What is vertigo??

[sheryl]

I've googled it and have read up, but what is it? What CAUSES it?

 

I had it about a year ago and now for the last 5 days I noticed I've had it. It's more obvious when I lay down at night. A certain angle in descending and asending sends me into my room spinning/dizzy frenzy. Also, sitting and bending my head back like on a sofa back.

 

I don't understand it.

 

HELP

[usetoschool]

I had it years ago and still live in terror of it coming back every time I feel a little dizzy. It is the worst feeling. Very sorry for you.

 

The cause for mine was never really pinpointed but several things came up - thickening/infection of inner ear fluid, clenching jaw/grinding teeth/hunched shoulders (stress), pinched nerve or cut of blood supply from turning your head certain ways. There are neural things that can cause it also, but don't know as much about those because it didn't apply in my case. I still get it sometimes when I have a stuffy head from seasonal allergies or a cold, but the continuous feeling of dizziness went away and hasn't come back. I am also prone to car/plane/sea sickness which I think makes me more susceptible to the vertigo feeling. I think in most cases it is related to your inner ear, where your sense of balance comes from. Closing your eyes or focusing intently on one spot, and holding onto something helps orient you because those are your other two ways of sensing where you are in space. When those three aren't all getting the same message you tend to get that vertigo feeling.

 

Hope it goes away soon.

Edited October 6, 2009 by jcooperetc

[Elizabeth Conley]

Please go to the doctor's within 48 hours, sooner if it gets worse.

 

There is a good possibility that you'll be fine, but you need to have this checked out. Seriously - I mean it! This is a disturbance in the functioning of your inner ear. It may be caused by a side effect from medication, an infection, or any number of relatively benign conditions. In fact, chances are this is not serious. Still, there are some very unpleasant possibilities, and getting the problem looked into right away could protect you from permanent hearing loss, tinnitus and various vestibular disorders.

 

"Wait and see" is not a good course of action this time.

[HeathenMom]

i get dizzyness at least once a year and it happens after a bout of allergies or a virus. quite simply, it's most likely fluid in the ears. very annoying, but easily treated!

[OHGrandma]

For me, dizzyness is the mild feeling I get when I know the room is still but I'm spinning a bit. Vertigo is the feeling of the room suddenly spinning out of control around me, leaving me extremely nauseous, fatigued, & eyes twitching.

 

Since the first of Sept I've had the same symptoms you described. Since then, I've been on 2 different antibiotics & 1 antivert med. I'm going to the dr this afternoon to see if he can come up with some other reason I'm also suffering from vertigo.

[Elizabeth Conley]

PS - If you do not recover within a few weeks of treatment, insist on a referral to a neurotologist. (No, not a neurologist or an otologist. You really want the neurotologist.)

[OHGrandma]

PS - If you do not recover within a few weeks of treatment, insist on a referral to a neurotologist. (No, not a neurologist or an otologist. You really want the neurotologist.)

 

Thanks, I found an ENT in my health plan and want to ask my family dr about the ENT. The ENT is a neurotologist.

[Elizabeth Conley]

Oh good! Really and truly, there's a very good change you won't have to live with this indefinitely. A neurotologist is the best specialist for the job. Sadly, if we don't ask to see a specialist, it may not occur to our primary care physicians to refer us. Even then, we often have to figure out which specialist to see on our own.

 

Neurotology is a relatively new specialty. They became more common with the advent of cochlear implants and effective vestibular disorder treatments. Frankly, I take it as an encouraging sign. More and more can be done to make people suffering from inner ear disorders more comfortable. I'm so glad that you have one available to you.

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

A while back, I had vertigo and some other symptoms that convinced me I was either dying or going nuts. Petrified me either way! I was diagnosed with Labyrinthitis (which the part of me that thought I was going nuts thought was a made-up diagnosis for crazy folk because I've never heard of it before :lol:). He put me on meclizine for 10 days, which dried up my inner ears. For me, it did start with a double whammy of a bad cold and some other upper respiratory stuff. I haven't had much of a problem since. Anyhoo, don't panic just yet. :D

[Michelle in AL]

:iagree: I've had this twice. The first time it was violent spinning and violent vomiting. It was horrible. Meclizine (Bonine, preferably dissolvable) took it away instantly. My doctor had me take it for 3 weeks.

[lionfamily1999]

Your balance is in your inner ear. Too much or too little fluid can knock you off balance. Also, some of your balance comes from your vision. Vision issues (or things like watching something huge moving) can make you feel like you're moving when you're not. Also, I think (but am not positive), the water around your brain can cause vertigo. Think spinning around, it takes time for those things to settle again.

[Tree House Academy]

I've googled it and have read up, but what is it? What CAUSES it?

 

I had it about a year ago and now for the last 5 days I noticed I've had it. It's more obvious when I lay down at night. A certain angle in descending and asending sends me into my room spinning/dizzy frenzy. Also, sitting and bending my head back like on a sofa back.

 

I don't understand it.

 

HELP

 

For me, it happened in my early 20's after driving on a curvy mountain road. Something to do with the middle ear, I think. I have relapses that have never been as bad as what I had the first time (the first time, I had to go to the ER).

 

When I get relapses, I can be doing EXACTLY what you are describing. I was laying on the couch last night with my neck angled on the cushion and bam - the room was spinning. It spun until I went to bed. I am fine today. Weird and totally not fun.

[Impish]

Glad you're going to an ENT! I had it from some pain meds they tried me on. Wolf ended up taking a day (or was it 2?) off work because I couldn't even walk without turning green, then white, and almost falling over/passing out. Scary, scary stuff. He was afraid to leave me alone, esp with the kids. I ended up on some stuff they Rx for Menniere's (sp) Disease until the med was fully out of my system.

[sheryl]

Thanks y'all...I'll reread these again.

 

Does age play a part? I think I saw women get more than men! I wonder if it's homonal/age related....that's me! ;)

[OHGrandma]

Well, my family dr thinks I've got BPPV, unfortunately he's not familiar with the movements that treat it. He's got a call in to his PT's. He said the last person with my symptoms that didn't respond to the antibiotics or meclizine, went to an ENT who tried the same course of meds with no different outcome.

Dr was going to try a water pill, until I reminded him my BP med contains a water pill.

Before I call the neurotologist(on my own, I don't need a referral), I'm going to see if my chiropractor is familiar with BPPV.

BPPV & Epley Maneuver -- http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/bppv/bppv.html

[AngieW in Texas]

A friend of ours had this for several weeks a few years ago. He works with my dh, so my dh picked him up and dropped him off for work every day since he wasn't safe to drive. He made sure to stay downstairs at his house so he wouldn't have worry about falling down the stairs.

 

It's been a while, so my memory of the explanation is a little fuzzy. I'll explain the cause of his symptoms as well as I can remember. You know that there are tiny little hairs in your inner ear that move with the fluid in your ear to determine your balance. Something broke off in his inner ear. If that broken off bit hit another hair, he would experience wild dizziness. I can't remember exactly how long his condition lasted, but it was several weeks like the doctors said it would. I guess whatever broke off was reabsorbed? I don't really remember very well.

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

To all of you here who suffer from intermittent vertigo with no known cause: Look at your diet carefully. Keep a log of what you are eating and the ingredients. See if there is any relationship to your attacks. I suffered for years till I did this. With research, I found out that benign positional vertigo can be caused by calcium carbonate crystals forming in the inner ear. A doctor probably will not tell you this. When I eliminated calcium carbonate from my diet the vertigo went away within 3 days. When I reintroduced it-wham! vertigo within 24 hours. I've been vertigo free for 4 years!

 

Calcium carbonate is in so many prepared foods, antacids, and vitamins- read the labels. It is also in hard water (lime is calcium carbonate). Calcium carbonate poisoning is a known cause of health problems. There is so much of it in processed foods in the name of "health" that it actually has the opposite affect.

 

I've posted this information before. I hope it helps someone.

[Guest mabromwich]

You might find some more information on BPPV and the treatment maneuvers at www.dizzyfix.com.

[OHGrandma]

To all of you here who suffer from intermittent vertigo with no known cause: Look at your diet carefully. Keep a log of what you are eating and the ingredients. See if there is any relationship to your attacks. I suffered for years till I did this. With research, I found out that benign positional vertigo can be caused by calcium carbonate crystals forming in the inner ear. A doctor probably will not tell you this. When I eliminated calcium carbonate from my diet the vertigo went away within 3 days. When I reintroduced it-wham! vertigo within 24 hours. I've been vertigo free for 4 years!

 

Calcium carbonate is in so many prepared foods, antacids, and vitamins- read the labels. It is also in hard water (lime is calcium carbonate). Calcium carbonate poisoning is a known cause of health problems. There is so much of it in processed foods in the name of "health" that it actually has the opposite affect.

 

I've posted this information before. I hope it helps someone.

 

I came back to report the Epley Maneuver fixed my BPPV. My family dr had read about it, but had never done it. I called my chiropractor and he was familiar with it. After doing two sets of the maneuver at the chiropractor, I was not cured but my symptoms had changed. I did the maneuver at home for two days, and the vertigo was gone! It took 1 more day to get over a weird feeling, similar to getting off a ship.

 

The reason I quoted this post is the comment about calcium carbonate. When my vertigo hit, I was at the tail end of either a cold or very mild flu. I read here about the use of Vitamin D for treating the flu. I researched it and also saw with an increase of D I should probably increase my calcium intake. So I had been taking vit D & calcium for 4 days to treat my cold/flu and then the vertigo hit with a vengence. I had suspicions the calcium could have done it but had not found anyone that made that connection.

However, and that's a big HOWEVER, unlike Virginia Dawn, I WILL NOT attempt taking calcium supplements to confirm they did cause the BPPV! After 4.5 weeks of vertigo, I don't want to do anything that might trigger it!

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

However, and that's a big HOWEVER, unlike Virginia Dawn, I WILL NOT attempt taking calcium supplements to confirm they did cause the BPPV! After 4.5 weeks of vertigo, I don't want to do anything that might trigger it!

 

What?! You mean you don't want to do any science experiments on your self?;)

 

I'm so glad you are feeling better. Vertigo is probably the worst feeling on earth. I can handle pain better.