Cervical vertigo anyone (dizziness from neck issues)

[PrettyTricky]

Long story short, been having upper back/ neck pain for a few months. Seemed to be getting better but have been hit in the last 6 weeks by dizziness.

I have good days and bad days. Some days hardly any spells but they seem to be getting worse as time goes on.
The first time was in my bed when I turned over and felt everything spin. Since then it’s been more that suddenly everything goes weird (not really spinning) more like the world just suddenly moves and I grab something solid. It’s scary. That lasts for a few seconds, sometimes up to a minute, but can leave me feeling off with low level dizziness for hours. It now happens most days, but other days I just feel off and a bit dizzy and fuzzy in my head, but manageable. I find I prefer to move about when it’s low level happening as sitting can make it more obvious and my nervous system seems to be soothed more if I keep moving.

Stress and anxiety is obviously a factor here as it’s scary to feel out of control of your body.

It’s not BPPV as I can look up and down with no dizziness, lie down flat on and head position doesn’t matter. The Epley manoeuvre doesn’t work.
Getting to see my GP has been frustrating and I’ve had 2 telephone consults - one about the back pain, was diagnosed with trapezius strain and got naproxen, didn’t do anything. The second I have next week, so still waiting.

Otherwise a healthy forty something. Anyone had anything similar? No scary stories please as I’m a bit of a wreck already with this.

Both my mum and SIL have it. They both have the same prescription I think. I guess if you have the right prescription it is nothing more than a headache / stomach pain etc. I have heard my mum saying it often that she had a cervical pain and was dizzy in the morning and she took her tablet and now she is fine.

Have you had your ears checked?

In October last year I started getting dizziness. Sometimes it was mild other times it was debilitating. I was very scared it was something serious. I had many tests, all sorts of blood tests, a full neurological exam. Apart from low vitamin D they couldn't really find anything wrong. They diagnosed vertigo. Over the months I've noticed a real connection between stress/tension and my dizziness. I finally realised the vertigo seemed to be some type of stress symptom (took me ages to notice the connection as I've had lots of anxiety in my life but never with vertigo!). I noticed that subconsciously I'd been really tensing up my neck and shoulders. That whole area around the top of the shoulders and neck was so tense, tight and uncomfortable. I mentioned this to my doctor and she agreed the tension in this area could definitely cause vertigo. It puts a lots of pressure on the nerves, blood vessels etc that go to the brain. OP I notice you're in your 40s.i started experiencing this at 44 and I'm certain there's a connection with the perimenopause. I've done a lot of research!! Firstly, you oestrogen levels fluctuate and drop in your 40s. Low oestrogen is linked to vertigo. Also a very common symptom of perimenopause is anxiety. I'm 100% sure that my vertigo was caused by the hormonal fluctuations and anxiety and tension in my body. Also vestibular migraines are another symptom of perimenopause and my doctor felt I could be suffering from these. Unlike other migraines you often don't get a headache - just dizziness. So there's a few things for you to think about. I've been better lately because life's calmed down a little during lockdown which has calmed down my nervous system.

Osteopathy would be worth considering - it may simply be that your back and neck have tightened up for some reason and once they are released the problem will go away.

If you've not seen one before it's not all scary crunches, some of it is very gentle - have a look at the Register of Osteopaths for the one nearest to you.

@PrettyTricky how are you doing? I'm suffering with this too at the moment and am looking for solutions.

I've also had arm weakness and pain and have been diagnosed with impinged nerves at my neck.

I can cope with the arm pain much more than the dizziness.

For me the dizziness is triggered when I move my arms, or sometimes just when I walk around. I also have pain in the bottom of my neck and in my shoulder and upper back. Stress definitely makes it way worse as I tighten up my neck and shoulders. I find that wearing a heat pad at the bottom of my neck helps that area relax.

@Literallyfedup would you mind finding out the name of the tablet? Is it definitely for neck dizziness and not ear dizziness?

Hey, sorry I never got back to this thread - life gets in the way, but I did read and appreciate all your posts.

@LimeLemonOrange I’m still having the dizziness on and off but better than it was. When it happens it
: the worst to deal with, so anxiety inducing and makes you feel entirely out of control of things, much worse than pain. No arm pain here, but still pain at base of neck and shoulders. Have a full range of movement though.

GP has referred me to ENT first to make sure no vestibular involvement, but I think it’s neck related as it’s too coincidental that they came on at the same time. There’s a physio near where I live who specialises in neck induced migraine and vertigo and I’m keen to be referred there, but GP wants to cross off the ENT path first, so just going along with it.

It has gotten some better in the last week or so, I’ve started some supplements....magnesium spray on upper back has certainly helped a bit, also magnesium baths. I’m not taking magnesium by mouth as I’ll never be off the loo (past experience). Also taking Vitamin D, B12 and also a Bilberry and Lutein supplement as my eyes have felt strained with all this - like they’re having to work harder somehow. Also found someone called Joey Remenyi on YouTube and Facebook - fantastic info there and a really supportive community. Have started doing ‘body scanning’ which is very grounding and helps me feel less out of control. Also been doing some vestibular rehab exercises from YouTube just to see if they help. Somehow doing something, rather than being a passive recipient of horrible feelings, helps. I think trying to not get scared and let fear take over is a big part of it, as once you’re in that cycle it’s hard to get off it. Also trying to not focus on the dizzy sensations. Hope that helps a bit. Do let me know how you’re getting on.

@WilsonMilson that's great that you're taking control of it and have some coping strategies etc. I'll look into all of your recommendations, thanks so much.

That specialist physio sounds great, don't suppose you're anywhere near Berkshire are you?

I have good days and bad days, I'm feeling relieved to finally have a diagnosis (as of yesterday) because I'd been worrying about MS. Now I have my diagnosis I need to focus on recovery. Because I've been unable to sit down and use a laptop (sitting and arm use both trigger either dizziness, pain or both) I've had to give up my job. I need to stay positive and hope I can get back to normal.

I start physio next week and the physio has given me some exercises. I'm just horribly impatient and want to be better today!

Good luck with your journey to recovery, I can see why the GP wants to send you to ENT first, mine was similar, but because the arm pain developed I was able to get a physio referral instead.

Feel free to keep in touch here on this thread or via DM if you prefer.

@LimeLemonOrange yes they both suffer from neck issues and not ear problems. My mum takes Stemetil. It's a prescription only medicine. I think my SIL takes something different sometimes but also Stemetil.

I had sudden room spinning in my early 40s. I was washing up and had to get down on the floor as I was worried I’d fall. It was out of nowhere and scared my DC who were 7&10. I crawled to the loo to be sick. It settled after a few hours but had to lie in bed for days. GP thought labyrinthitis and prescribed ant sickness meds but I didn’t take them as the sickness had gone.Took weeks to feel normal and had slight recurrences over the next few years.

I think it was Stemetil I was prescribed and it’s just anti sickness.

I was suffering with vertigo at the beginning of the year and saw my gp after around five weeks of it none stop.
GP thought it had been triggered by a virus (I really hadn't even had a cold in months).
I asked if it could be related to my long term neck issues (pain since 17, trapped nerve causing tingling from last summer).
The Dr said no he didn't think so.
And then when I did my own research, I found it could well indeed be related.
I do not trust GP's. They have gotten so many things wrong over my life.

@RhapsodyandAshe I have very little faith in doctors either.

Neck issues certainly can, and do, cause dizziness. In fact there’s a clinic in my area devoted to migraine, headache and vertigo caused by cervical issues.
So many things can contribute too, including anxiety and stress which usually perpetuates things a bit as it’s a very anxiety inducing symptom.

How are you now?

@LimeLemonOrange unfortunately the physio isn’t anywhere near Berkshire. There’s lots of resources online though - the audiologist and neuroplasticity coach Joey Remenyi has been an absolute godsend for me. On the physical side, I’m doing even just simple shoulder shrugs and rolls can help a bit.

I’m going to wait to see what the ENT says and then go from there. I’m feeling slightly more relaxed about it as it’s eased a bit but I certainly don’t want to be stuck with this forever!

Vertigo wise I no longer feel like I am on a boat on a daily basis. There is still an edge of the world not being quite as solid as it should be.
My neck problems continue and unless they lead to paralysis of some degree, will continue to be ignored by the medical world as an issue, I imagine.
Thank you for asking, that's appreciated.

Glad to hear you’re feeling better, it’s horrible to have that constant disequilibrium - that was me for constantly for about 7 weeks, intermixed with a few seconds of intense dizziness every day at some point.
It’s easing off to the point I’m feeling almost normal for maybe half the day, which is an intense relief. Glad you’re better too, that gives me hope. Hope you continue to be much improved.

The worst bit of it for me, was how heavy it made my limbs feel. Still sometimes feel like gravity is exuding a greater force than it should.
Did anyone else get that alongside the dizziness?
I am quite sure my GP would look at me askew, if I mentioned that part of the whole experience.

I've had the very heavy limb feeling too, and also have had a feeling like there's a force in my shoulders pressing me backwards.

I've also had my arms go weak and painful as well as neck and back pain and the inability to sit down without getting one or more of my various symptoms.

Rhapsody it might be worth looking at chiropractors in your area and looking closely at their reviews and websites. I've found one local to me, his website says he treats cervicogenic dizziness. I have NHS physio and I'll try that first, but may use him if I need to in future.

It sucks that this issue isn't well understood or treated.

Wilson I'm glad you're feeling better for half the day, and Rhapsody it's good to hear you've had improvement too, I always seem to feel much better from about 5pm, it's a shame I can't get a job working from then instead of the usual office day.

My period seems to make the dizziness much much worse and I'm currently having periods every three weeks (perimenopause).

@Literallyfedup and @Benjispruce2 thanks for posting with the name of the meds, I really appreciate it.

Lime that totally sucks. I hope the physio can help with it.
I just get scared from interaction with medical professionals. There have been mistakes made in my care, a lot. And that just leads me to think, what else are they getting wrong?

I know exactly how you feel, I'm very mistrustful too. I've already walked away from one chiropractor and one physio because I didn't trust their approaches.

My new physio sounds like she actually gets my symptoms and I've told her about what went wrong for me with previous physio and she's agreed to be gentle and careful and let me say what treatment I'm comfortable with.

I still have big issues trusting medical professionals though. I nearly died after my emergency c section was botched and ever since then I find it difficult to trust.

Ps sorry to hear you've had so many mistakes made with your care, it must be tough

A botched C-section. That's not good. Did you manage to get any recompense for it?

No I was young and didn't complain about it. Botched might be too strong a word, I'm not sure. But something went pretty wrong!

I know there can be a risk of having your bladder nicked which can be quite awful. I had one c-section, an emergency one. It went fine apart from ending up severely anaemic as a consequence of blood loss. Would never want to go through that again.
Have you had any counseling in regards to your experience?

No but I really should have done at the time. It was 17 years ago so well behind me now.