I have VERTIGO!!!!!

[ez2luv]

For weeks I was dizzy off and on.
It got worse and turned into room spins that would last for hours.
Then, all day the room would spin, making me nausous.
My head..and this is hard to explain...my brain felt like it was shorting out.

I was diagnosed with Vertigo (Meniere's syndrome), went for bloodwork - but haven't gotten the results yet from them.
I was perscribed an antihistamine.
This is the secondday on this med, and today has been the worst so far.
I had to drop to the floor as I was 'spinning' so much.
My head/brain tingled - I thought I was going to die.

I need to wait for 2 days to hear back from my doctor - is there anything else I can do??

I've read that Virtigo can either be
a) a innerear disorder
2) a brain disorder

I've googled and read and read...I've read anything from meds, to ear surgery to CT scans.....

I'm terrified!! And in so much pain!

Anyone here have the same thing and can offer me advice???

:(

[MLA]

I have bouts of benign positional vertigo every so often. The first time it happened, it scared the crap out of me, and the doctors at the urgent care I went to couldn't figure out what was wrong. They said I was dehydrated. But no matter how many fluids I took in, it didn't get better. Finally a young doctor figured out what was going on w/me, and sent me to a neurologist. He checked me out, figured out that it was, indeed, benign positional vertigo and prescribed some exercises for me to do. Whenever it comes back, I do those exercises, and it's gone within a few days.

Are you experiencing it all the time, or only when you tilt your head? I know it's scary, but a lot of people have vertigo, and it turns out to be nothing to be frightened about -- usually some sort of inner ear issue that's easily remedied. I hope that you're feeling better soon.

[keska]

I had vertigo that sounds exactly as you described it. It was an inner ear thing. My doctor gave me some medication for it but it wasn't antibiotics. It was either muscle relaxers or something else designed to make you tired. Anyway, a few days on meds and in bed and I was fine.

On the other hand, I had a friend who had a really, really bad case and it took him over a month to get better. He couldn't even work it made him so sick.

If it's the inner ear kind, as MLA said, there are exercises you can do that are supposed to help.

[alisong]

I'm a little hesitant to post, as my mother's experience was on the "worst case" end of the spectrum. She came down suddenly with extreme vertigo (couldn't keep any liquids down, had to be in bed at all times), and her doctor said much the same thing as yours - ear issues, or brain issues. After a couple of weeks when it hadn't improved, she was sent for an MRI. The MRI showed an angioma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavernous_angioma) that had burst, pressing on her brain stem. She slowly got better as the swelling went down and the bleeding stopped, but elected for neurosurgery to prevent a recurrence. It wasn't a fun time at all, and she was unable to drive for a year or so, but it's now 15 years later and she's made a remarkable recovery. Her balance is still a little wobbly, especially when she's tired, and she can't play tennis (tracking moving objects is tough). As I said, hers was an extreme case, but do pursue testing if your vertigo doesn't get better!

[Emilie]

I had the same thing a couple of years ago - basically, from time to time I just had crazy bouts of dizziness that were quite debilitating.

I had several appointments, a lovely cat scan and they decided it was all inner ear issues brought on by allergies. I was on antihistamines as well and it cleared up, haven't has any issues since!

Good luck and hang in there - I know how very little fun vertigo really is!

[Mrs.Chappy]

i'm an audiologist..often times vertigo is affected by salt intake so in the meantime, decrease the salt in your diet.

that saidt, BPPb (benign positional vertigo) is often caused by these calcium crystal in your inner ear that become loose and cause the fluid in your inner ear to become unbalanced. sometimes these just go back into place or sometimes the doctor or an audiologist have to do a positioning procedure in office to move them back into place (some non-invasive head positioning movements)
HTH

[ez2luv]

Thanks everyone for the stories and support.

In trying calm down, knowing that I first need to find out whats causing the Vertigo and go from there.

Of course I'm hoping for the best, and something that can be easily put under control.

I broke down...bad today.
I thought I was going to die! It felt like my brain was shortcircuting.

If I lie completely still I'm fine.
But if I even move my eyes, the Spins start and I hear a 'fizzle' in my ears, but feel it in my head.
I'm unbalanced when I walk, and am very short of breath and tired when I do anything.
Did I mention I have a 3 year old??!!! Ha!

I'm just concerned that the doc just sent me for bloodwork and gave me this antihistamine without even explaining anything to me.
Should I not have been assessed more?
?

I'm just so frustrated.

I've read (and your stories are the same) - episodes can be brief and seldom, or last for days or months.

I've had this for 2 weeks (the last 3 days being ALL day) and I'm going mental!

Seriously!
It's like your on a constant drunk where you are trying to sleep yet you get the room spins.
Or the rude carnie keeps you on the tilt-o-whirl for days.

<<sigh>>

I know I'll feel better when I know more info - but for now, I'm miserable!

[MLA]

Aw, ez2luv, I'm sorry you're dealing with this. It is scary. I know. But more than likely it's something that will be easily fixed. I know it sucks in the meantime, though.

[ejs]

I have Meniere's Disease. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

[ez2luv]

Thnaks ejs - hopefully early tomorrow I'll find out.

Still soo very dizzy today...............

[Mrs.Chappy]

good luck tomorrow..i'm intereste to know what they say. have you had your hearing tested too??

[ez2luv]

No...see that's what I mean - they should have told me!!!???

My clinic opens soon, my fingers are crossed!

[jay&erinn]

ez2luv: I hope you received some answers. What type of doctor are you seeing? If you don't get some type of answers, I would encourage you to search for a doc that sees a decent number of vertigo patients- most are neurotologists (only see ear related issues). One may be hard to find though if you're not around a bigger city. There are some Ear, Nose and Throat docs that see a lot of vertigo patients too. I'm an audiologist and have worked in a balance clinic for a neurotology group. There is a ton of different things that can cause vertigo. There are a few things that can cause vertigo and are pretty straight forward. There are also a large group of other causes that are harder to pinpoint. There are many tests that can be done to help narrow down the cause. Once a cause is identified it becomes easier to treat.

BPPV is a common cause of vertigo, but usually has different symptoms from what you describe- it's usually only short bursts of vertigo throughout the day whenever moving into certain positions. Although a patient can feel off balance all day, the actual spinning is not for hours at a time. It typically comes and goes, lasting for around a minute each time it happens.

Meniere's Disease typically involves episodes of spinning, nausea, sometimes getting sick that can last for hours and sometimes days, but also includes hearing loss, fullness in the ear and a roaring sound in the ear. When the episodes of dizziness pass the hearing recovers either entirely or partially and the roaring and fullness often go away. There is also a tell-tale low frequency hearing loss that goes along with it. Have you had a hearing test?

There are so many causes that it's impossible to give all the possibilities. Those 2 were just mentioned earlier. Other common causes are vestibular neuritis (a virus attacks the balance nerve), cental vertigo (vertigo caused more by the brain than the ear), and migraine associated vertigo (can occur with or without the headache and has been found to be much more common than originally thought). If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

I hope you feel better soon.

[MLA]

ez2luv -- I'm just checking in to see if you've found out what's going on. I'm dealing with a minor bout of vertigo today, so I thought of you.

[ez2luv]

I forgot to post back.....

So, my doc took me off the antihistamine - thought maybe it was making it worse.
He told me to take Bonamine (over the counter for motion sickness) 2 pills twice a day. Then, after a week - take them as needed.
I don't think it helped that much but I was able to get off the couch.

Now, everyday, I stil lget periods of dizziness and spinning - only lasting a few minutes each about 5-6 times per day. I haven't taken any bonamine in a while - only when I have to go out and be on my feet lots that day or if I'm driving for a long time.

I don't feel my 'head crackling' anymore, it's more of a ringing in the ear.

So, I guess the worst is behind me, for now.
It still sucks of course.

How does this effect flying??

[jay&erinn]

I would really encourage you to seek out another opinion from one of the specialist I mentioned. We often see vertigo patients that have had dizziness for 20+ years and been on certain medications. In one 2 minute procedure the dizziness is gone (for BPPV). We often also take people off of their meds pretty quickly. They can make you really tired and can actually make the dizziness worse. Some types of dizziness the medications will not help no matter what. Other types of dizziness the medication can prevent the brain/body from compensating and recovering from the vertigo.
It depends on the cause of the dizziness as to how it would affect flying. However, if you're already dizzy, the motion of the plane could intensify the feeling.