Vertigo and Anxiety: What to Log

Updated 29 Oct 2026

After a few bad spins, worry about the next one can start shaping the day.

This guide covers what to log about anxiety with vertigo: urgent signs, spinning versus dizzy, panic-like episodes, avoided places, what helped, and what to bring to a GP. Your GP or care team decides treatment.

Know the urgent signs

The NHS says to call 999 or go to A&E if you have vertigo with double vision or loss of vision, hearing loss, trouble speaking, or leg or arm weakness, numbness, or tingling (NHS vertigo guidance). It says to ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if you have vertigo with a severe headache, are being sick or feel very sick, or have a very high temperature (NHS vertigo guidance). It advises not driving to A&E (NHS vertigo guidance). In the US, call 911 or go to the ER for these signs, and use urgent care or your primary care doctor where the NHS mentions a GP.

For mental health, the NHS says support is available if you or someone you know is having a crisis or emergency, and links to where to get urgent help (NHS anxiety guidance). In the UK, it lists Samaritans on 116 123, any time (NHS anxiety guidance). In the US, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Keep these at the top of your log, and keep the emergency number for your country saved.

In Vertigo Journey, My Care Team keeps the numbers you would call.

Log spinning versus dizzy

The NHS says vertigo feels like you or everything around you is spinning, enough to affect your balance, and that it is more than just feeling dizzy (NHS vertigo guidance). It says an attack can last from a few seconds to hours (NHS vertigo guidance).

It lists feeling light-headed and dizzy among physical symptoms of anxiety, along with a faster or more noticeable heartbeat, sweating, breathlessness, and shaking (NHS anxiety guidance).

For each episode, log whether the room was spinning or you felt light-headed, how long it lasted, a 0 to 10 severity, and what you were doing. Add an anxiety score from 0 to 10 before and after. A GP will ask about your symptoms to find the cause (NHS, Vertigo); this record answers that.

For telling the two apart, see vertigo versus lightheadedness.

In Vertigo Journey, the Flare Tracker holds each attack.

Log panic-like episodes

The NHS says sudden, intense anxiety and fear might be the symptoms of a panic attack, which may include a racing heartbeat, feeling faint, dizzy, or light-headed, feeling that you are losing control, sweating or shaking, shortness of breath, tingling in your fingers or lips, and feeling sick (NHS anxiety guidance). It says a panic attack usually lasts 5 to 20 minutes (NHS anxiety guidance).

If an episode felt like this, log the start time, length in minutes, each of those signs you noticed, and whether the room spun. Length and spinning are useful details for your GP, who decides what it was.

The NHS also says regular anxiety, fear, or panic can be the main symptom of several health conditions, and advises not to self-diagnose but to speak to a GP if you are worried (NHS anxiety guidance).

In Vertigo Journey, the Daily Journal holds the episode notes.

Log the places you avoid

The NHS lists avoiding places and situations that create anxiety, and being worried about trying new things, among changes in behavior with anxiety (NHS anxiety guidance). It advises not avoiding situations that make you anxious and instead slowly building up time spent in worrying situations (NHS anxiety guidance).

For vertigo, it advises moving your head carefully and slowly, sitting down straight away when you feel dizzy, and using a walking stick if you are at risk of falling (NHS vertigo guidance).

Log each place or task you skipped for fear of an attack, such as a supermarket or stairs, and each one you tried. A weekly count shows whether the list is growing or shrinking.

In Vertigo Journey, Weekly Goals holds one small step a week.

Log what helped and see a GP

For vertigo, the NHS suggests lying still in a quiet, dark room and trying to relax (NHS vertigo guidance). For anxiety, it suggests calming breathing exercises, regular exercise, regular meals, talking about your feelings, and setting small targets (NHS anxiety guidance). It advises trying not to use alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, or drugs to relieve anxiety (NHS anxiety guidance).

It advises seeing a GP if vertigo will not go away or keeps coming back (NHS vertigo guidance), or if you are struggling to cope with anxiety, fear, or panic (NHS anxiety guidance). In England, adults can refer themselves to NHS talking therapies (NHS anxiety guidance).

Bring attack counts, anxiety scores, avoided places, and what helped.

For flare days, see a vertigo flare day. For past visits, see rebuilding the vertigo story.

In Vertigo Journey, the Doctor Report brings it together.

How Vertigo Journey can help

A notebook can hold one bad day. The harder part is keeping attacks, anxiety, and avoided places in one dated record.

Vertigo Journey is a personal vertigo tracker from Health Journey Labs on the App Store and Google Play. It records symptoms, medicines, test dates, and visits in one dated history. Below is what you can use and how each part helps:

• Daily check-in — A short guided pass across symptoms, mood, nutrition, sleep, exercise, meds, and external factors, including spin intensity, duration, triggers, nausea, and balance limits, so links you would not remember on your own show up side by side.
• Daily Journal — Freer notes, including voice when screens feel unsteady, that add detail a score alone cannot show.
• Flare Tracker — Mark an episode clearly worse than usual, so you can tell a one-off spike from a repeating pattern.
• My Meds — Medicine names and timing, so you can line up a start date or dose change with episode frequency and duration.
• My Labs — Result dates for hearing tests, imaging, and other workups, compared with how you felt in the weeks before and after.
• Weekly Goals — Set one small aim, such as balance exercises, and see whether it held and whether episodes changed.
• Learn — Short education topics on vertigo themes such as positional triggers, balance, sleep, and visit preparation.
• AI companions — Clara and specialist companions already see your logged history, which helps with visit wording or questions after a new diagnosis.
• My Care Team — A profile for each clinician, plus upcoming appointments and notes for each visit, used before, during, and after appointments.
• Doctor Report — Two views: the Appointment Planning Report helps you prepare what to ask, and Generate Report, opened from a saved doctor, builds a dated summary of your recent progress for that doctor.
• My Assessments — Structured check-ins that add context about you across weeks.
• Food Tracker — Meal and drink lines when salt, alcohol, or caffeine is something you and your clinician are watching.
• Period Tracker — Cycle dates, so you can see whether episodes or headaches cluster at a certain point in the cycle.
• Weight Tracker — Weight entries when weight is part of what you and your clinician are watching.

Everything you log builds one history. Guided forms include the key questions, and you can add custom symptoms when you need your own labels. Vertigo Journey is free to download.

Sources

• NHS — Vertigo
• NHS — Anxiety, fear and panic

FAQ