Anybody here ever had this before? (some kind of vertigo)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benign_...tional_Vertigo
I haven't gone to see my doctor yet, but it seems that this is what it is.
I evidently woke up with this unpleasant affliction this morning. Evidently it's relatively common. Really one of the most unpleasant things I've ever experienced, spells of dizziness and nausea.
Has anybody had this before?
I haven't gone to see my doctor yet, but it seems that this is what it is.
I evidently woke up with this unpleasant affliction this morning. Evidently it's relatively common. Really one of the most unpleasant things I've ever experienced, spells of dizziness and nausea.
Has anybody had this before?
Comments
That said I had spins for almost 6 months every time my head was more than 45 deg from the vertical. They would last for about 15-20 sec until I moved my head again. I didn't go anywhere without touching a wall/pole for "just in case". I did exercises every day to induce them and work the problem out. But having the drunk spins constantly for months wasn't fun.
Basically it comes from separating some of the calcium stones on the hairs of your cochlear canals. Then those loose stones bounce around and play the xylophone on your balance organs. After enough of the exercises the loose stones move into the center of the cochlear spiral and get reabsorbed letting the symptoms go away. Some versions of BPV aren't from head trauma, but from a disease that slowly breaks all the calcium balls off and you can deal with those symptoms for YEARS.
Something to be very clear about with your physician is if you are experiencing vertigo (the sensation that the room is spinning) vs. lightheadedness (the feeling that you are going to pass out). The word "dizzy" drives docs crazy because it means different things to different people. Other things to note when speaking to your physician are time of day when the attacks occur, what you are doing when they occur, when did you first notice the attacks, what makes it better, what makes it worse.
If it is BPV, the data suggests that BPV does not resolve spontaneously in only a very small minority of patients. The treatments for BPV do not involve drugs; rather the affected person should be taught certain maneuvers that essentially circulate the fluid in your inner-ear canals to dislodge any stuck calcium debris. These maneuvers include the Brandt-Daroff, Semont and Epley Maneuvers.
Best thing to do is to get yourself to your physician and very clearly and specifically tell him or her what you have been experiencing. If it is BPV, they should be able to direct you towards the appropriate physical therapist to teach you how to do these maneuvers. There are a few other things that this could be and it is important to have those ruled out.
If you really want the full workup, consider going to an academic hospital where they have medical students and residents. Med students tend to take the best histories because they have the time to do it right. Then the residents and the Staff physicians will take their own histories. It can get a little annoying to tell the same story three, four or five times, but since so much of the diagnosis of BPV lies in the history, the chances that something gets overlooked are less in such an environment. Plus, the teaching value of BPV vs. other causes of vertigo/lightheadedness is a great teaching point for med students.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benign_...tional_Vertigo
I haven't gone to see my doctor yet, but it seems that this is what it is.
I evidently woke up with this unpleasant affliction this morning. Evidently it's relatively common. Really one of the most unpleasant things I've ever experienced, spells of dizziness and nausea.
Has anybody had this before?
Sounds like what I experienced over the weekend after "Fantasy Fest."
Yeah, I found some of those exercises yesterday and did a few reps of each, and today it seems to be pretty much gone. What really puzzles me is how the hell the calcium deposits or whatever formed in the firstplace, since I can't really think of a recent time I've been cuffed across the head. My guess is some part of my shitty diet is to blame.
Actually, these calcium carbonate particles are present in everyone (see otoliths in the diagram below)
You don't necessarily need to get walloped in the head to have some of these things break loose.
The first two year with the ringing on the left almost drove me mad (it was a chore to not bang my head into a wall in the faint hope that it would stop the ringing) and I found that driving with the windows down was about the only thing that masked it (a diesel 4WD at the time); a river flowing over a small fall also does the trick. Medication did not help at all, and I tried various regimes over two years. Patience and time has allowed me to come to grips with the rining, but it is still very noticeable at all times. It is associated also with mild hearing loss at upper frequencies and the loss of ability to focus my hearing (it's very difficult for me to have a conversation in noisy places like restaurants because the left ear seems to get washed over with sound; in these situations, the person I'm with has to sit on my right.
The one odd thing that I have noticed about the tinnitus is it often increases when I have a fever (toi a feverish pitch!), often before I feel other symptoms of whatever is causing the fever.
Kishan seems to know his stuff here and to have info. This is off the topic but: Anything on tinnitus? I've had it pretty bad in my left ear for seven years and a bit on the right for five. Both were caused by ear infections that didn't resolve for some time since I cannot take certain antibiotics. The infections were pretty bad; I was hospitalized twice and eventually had my nasal canal surgically widened to improve drainage from the eustacian tube. The operation has resulted in no ear infections since, but the damage was already done.
The first two year with the ringing on the left almost drove me mad (it was a chore to not bang my head into a wall in the faint hope that it would stop the ringing) and I found that driving with the windows down was about the only thing that masked it (a diesel 4WD at the time); a river flowing over a small fall also does the trick. Medication did not help at all, and I tried various regimes over two years. Patience and time has allowed me to come to grips with the rining, but it is still very noticeable at all times. It is associated also with mild hearing loss at upper frequencies and the loss of ability to focus my hearing (it's very difficult for me to have a conversation in noisy places like restaurants because the left ear seems to get washed over with sound; in these situations, the person I'm with has to sit on my right.
The one odd thing that I have noticed about the tinnitus is it often increases when I have a fever (toi a feverish pitch!), often before I feel other symptoms of whatever is causing the fever.
This sounds (no pun intended) horrible. Unfortunately, I only know a little bit about a little bit. You, having lived with this for a long time are probably aware of organizations such as the American Tinnitus Association (http://www.ata.org). What have you been told about this condition by your otolaryngologist?