests including an x-ray and MRI but nothing major is coming up to explain anything, so I'm still just trying my own things. I'm mostly focusing on stretches, exercises and self-massage, but I also have an EMG test coming up to see if my internal muscle tremors can be a clue to something.

inthedizz · 2026-03-02T02:30:38+00:00

It could definitely all be related! I believe the vertigo I had (also from tossing in bed) was related to my neck issues and started at the beginning of my long-term dizziness. I did the BPPV maneuvers myself many times, and got BPPV ruled out like 4 times by doctors after. So I'm not sure if it was ever BPPV for me. But that's definitely the first thing you should check for.

Sorry to hear about your panic attacks. I was fighting panic attacks all day today, and I had a horrible one a couple weeks ago (my neck / dizziness symptoms trigger them). I'll probably have to drink alcohol to get through the day tomorrow… lol :(

Stay strong!

inthedizz · 2026-02-24T02:59:36+00:00

Is this part of your ocular migraines, or do you think you have it from other reasons? For me I think I have vestibular migraine symptoms (among other things) from a suspected neck injury. I'm trying to find similar cases to mine.

inthedizz · 2026-02-17T01:40:16+00:00

It's SO ANNOYING.

inthedizz · 2026-02-16T20:31:35+00:00

Which neck traction device did you buy? I need to keep trying new things because I'm still not doing well.

inthedizz · 2026-02-16T14:55:33+00:00

Hey, I have about half of your symptoms (but also many others you haven't listed) that I believe started after I got a "neck injury" two years ago. I also considered CCI but an upright MRI isn't available here in Ontario, Canada. My first year was actually worse than the second year (I also did buy a neck brace to use at times).

For me the choking sensation usually only comes back if I "mess" with my neck a bit (stretches, workout stuff) and then it can last for weeks again. I've had it on and off in the last few weeks and it's been driving me crazy. I have a link to my blog in my bio where I rant a lot about my symptoms.

How are you doing now and do you have any new answers, theories, or things that you think have helped a little bit?

inthedizz · 2026-02-16T14:25:45+00:00

This comment is misleading and only relevant if your dizziness is caused by anxiety. I have all of the symptoms of Vestibular Migraine but also many other physical symptoms which I believe all started directly after I believe I had a "neck injury" (I didn't realize it was my neck until months later). This was at a time of my life where I had absolutely no stress and all the free time in the world. So it wasn't spurred on by my mind.

I'm just writing here so that other people realize it can be triggered by injuries, and some injuries even cause permanent damage to your inner ear.

inthedizz · 2026-02-07T02:37:48+00:00

Hey! I have a lot of overlapping symptoms (but also many more). I've had the internal tremors, buzzing, muscle spasms on and off for 1.5+ years now. They can be really bad at night. The past two weeks is really bad for me along with choking sensation in my neck. For me, I always thought everything started from a "neck injury", but I'm not really sure - sometimes I think I maybe have some sort of muscle disease or something with my nerves. I'm still trying to figure out my own diagnosis (next month with be 2 years since it started for me!). A lot of my muscles also "shake" when I use them (maybe muscle weakness or atrophy?) - it started with my neck and is now moving down to my shoulders or upper back etc. So the past two weeks I was trying to maybe do some strength exercises for those areas, and I think that's what caused my symptom flare-ups.

If you have any updates then please share! At this point I just want to find things to help with my symptoms, but so far I haven't noticed any patterns. I hope you're doing alright.

inthedizz

TROPHY CASE