Anyone experienced brief vertigo episodes with lingering dizziness and ear symptoms?

[OnNaturesCourse]

Hi everyone.
I’m hoping to find people who have experienced something similar while I’m waiting to get this investigated. I’m not looking for a diagnosis, just to hear other people’s experiences, what tests you had and whether you eventually got any answers.
Around 10 months ago I started having episodes of vertigo that have happened only a handful of times, usually months apart. The first episodes came completely out of the blue and since then my symptoms seem to have gradually evolved. The vertigo itself is usually very brief, but afterwards I can be left feeling like I’m on a boat for hours or longer, and moving my head can make it feel like my brain has to “catch up” with my movements.
Alongside this I’ve developed fluctuating tinnitus, ear pressure/fullness, occasional headaches and some odd sensations around my face and head. The first vertigo attack was also what triggered a lot of anxiety for me, so every recurrence now feels frightening.
I’ve put a much more detailed timeline and symptom list in the next post, as I didn’t want this first post to become too long.

I agree likely to be BPPV
However I wanted to share this just in case it could be true for you, not sure if your symptoms matched mine as I didn’t read all the history but this happened to me and I realised it was related to my pillow! Changed my pillow so my neck was better supported and it’s never happened again except once when didn’t have my pillow
worth a try ey!

This was my first thought.

Also a certain level of neuroticism over symptoms - I think some people call it "health anxiety".

How do you look after your health generally, @OnNaturesCourse ? Before this happened were you generally fit and well, did you exercise regularly & eat a healthy diet? Not too overweight or underweight?

Hi, look up PPPD.

I've had two 'episodes', one of vertigo and sudden deafness, probably a virus, followed by 18 months of gradual recovery from disequilibrium.

I then got double vision, possibly microvascular, followed by another 18 months of disequlibrium.

A friend who suffered the disequilibrium, although with different triggers, saw (privately) a neurology consultant who works in a big London hospital. He diagnosed PPPD as the cause of my friend's ongoing symptoms - not the cause of the original damage to the balance organs (eyes, ears in my case, vestibular migraines in his case). That will be something else.

It's a condition only recently recognised and none of the many hospital departments I have been to have mentioned it.
Nothing shows on brain scans, it's your body overcompensating, especially if you are anxious, stressed or tired. It is not a mental health condition, although apparently sometimes treated with ADs.

Yep, it's horrible. The room spinning vertigo is the worst.

Yes to ear fullness, discomfort, pressure, blocked.

Various things have been suggested, bppv, being one of them.

On meds which help.

Yes I can relate to much of this - sudden onset of vertigo last October which lasted most of a month, the first week I was barely able to walk down the street without staggering. Had all kinds of investigations and blood tests which found nothing untoward, so BPPV was suggested.
Then in January this year, the anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks, full on panic attacks at work, completely unable to go on the tube, barely able to even stand in a queue at the supermarket. I was also prescribed propranolol which helped in the moment, but did nothing for the underlying cause.
For me, the lightbulb moment was reading about vertigo and anxiety being common perimenopause symptoms caused by low estrogen affecting blood vessels. I got myself onto estrogen patches, and I’m feeling a million times better! Please do give it a thought. I’m 45

This

I had symptoms exactly like yours and was diagnosed with this.

Didn’t have any treatment and it just sort of went away after several months

Thank you for sharing this, it gives me hope!

BPPV doesn't usually last through the day, it's exactly as in the name - positional (like tipping your head back, looking up) vertigo
It shouldn't drag on with rumbling dizziness all day
At least that's what my ENT said
He checked if I had it by tipping me backward on a bed with my head slightly hanging back, didn't cause any dizziness. Although it was some time after the first severe attack

Yes, but only if I turn my head/neck a certain way. Sounds exactly like the movement you describe in your episode one. It was very alarming. When I lay down in bed the whole room revolved. Went on for weeks. Then it went. Since then have had other brief instances of it. Interestingly they seem to be triggered by being absolutely exhausted and or, not drinking enough water. I also, since I was little,have had trouble with my sinuses, migraine and the true prince of all pain facial neuralgia so I have a vague feeling there's a link there somewhere. My mother had menieres ( no idea how to spell it) disease so I wondered about that too.

I haven't read all your replies.

You said your Dr is useless. Have you been and have their checked your ears?

I have had this twice now and both times it was due to blocked inner ears. Dr prescribed me a steroid nasal spray which did the trick.

Maybe ask for this to give it a try? If you have sinus problems it could be sometimes as simple as this.

OP your description sounds exactly like I experience BPPV. I knew I didn’t have menieres or labrynthitis as the periods of dizziness were so brief, and only really associated with movement. But I’d get multiple episodes daily. I got it sometimes when walking and all of a sudden it was like the floor was moving. Or the textbook getting up off the floor to standing, or lying back with head tilted to the side. BPPV is literally your balance system lagging behind your actual movements, just like you’ve described.

I think you’d need a specialist ent to perform the manoeuvre to check, because it’s hard to get the speed/angle right on your own. When I first saw the ENT he managed to bring that sensation on immediately (was like falling - even though I was already lying down, so hard to describe).

Im fine since diagnosis. It doesn’t affect my life at all. I get periods of episodes but they don’t tend to last long these days because I know how to do the manouvre which really does help speed up recovery.

Good luck. It’s really scary when you don’t know what’s causing it or when it will happen.

Had v similar symptoms

Ask to be referred to vertigo climinwho can do the manoeuvre you need regular and help re train inner ear muscles

It does go..

Dehydration really doesn't help too fyi

@RebeccaWhThere’s a lot of reason to be hopeful :) Once you’ve ruled out the other obvious potential causes, ( it sounds like you’ve had the gamut of initial diagnosis and tests,) migraine is one of the most common reasons for dizziness/vertigo/ ear symptoms. Some stats put it at 50 percent. When I was first diagnosed a long time ago now, GPs and ENTs were really in the dark about it. I suspect a lot still haven’t caught up. I think it can often feel weird to people as they just associate migraine with headache. Although if someone suffers from classical pain based migraine, then develops these symptoms it would make it a more obvious diagnosis, but often people are just hit out of the blue and it’s their first experience of migraine. Migraine is also hereditary, but again, you may be completely unaware of any familial link as it could be a great grandparent you never met.

it’s very treatable with daily migraine preventatives. This can take a bit of trial and error, so don’t despair if the first one doesn’t work. It’s highly individual. If you’re stuck waiting for an appointment, GPs can try the most obvious often first line drugs, namely amitriptyline ( at a lower dose than for depression) or propranolol, at a relatively high dose. It might be worth giving that a go while you wait. Once you get into the neurology system and if the first port of call drugs don’t work, there’s now new treatments, namely Ajovy etc and Botox for migraine. It was such an awful time going through it, I feel for you. Not all neurologists are created equal. I am seen in a specialist headache clinic. If you run into issues with diagnosis, feel free to DM me and I can point you in the right direction.

Thanks all for the responses.

For those with the symptoms how were they with using screens and phones - I find in a flare up my phone is a horrible thing to use.

I have come down with a virus this week with a sore throat and cracking ears which has completely thrown the dizziness off the scales. I can barely move without a wooziness but no more spinning. 😵‍💫