Talk to me about vertigo

[dillydallydollydaydream7]

The last 3/4 days I've been having dizzy spells off and on. Mostly when I'm sitting or lying down, and always late afternoon into evening when I'm tired. They last seconds, and the only way I can describe them is they're the sort you might get (or I do at least) when I'm coming down with something or when you're poorly full of flu/cold. The other night every time I turned over in bed it was like being seasick! I had to close my eyes because the sensation was like I'd just stepped off the waltzers!

Telephone my GP to ask if I could have my bloods and bp done (my iron levels were through the floor when I had DD1, but absolutely spot on with DD2 so thought I best check) and she agreed to do them and said it sounded like vertigo. She asked if I had blacked out, had pains or pins and needles in my arms and I said no. She said anti sickness meds sometimes help with vertigo but to not take anything until after the results are back and they sometimes it's best to just wait it out if the dizziness isn't long term.

Occasionally today I've been getting pain/pressure around my sinuses, yesterday around my ear and tonight I have a dull headache. I'm wondering if my results are clear (fingers crossed) if I'm just coming down with something.

Negative covid test. Just wondering what people's experiences are with vertigo? History of it in the family.

Thanks!

It's horrid.
Anti sickness meds helped me, I had the fairground ride symptoms you describe for many days and I couldn't walk.
If you Google you will find exercises that really helped.
It's been a slow recovery for me 8 months on and I've just removed the prop from under my pillow.
I think there must be varying degrees and hopefully your symptoms will clear soon.

Middle aged women get it. Benign paroxysmal vertigo. It'll pass

@Broadbeanssleeping

It's horrid. Anti sickness meds helped me, I had the fairground ride symptoms you describe for many days and I couldn't walk. If you Google you will find exercises that really helped. It's been a slow recovery for me 8 months on and I've just removed the prop from under my pillow. I think there must be varying degrees and hopefully your symptoms will clear soon.

Ah thanks for getting back to me, I've never experienced it before but I'll definitely look on Google for some tips to help. I do suffer with health anxiety so I've been imagining all sorts, but I literally feel like I've had a night at the fairground!

@awesomekillick

Middle aged women get it. Benign paroxysmal vertigo. It'll pass

I hope so! I'm only 30 so don't fancy this for the long run

I've only had it once. It was horrible. Got anti sickness tablets from doctor and they were great. The dizziness lasted about four days or so altogether before it went.

Mine has been coming and going since September. Diagnosed BPPV. I'm 41 and fit and healthy, no idea what's caused it, but my guess is perimenopause or my thyroid.

If it's BPPV you can do manoeuvres to reposition the crystals in the ear but mine has been going on so long now I think my brain has overcompensated and I just feel murky all the time.

I think this is one of those things you have to experience to realise how annoying it is.

It's horrible isn't it?
Google Brandt-Daroff exercise and do that when you have an episode. Helped me a lot.

VERY experienced with vertigo here. I'm 36 and developed similar symptoms in my mid-20s. I had general weird wooziness as well as very brief spells of sudden violent spinning for ages (years...) before I finally got diagnosed with labyrinthitis and BPPV.

Anyway, long story short you just have to hound your GP and get referred to a balance clinic to see a specialist. I'm lucky because there's a great balance clinic at my local hospital - the best in the country. After various unusual tests it was diagnosed and I was given a course of physiotherapy and had some Epley Manoeuvres performed, which fixed everything. That was years ago and I've been 100% fine since. Any kind of vertigo or dizziness feels really unpleasant, but it's totally fixable if you see the right specialist.

My consultant told me to not take anti-sickness/travel sickness meds for the symptoms unless I absolutely had to. All they do is mask the symptoms, and make it take even longer to recover from. Honestly, demand to be sent to a specialist - I wished I'd done it far sooner! GPs don't know a huge amount about it..

I had vertigo the other week, I genuinely couldn't stand up or walk in a straight line. I had to just go to sleep. I get sea sickness/ car sickness (since having kids) and it was that feeling.
I actually lose balance get waves of dizziness a lot but not really badly, sometimes just for seconds and I'm starting to think that it is probably vertigo.

Vertigo can be horrific, op, I feel for you! It does pass though - good check on bloods. I tend to get it with a cold so I suppose you might be fighting something off, or maybe a touch of hay-fever?

My colleague had it and was off sick for weeks. I
Know this sounds like the vaguest post ever but she told me it was to do with a “crystal” in her inner ear. She was cured by a Dr who performed a quite violent sounding procedure on her ( in which he threw her around ). I’m wondering if that’s the procedure discussed by a PP?? She was immediately cured thankfully.

@Divebar2021 she's talking about labyrinthitis :) tiny crystals form in the inner ear and move about which causes the dizziness and imbalance. Its fairly common i think.

If you think it could be BPPV, don't wait for it to pass - definitely try out the exercises as you can do them yourself - they sort it out for me immediately: www.swbh.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Brandt-Daroff-Exercises-ML3094.pdf

And be aware that it can come back (not often, but I've had it 4 times in about 12 years now)

It's really unnerving, I was scared to go on the tube to work as I thought I would tip off the edge of the platform and even walking downstairs felt really unsteady.

My consultant warned me off ever trying to perform any manoeuvre myself. BPPV is very complex - it can be in either ear, or both, and in different chambers within each inner ear. If you do the wrong kind of manoeuvre for the specific location of your ‘crystals’, you risk moving them into an even more troublesome location. If you’re unlucky it can make the symptoms much worse.

Identifying which ear, and more importantly which chamber these crystals are located in, is very specialised. In order to get diagnosed correctly, the consultant will have to look very closely and carefully at your eyes after he/she instigates an episode of vertigo - they will be able to tell whereabouts the crystals are by the way your eyes are moving in response to the dizziness.

When I had BPPV I had it in both ears at the same time, so it was particularly tricky to fix without making the other side worse. My wonderful consultant did it though, and I’ve been vertigo-free since..

This is an education. I’m fascinated and I haven’t even got it! 😀

Ah you are all amazing thank you so much for your responses! Sorry to hear so many of you have experienced it. I agree with @Divebar2021 - this really is an education; I didn't realise how complex it actually can be!

I'd read about the crystals moving but had no idea that it depends on the chambers. My GP is great so I'm hoping once my bloods are back Tuesday if the dizziness is still present she'll refer me. I always remember my lovely late Grandfather suffering with it so badly he used to be bed-bound for days. My mums on anti-sickness meds but I don't fancy them.

Going to have a little read up on those exercises and some of the different types of vertigo that's been mentioned

Update: blood results are back and I have low B12 so on 3 tablets a day for 6 months then will be re-checked. Thanks for all your replies

I've had both Labyrinthitis and BPPV - horrible in subtly different ways. You have my sympathy, I hope you get well soon.

I had a bout of vertigo a couple of weeks ago, it was awful and quite scary - never had it before and it passed fairly quickly, I was 4 days post vaccine which probably had nothing to do with it, I am also middle aged so maybe just my age!