anyone out there have problems with vertigo??

[wendyl]

I have had vertigo for the past week. Every morning I wake up--I am so dizzy--I have trouble standing. It corrects itself after a few seconds. Then on and off all day, it feels like I am on a rocking boat. If I lie down on the couch, and turn my head -the room sometimes spins like crazy.

My mom has had vertigo on and off throughout her life--she says doctors have told her there is nothing that can be done.

Anyone else have vertigo, and what do you do for it????

 

[princesspumpkin]

I did have vertigo. Docs called it "positional vertigo". Whenever I was laying down and turned my head to the side, I got dizzy. They did an MRI and it came up negative. It lasted, off and on, for a couple of years. On the other hand, the vertigo that you have now sounds more like an inner ear infection (which i have had two of as well). My symptoms started while I was sleeping (I vaguely remembered turning over in my sleep and feeling dizzy). Then when I got up, there it was again. The final straw, when I got up off of the floor after doing sit-ups and I fell right back down A trip to the doc confirmed the ear infection. Makes me nauseous just thinking about it. Good Luck.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Marie did, some weeks back. Scared the heck out of her/us, what with her history of cancer. She went to the doctor, diagnosed as such, the positional vertigo. Said it would slowly go away, and it seems as if it has, at least for now. wendyl, I would play safe and see the doc and have it diagnosed, my best.

 

[Pooh67_68]

 

[Serena]

I'd check with your doctor. I've had a few inner ear infections that made me incredibly dizzy. I had to crawl everywhere or fall down. Not all of them have been that bad thank goodness.

I hope you're feeling better soon.

 

[avdeane]

I agree about having your ears checked for infection, but also if they say that your ears look clear, ask about wax buildup. I had vertigo for almost two months before they figured out it was a buildup of wax and a simple flush of my ears cleared everything up!!

Hope you are feeling better soon and figure out what it causing the vertigo!!

Vicky

 

[SetzKitten]

DH gets vertigo once in a while. He goes to the doctor and they perform the Epley maneuver. Then he has to sleep sitting up for 2 nights.

Epley Maneuver
This maneuver can be used to treat patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) - the maneuver is based on the theory that benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (canalolithiasis) is due the sudden movement of free-floating particles (otoconia) that accumulate in the posterior semi-circular canal of the ear. Sudden head movements (looking up, rolling over in bed, leaning forward) cause the debris to move about en masse in the posterior semi-circular canal and vertigo lasting a few seconds. Treatment of BPPV can be undertaken at home by performing the Epley maneuver as follows:- - Seat the patient upright on the bed with his head extending over the edge of the bed. Tilt the patient's head gently 45 degrees towards the affected side, gently lower the head of the bed so that the patient is lying in the horizontal position with his head over the edge of the bed - his head should then be about 45 degrees below the horizontal level. Wait about 30 - 60 seconds for the patient's vertigo to subside, and then keep the patient in that position for ~ 3 minutes. Turn the patient's head gently to the midline -- wait 30 seconds. Turn the patient's head another 45 degrees to the opposite (unaffected) side -- wait 30 seconds. Let the patient slowly roll his torso towards that opposite side so that he is lying on that opposite shoulder, which should enable him to rotate his head another 45 degrees in that opposite direction so that his face is directed towards the floor -- wait 30 seconds for any induced vertigo to resolve and keep the patient in that position for ~ 3 minutes. Slowly bring the patient back up to the vertical position while he is still lying in that position, then gently turn his head back towards the midline. When he is sitting upright, tilt the chin down about 30 degrees and keep the patient in that position for a few minutes. The manuever may have to be repeated a few times and the patient should be told to sleep upright and minimize head movements during the next 24 - 48 hours; the patient should still expect to have a sense of dysequilibrium for a few days - a clue to an unsuccessful canolith repositioning maneuver is nystagmus that changes direction during the maneuver (any nystagmus occurring during the maneuver should be in the same direction as the original nystagmus, which occurred when the patient was first placed flat with the affected ear undermost).

 

[Christine]

If you truly have vertigo, don't just accept it. A competent ENT can perform a few "adjustments" or maneuvers on you to get the particles dislodged in your inner ear. There are tiny little crystal particles in your ear that cause positional vertigo. A quick adjustment can stop an attack. Also, the Epley maneuver described above is great to keep using at home.

 

[Elwood Blues]

I was diagnosed with "benign positional vertigo" about 6 years ago. Not a problem until one morning I woke up and as I got out of bed the whole room started spinning. I nearly threw up. I missed one day of work because of it. It slowly got better but I still have an occasional problem with it. I've learned to deal with it. I even went on Mission Space. Twice. I don't know if it will ever go away.

 

[eeyore74]

I've got it - some days it's worse than others. I have tried some of those maneuvers and they didn't help me. I will ask my doc about ear wax buildup next time I'm there, though.

I've got meclazine and this stuff called motion-ease. It helps a little bit, but mostly I just deal with it. Suck on mints to help the queasiness, etc. It sucks cause in dance class, I can't do as many turns and whatnot without it acting up.

I hope you feel better!

 

[grinningghost]

I know the "rocking boat" well. I'm on it everyday of my life. I have MS and my very first attack was the "rocking boat". I was rushed to the ER to be told I had an inner ear problem. They put me on Meclazine for several months, but it kept coming back anyway.

I faced several tests and diagnoses before they came up with MS. I was even told that I was hyperventilating due to the stress of being a new mother!

The "rocking boat" sensation has a name - not sure on the spelling exactly, but it's OSCOLOPSCIA - and it's definition is "the feeling that one is on a rocking boat". Learned that from my neurologist the first day I met him.

You might want to bypass everything and make an appointment with a good neurologist. If it is just an "ear thing", he can tell you that too. If it's something else, then you've saved yourself alot of time, money, worry and aggravation. Just a thought, but I wish I had done that.

Also, to relieve the symptoms (you won't believe this but it's true) - keep doing what you normally do, no matter how dizzy and rocky you feel. It's really hard at first, but your brain needs to retrain itself to accept the new feeling as normal. Also learned that from day one from the neuro. I thought he was nuts, but I found that in time, it does work.

Good luck and PM if you need to.

 

[KarenC]

My husband has Menieur's Disease. Sometimes he's had vertigo so bad that he can't get out of bed for 2 to 3 days. It's frightening.

I think the diagnosis is what they come up with when they've exhausted every other cause for vertigo.

He hasn't had any episodes since he made two changes. Sodium is a problem for people with Menieur's. DH used to have a glass of tomato juice every morning for breakfast. He cut that out and now the few times I used canned foods, I choose the low sodium options.

He also started taking a supplement called Lipoflavonoid by NuMark laboratories. The Mayo clinic did a study that found taking supplements including bioflavonoid reduced the incidents of attacks.

While my husband was having trouble every few months, it's been more than year since he made these changes and he hasn't had any major attacks since. He still has slight dizziness, and we avoided Mission Space on our Disney World trip last Christmas, but we're thankful he's no longer being sidelined by those horrible attacks!

(The other thing we did because of his vertigo was to get new gutters with a leaf guard. I did not want him up on a ladder anymore!)

 

[DisneyBug1995]

I had vertigo when I was pregnant with my son. I had the room spinning systems and it was nonstop for a couple of days. My doctor told me that sudafed will help because it will drain any fluid in your ear. I was unable to keep anything down, so they had to prescribe meclazine. Hope you are feeling better soon.

 

[Blondie]

I had an episode of positional vertigo 2 years ago, scared the heck out of me! I managed to get an appointment that day and was given information on the Epley maneuver, and they had me do it right there in the office. It really did help.

Every now and then it'll come back, but not nearly as bad as it was 2 years ago!

 

[Jynohn]

Another BPPV sufferer here At one point it was so bad that I had to give up my position as a flight attendant because I would get so sick/dizzy after every flight. I suffered from it for several years before it was finally diagnosed. I would have off and on bouts of it every few months and my doctor kept telling me it was a virus and would go away on its own.

When it finally got so bad that I was falling down and sometimes missing work, the doctor started to take me seriously and sent me to several specialists. I went to neurologists, ENT's at Mass Eye and Ear, etc. and no one could figure out what was wrong because my eyes didn't make the typical skipping movements associated with BPPV. At one point they even had me on anti-anxiety medication, figuring that anxiety may have been causing the problem. Talk about making someone feel like "it's all in their head!"

I was finally lucky one day when I went in for yet another test and my eyes actually did make the movements they were looking for. From there on out I couldn't believe how easy it was to control the BPPV. I went in for the Epley manouver and it was like a miracle for me. So simple and non-invasive, yet it literally changed my life!

Hope that your doctors quickly figure out what is causing your problem. Just a warning, if you suspect you may have BPPV, have them keep testing for it, it may not always be easy to diagnose!

Good luck...

Jynohn

 

[kozmo]

I have had vertigo for over 3 weeks now!!I thought i had a brain tumor!!!Come to find out its inner ear,whew!!!