Sudden onset vertigo, DS can’t walk - is this really a virus?

[HJBeans]

Apologies, I am double-posting for traffic. I am very concerned but have anxiety related to my kids health and would like perspectives on whether to push for a second look at my son.

YABU = he’s been seen, leave it for now
YANBU = I’d be worried enough to take him back in to A&E

Son was enjoying football practice last night, standing waiting for a throw in, when the ground became unsteady for him. His dad was there and brought him home. He has rocking vertigo when standing / walking, where the ground seems to move like a boat. Called 111, took him to OOO doc and then to A&E. They did an ECG and standard neurological testing. They can see no sign of infection outside of one raised lymph node, but think it’s probably viral infection of the inner ear and will pass. We’ve been told to take him back if he blacks out, throws up or has severe head pain.

He’s worse today, and his gait is now oddly wide and jerky as if steadying himself on a rocking boat. He can’t stand or walk without holding on to something. The vertigo also isn’t made worse by shaking his head which seems odd to me if it’s inner ear related. I’m worrying something has been missed and need calming down. This time last night he was getting ready for practice after a day at school and now he can’t walk unaided. I’m scared. Thanks in advance for any info or hand-holding.

In your shoes I would probably go back if getting worse. I’m not medical though so hopefully someone else with proper advice will come

With a child, and those symptoms, I would be back tonight for sure. I would have been at GP today.

the deteriorating situation, the age and the symptoms.

Most if my family are doctors and they would all say they would rather see a child who was well multiple times, than something be missed.

please take him and I hope you get answers

I had very similar, I got out of bed one dat and almost fell over because of vertigo.
Mine was caused by a cold.

I suffer with this, BPPV. I had to go for a scan but I was diagnosed with it after a bout of labyrinthitis. It’s absolutely awful. https://www.google.com/search?q=benign+paroxysmal+positional+vertigo&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

I would get him checked out just in case though. Good luck x

when I had a post viral inner ear related vertigo, I did the epley manoeuvre and it reduced my symptoms drastically. Get your son to try it and see if it does anything!

Sorry - forgot the link

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/home-epley-maneuver

Better safe than sorry. The fact he’s got a jerky gait as opposed to just feeling disorientated is a red flag to me.

This has happened to me before, I was fine and then lent over to turn a lamp off and vertigo just hit. Couldn’t stand, felt like I had drunk a bottle of tequila, the only thing that helped was to lie in a dark room flat in my back. It passed in a few days, that was also an inner ear infection.

This is exactly what vertigo was like for me… went out to dinner feeling absolutely fine, started feeling a bit weird just after we’d ordered our food, was unable to walk and puking in to a plastic bag ten minutes later, It took a week to be able to get out of bed and I still get occasionally dizziness 7 years later! No idea what caused it, I wasn’t otherwise unwell.

my mother in law had much the same but hers hit in Asda. Hers took 6 months to improve.

This is what’s scaring me. And not being sure the doctors saw this last night. But he and his dad were in there from 10pm to near 3am last night, they’re shattered, my DH isn’t concerned and wants to follow instructions. And I have horrible health anxiety when it comes to my kids - worse when tired - and don’t trust myself because of it.

In a previously healthy child, it is extremely unlikely to be anything but viral. The wide based gait is what your body automatically does to try to maintain your balance. Vertigo is very debilitating but should settle and resolve over a week or so. If he has any of the other symptoms that the hospital told you to watch out for, then seek medical attention. Keep him quiet in bed or on the sofa, and avoid watching rapidly changing images (computer games or TV). Hope it improves quickly, as it’s really worrying when our kids are unwell.

Brief version of NICE guidance on vertigo under 16 years

If Everything medical is ruled out, a referral to a physio is needed who will show your dc how to do exercises to move the fluid in his ears.

Thank you very much, this is very reassuring.

He does look exactly like he’s walking on a boat on a rough sea and it makes sense to me he would do that if that’s what his brain is telling him is happening. It’s awfully scary to see him so incapacitated but very much appreciate that link. I don’t want to put him through more A&E if it isn’t necessary.

As a potentially reference point. When I had the viral thing I moved like was very very drunk. Wide stance and wobbly. Or like on a boat in rough seas.

However. Nothing at all wrong with my movement if I lay down on the floor and didn’t need to balance.

If there’s movement or coordination issues not relating to balance then may not be inner ear. If you take the balance out and rest is fine then it sucks but it’s likely to be accurate. (And no, shaking head made no more difference to the dizzy. It’s like you’ve already shaken you head, but all the time).

Oh OP that’s worrying but I hope you’ve taken reassurance from other posters.

If it settles your nerves just take him back.

Thank you - this is really helpful. I’ve never felt what he’s feeling or seen this happen to anyone else, so very very helpful to know this is what it looks like and is expected. I think I’ve read that if viral it can get worse over the first few days and then get slowly better.

I’m surprised how quickly it came on - think of him running around in the sunlight with his pals waiting for the ball to be thrown in one breath and then feeling the ground was rocking under his feet the next. The body does all sorts of weird things, doesn’t it?

It’s a stroke I’m most worried about, as I’ve read this can look very similar to vestibular neuritis at first. And he was exercising and will have had little football related knocks and things. But I understand these are vanishingly rare and it’s much more likely viral.

I wish they’d done bloodwork to check for infection so I had something more concrete to hang the diagnosis on, but the children’s hospital near us is very good and I have to trust they would have if it would have been useful.

Thank you everyone, you’ve really helped me to worry a bit less.

Hopefully this is a handhold. CTs (to check for stroke) are quick and cheap. My son (who's an adult now) has a neurological condition that mimics stroke. He's never had a stroke but they're so easy to check for that the first thing they do every time (in A&E) is stick him in a CT scanner. He's not even particularly at risk of a stroke.

Point being, if there was any vague suspicion at triage, then your kid would've had a CT within 30 minutes / an hour.

I know what you mean about the health anxiety. If it helps, you can keep an obs chart yourself so you can feel confident you have all the relevant info should you need to hand that over.

my pre school age child went through a similar thing last year - all of a sudden lost balance wide gait and unsteady….they were diagnosed with guillane barre 10 days later once paralysis had started to track from their feet up to waist
if he complains of pins and needles / numbness / weakness / muscle pain / or the unsteadiness appears to be spreading take him straight back to a&e - GBS can be hard to diagnose as doctors rarely see it and mistake symptoms for other things (I was also told my child had a ln ear infection and then a stoke)

Thanks - I’ll keep an eye out. One of his nursery friends had this years ago so it was on my radar. No sign of pain yet and he seems 100% well if not balancing, so think it unlikely at this stage but appreciate the heads up.

He’s up in bed with me now - taking his dad’s place until he can walk in the night unaided - and acting completely normal. So long as he’s not standing or walking, when he turns into a drunk sailor.

thanks again.

I had horrible vertigo after COVID a few months ago, was horrible and lasted a few months. I took some travel sickness tablets. The epley manoeuvre didn't help me. It just finally went away. I just had to really focus on something on the wall I when I got up in the morning and not look up or down suddenly.

When I was about 23 I had these sort of symptoms and was diagnosed by the GP as having an infection in the organ of balance. Went away on it's own after 2-4 days much like a cold would. Obviously I've no idea what your son has, but there are things that could cause this, that are neither serious or long-term. Good luck

Hi OP always get your child seen BUT this exact thing happened to my mum and she had labyrinthitis/ viral inner ear infection.

Even the drs thought stroke at first, but it wasn't.

She used over the counter anti nausea drugs which helped a bit whilst it wore off. Was fine after a few days

I had this, was horrendous, I couldn’t stagger I had to crawl, fine lying down. Can’t remember how long it lasted maybe a few days

Thanks so much everyone. I’m sorry so many of you have been ill / had ill children, but it is so reassuring to hear your experiences and know viruses can do this. I’m nearly 50 and had never heard of this happening to anyone. Will go to sleep much easier now. I really appreciate the replies - this is mumsnet at its best.

My OH had the same. Lasted for weeks and he was on steroids for a long time. Horrible virus.