Deb in NZ Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Yesterday morning I woke up & the world was spinning. I haven't had anything to drink in months so it wasn't a horrible hang-over. All day I lay in bed, trying not to move, as moving made the world spin & made me very sick. By 5pm I was able to carefully get up & sit up for a couple of hours. This morning things weren't quite steady, but I was able to get up & shower. What's up with me? I don't have time to wait for things to stop spinning. Dh was very patient yesterday, but that won't last if he needs to do my running around as well as try to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose in BC Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Do you have an inner ear infection or maybe water in your ear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secular_mom Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 This happens to my mother a few times a year. She takes some sort of 'inner ear' pills that help her with it. She too, stays in bed all day for a day or two, until it passes. I had a similar feeling one time with an ear infection, the Dr. told me I HAD to take the antihistamine she prescribed me, to clear up the excess fluid that was wreaking havoc with my balance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BalanceSeeker Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 You might want to see a vertigo specialist if it doesn't go away in the next couple of days. It can be a variety of things, some things can be helped with meds or by cleaning out excess wax, others you just need to wait for it to go away (like a viral infection of the inner ear). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtroad Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 Vertigo? Are you possibly pregnant? Hope it is better soon. I know it is very disruptive & unsettling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Virginia Dawn Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 This happened to me off and on for years till I figured out that in my case it was calcium carbonate poisoning. I purged my house of all food products with calcium carbonate and haven't spun since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paz Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 This happened to me about a month ago. It lasted on and off over a week. I think for me it was sinuses. I took a decongestant that was OTC and used a vicks inhaler for my nose and I felt better a few days later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeacherZee Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 That happened to me last weekend. I got badly sunburnt and my blood pressure crashed but I was much better the next day and back to normal the day after. I would definitely see the doctor if you don't get better in a day or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaof2andtwins Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Sounds like vertigo to me. I had it about 3 years ago. It was not fun. My dh took me to the doctor's office by the afternoon. It took me about 6 weeks to feel normal after that. Jennie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Sounds like vertigo - which is a symptom of something else, not a disease itself. I have vertigo several times a year bc of MS. There are benign causes of vertigo also, including benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and inner ear problems. Meclizine can help. I take that when I have an attack of vertigo. If it is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo a physical therapist can help. I would have your husband take you to a dr if you continue to have it bc it is totally disabling. http://www.neurologychannel.com/vertigo/index.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Dominion Heather Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Could be an optical migraine. Did you have visual disturbance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisasaysto Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 That's just what happened to me when I had vertigo a couple years ago. I got out of bed in the morning to go to the bathroom and fell over. I found I could lie on my side comfortably, but I couldn't sit up at all and needed help standing. It happened every month for about four months, and each episode lasted about a week. My doctor blamed a persistent inner-ear infection. I used some motion-sickness patches, and that eased the spinning a bit, but the patches have their own side-effects -- blurry vision for one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassoonaroo Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 I think there's a virus going around that includes dizziness as its main symptom. A few stomach and intestinal things too, but mainly dizziness and tiredness. A friend of mine had this as did her husband and one of her children. How is the rest of the family? Healthy? How are you NOW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muffinmom Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 This happened to me off and on for years till I figured out that in my case it was calcium carbonate poisoning. I purged my house of all food products with calcium carbonate and haven't spun since. Virginia Dawn, (not to hijack thread) just curious--what was causing your calcium carbonate poisoning...I mean, what was the main source? how did you reach the diagnosis? this is very interesting to me. BTW, so glad you found out and are feeling better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Sounds like vertigo - which is a symptom of something else, not a disease itself. I have vertigo several times a year bc of MS. There are benign causes of vertigo also, including benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and inner ear problems. Meclizine can help. I take that when I have an attack of vertigo. If it is benign paroxysmal positional vertigo a physical therapist can help. I would have your husband take you to a dr if you continue to have it bc it is totally disabling. http://www.neurologychannel.com/vertigo/index.shtml My vertigo is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. The first episode happened when I was pregnant so the doc's first thought was I needed more iron. My iron was fine but I was still so dizzy all the time. She referred me to a neurologist who determined BPPV. But the neuro also had me do an MRI (after I gave birth) to rule out any other possibilities. Because my age (40 at the time) and it being my first vertigo episode she wanted to rule out MS. She also said with BPPV I could expect a major vertigo episode about once a year. The subsequent episodes haven't been nearly as bad as the first but I do get dizzy more easily now. Cinder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikeBookBread Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 This happened to me about a month ago. It lasted on and off over a week. I think for me it was sinuses. I took a decongestant that was OTC and used a vicks inhaler for my nose and I felt better a few days later. Ditto -- sinus infection...right now in fact! :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 http://www.emedicinehealth.com/labyrinthitis/article_em.htm as most common for the young and healthy. It often comes after a cold. Benign positional vertigo is another thing to google. Both of these are for more common than something scary, like a brain tumor :). When I had the above, it was worst for the first 3 days. Then I only noticed it if I looked up or did a cloverleaf on the highway. It took about 6 weeks to fade completely, and I just changed my route to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Virginia Dawn Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 (edited) This was at the time a few years ago when calcium was the buzz word in nutrition. Food companies were jumping on the bandwagon and putting calcium as calcium carbonate in everything. I kept having attacks of vertigo and had a negative test for meniere's disease. I learned to live with it. Well, we went on vacation and my vertigo totally cleared up! Then I went home and within 2 days it was back. Then I realized it was something I was eating at home. I figured it probably wasn't something that naturally occurred in my food so I looked at the ingredients of everything processed that I had in the house. I made a list of all the additives and proceeded to do some internet research the possible affects of each one. When I googled calcium carbonate I got hundreds of hits for "calcium carbonate poisoning." I also got a few for benign positional vertigo. Reading the ones on bpv, I discovered that it is usually caused by naturally occurring calcium carbonate crystals in your inner ear that have some how broken loose and are hitting the sensitive motion hairs in your inner ear. I said to myself, what if you ingest too much calcium, could it actually cause more calcium carbonate crystals to form? So I proceeded to eliminate all of it from my diet. I was very surprised at how much I was getting without knowing it! It was in the whole wheat bread I bought, most of the breakfast cereal, and in Nestle Quick- which I used to make hot chocolate. And it was often high up on the ingredient list. I started looking at labels. 99% of prepackaged foods that say "calcium added" or "high in calcium" have calcium carbonate. Vitamins with calcium (which I was taking), Calcium supplements, and the majority of antacids are Loaded with calcium carbonate. It is usually found in breakfast foods like waffles, cereal, and orange juice, but can also be found in rice-with-seasoning mixes and macaroni and cheese. Calcium carbonate was being dumped into food for the marketing value of calcium. Most of it is still there even though calcium is no longer the nutritional fad. Anyway, I threw out the Nestle Quick and only use a cocoa and sugar mix that I make myself, I switched brands of whole wheat bread, I dumped my vitamins in the trash, and I no longer purchase any breakfast cereal with calcium carbonate in it. I no longer get vertigo attacks. I did later eat some cereal with it a few months later, and after the 2nd day, my world was rocking again. So much for that experiment. Since then I have found out that calcium carbonate is also what we call "lime" in hard water, I imagine that it is possible that drinking hard water could exacerbate a problem like mine. Something to think about. ETA: I also had other issues that cleared up after I got rid of the calcium carbonate: arthritis like symptoms in my hands and a small hard rock-like lump under my lower eyelid. Edited June 8, 2009 by Virginia Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 My vertigo is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. The first episode happened when I was pregnant so the doc's first thought was I needed more iron. My iron was fine but I was still so dizzy all the time. She referred me to a neurologist who determined BPPV. But the neuro also had me do an MRI (after I gave birth) to rule out any other possibilities. Because my age (40 at the time) and it being my first vertigo episode she wanted to rule out MS. She also said with BPPV I could expect a major vertigo episode about once a year. The subsequent episodes haven't been nearly as bad as the first but I do get dizzy more easily now. Cinder I also have suffered BPPV and will say the symptoms listed by the OP are pretty much identical to my first episode approximately 15 years ago. My experiences matches that of Cinder fairly closely, although I was NOT pregnant at the time. :D Reg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muffinmom Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 This was at the time a few years ago when calcium was the buzz word in nutrition. Food companies were jumping on the bandwagon and putting calcium as calcium carbonate in everything. I kept having attacks of vertigo and had a negative test for meniere's disease. I learned to live with it. Well, we went on vacation and my vertigo totally cleared up! Then I went home and within 2 days it was back. Then I realized it was something I was eating at home. I figured it probably wasn't something that naturally occurred in my food so I looked at the ingredients of everything processed that I had in the house. I made a list of all the additives and proceeded to do some internet research the possible affects of each one. When I googled calcium carbonate I got hundreds of hits for "calcium carbonate poisoning." I also got a few for benign positional vertigo. Reading the ones on bpv, I discovered that it is usually caused by naturally occurring calcium carbonate crystals in your inner ear that have some how broken loose and are hitting the sensitive motion hairs in your inner ear. I said to myself, what if you ingest too much calcium, could it actually cause more calcium carbonate crystals to form? So I proceeded to eliminate all of it from my diet. I was very surprised at how much I was getting without knowing it! It was in the whole wheat bread I bought, most of the breakfast cereal, and in Nestle Quick- which I used to make hot chocolate. And it was often high up on the ingredient list. I started looking at labels. 99% of prepackaged foods that say "calcium added" or "high in calcium" have calcium carbonate. Vitamins with calcium (which I was taking), Calcium supplements, and the majority of antacids are Loaded with calcium carbonate. It is usually found in breakfast foods like waffles, cereal, and orange juice, but can also be found in rice-with-seasoning mixes and macaroni and cheese. Calcium carbonate was being dumped into food for the marketing value of calcium. Most of it is still there even though calcium is no longer the nutritional fad. Anyway, I threw out the Nestle Quick and only use a cocoa and sugar mix that I make myself, I switched brands of whole wheat bread, I dumped my vitamins in the trash, and I no longer purchase any breakfast cereal with calcium carbonate in it. I no longer get vertigo attacks. I did later eat some cereal with it a few months later, and after the 2nd day, my world was rocking again. So much for that experiment. Since then I have found out that calcium carbonate is also what we call "lime" in hard water, I imagine that it is possible that drinking hard water could exacerbate a problem like mine. Something to think about. ETA: I also had other issues that cleared up after I got rid of the calcium carbonate: arthritis like symptoms in my hands and a small hard rock-like lump under my lower eyelid. Wow. I can think of someone who could use this information. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in AL Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 I had this. It was Benign Positional Vertigo. Bonine, which I believe is Meclizine, took the symptoms away in 30 minutes. My doctor told me to continue taking the Bonine for 2 weeks after the first event to prevent it from happening again. The first event was horrible. Every time I tried to lie down I vomited horribly. The room spun and moved up and down. I truly thought I was dying of a brain tumor. Not fun. The Bonine which is over the counter worked wonders though. I have it reoccur occasionally, but it has been very mild. No vomiting. I would still see an MD to make sure there's nothing else going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesloonybin Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 I also have the Benign Positional Vertigo. Rather than suffer with it, try to find a Physical therapist or an ENT and ask if they know the Epley Maneuver. It will make you EXTREMELY dizzy while they do it but it clears it up like you would not believe. After the Epley, I would sleep in the recliner for a couple days and then add an extra pillow (all to keep my head slightly elevated.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Reading this thread has been interesting to me. When I was just 21, I had an episode that the ER told me was vertigo. It lasted ONE day and it was definitely positional because I could not stand up at all. I could lay down...but not stand. I got it after going over a very curvy mountain road with my ex-h. However, I have NOT continued to have these episodes. I have been dizzy since then, but never like that one was. I was so dizzy that if I stood for 2 seconds, I would throw up. Since then, any dizziness I have had is just small stuff. Reading all this makes me wonder if mine was really vertigo back then and if so, WHY. Hmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean too Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Could be high blood pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb in NZ Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 I felt much better yesterday. Not 100%, but at least I could get through the day by moving slowly. I found that when I got up or laid down I would get quite dizzy, but it did pass. Again today the world's not quite steady, but I can be productive. It may be related to a cold that is going through the house at the moment. I took a new cold med. on friday & it really cleared up my cold symptoms fast. I only took the med. on friday, but sunday was my day the world spun out of control. I do normally have very low blood pressure, so a tiny bit of dizziness upon waking isn't unheard of for me, but normally it passes within minutes. Thanks for all the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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