Vertigo

[avid]

I"m on medical leave from my job right now.  Yup, I went back to work about a year ago at the first signs of the economy slowing down.  Anyway, I had two vertigo attachs in a 12 hour period.   wow.   this ain't no joke.  I dropped like I was hit by a bullet.

first one happened about 3 am.  i got up to go the bathroom and was on the floor before I knew what happened.  It passed quickly and I didn't think much of it because i figured I just got up too fast.  but then that afternoon at work, I was sitting at my terminal and Wham!!.  It was like the earth just spun out of orbit or something.  No warning just falling out of my chair and hanging on to the side of my desk.   I called my wife who came and took me to the ER where I was diagnosed with "peripheral vertigo" and told to see a Ear Nost and throat specialist right away.  Fortunately I have an ENT and he saw me the next day.  He performed a manuever called the Epley manuever (you can see it on U tube) and then repeated it about 5 days later.  It helped tremendously.  I still get a little slight dizziness sometimes and can feel a little unsteady but no repeat of the fall downs, at least not yet.

I have to go for a bunch of follow up tests and they actually diagnosed me with something else.  "Ocular migraines"   it causes my vision to get these patches of extreme blurriness.  I've had it for years and thought it was due to a sinus condition I have.  nope.  

They gave me a brain scan (still got one, by golly) and I see a neurologist in a couple of weeks.

Think I just may go back to being retired.

sure will increase my fishing time, but my outriggered canoe may be a thing of the past.   We'll see.

[FD.]

I always thought you were a little off balance but I thought it was a mental thing. ;D

Glad to see that you are ok and still kicking.  You might even consider a life jacket fishing from shore at least until you have this under control.

FD

[BrianinMD]

Oh do I know how you feel, after having migraines for about the last 20 years, including the ocular migraines, I get periodic vertigo. Most of my migraines are centered in my inner ear which causes mine, after to many of these I have essential tremors for about the last year and a half. Basically my right hand shakes most of the time, sometimes a little sometimes a lot.

Its no joke, make sure to listen to the doctors.

[Redlinerobert]

Avid,

Gladd you're seeing a doctor for that, I've heard of the med that Muddy mentioned, you should try it out.

Hope it goes away completely.

[Sam]

Hey Avid,

Wonderful to read one of your posts although I am upset with your vertigo situation.

When I was flying we had to sit in a chair and get spun around, stopped, and then asked which was up and down, etc.  We all flunked.

That is why the instructor told us to hang a chain with a medal on it so that we could always tell when we were not level and not to believe our eyes and brain in cloudy or night situations.

Vertigo is nothing to take lightly so please take your meds and do what the doctor says to do.

Have you thought about getting a SPOT unit to take with you when fishing?

I have one and take it with me for safety, plus the fact that I send a location signal every now and then to get my son all upset as it appears on his blueberry or blackberry or whatever and ticks him off.  ;D   ;D   ;D

[John in NW PA]

Since the Epley Maneuver worked so well, it may be that you have a condition involving the semicircular canals in the inner ear called BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo). The following link has excellent information about BPPV. If it describes you, try discussing it with your doctor.

Good luck!

http://www.tchain.com/otoneurology/disorders/bppv/bppv.html

[GLADES]

I had my first occular migraine about 2 years ago. It was really weird.

I was at work, working on the computer when it happened. Mine was not like vertigo where you lose balance, I had a headache and a lightning bolt flashing in my eyes that I could see even when my eyes were closed. Really freaky. I called my eye doctor and I arrived at his office 30 minutes later. While I was driving the flashing began moving off toward my periferal vision, then it was gone. The headache remained thought. The eye doctor diagnosed occular migraine.

I used to not wear sunglasses that much, now I wear them all the time.

I think bright sun triggers the attack. I have not had it happen since thankfully. If it does, at least I wont be in a panic like the first time.

[Bassn Blvd]

Avid.  I have had the vertigo attacks for 9 years now and it altered my life dramatically up to about 2 years ago.  My 1st attack put me out like a light.  Everything in the room was spinning 1000mph.  I broke out in a major sweat and my heart rate dropped to the 30's and I was taken to the hospital by ambulance.  I went to a cardiologist, dentist, eye doctor, general medicine doctor, chiropractor,  ENT doctor and neurologist.  None of them could help me and it took about 1 month before the dizzy spells went away and I could return to work.  

2nd episode happened happened about 4 years later ad was a bit more intense. Same side affects, just more intense.  This time my girlfriend , now wife, drove me 300 miles to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.  They did all kind of tests and rang up a 10K medical bill since they were out of my insurance network.  Guess what?  They cured absolutely nothing. They did however explain what was happening and why.  

3rd episode happened about 2.5 years ago.  I spent 2 days in the hospital.  Oddly, my wife was having her tonsils removed and mentioned my condition to her doctor.  He examined me and performed this head/tilt procedure which fixed me right up.  I darn near cried from relief and told the doctor I owed him more than I could ever give.  

The dizziness I had was so intense that I told the medics during the 3rd episode that I was "checking out of this life and to take care."  I actually thought I was going to die.  They were feeding me nitroglycerin and all kinds of other crap.  Supposedly, according to my Doctor, these episodes will occur more frequently as the years pass and each episode is usually more intense than the last.  

I stopped traveling to places that were more than 5 minutes from the nearest Fire Rescue Station and I would plan my routes around town that would take me past the most rescue stations because I was so afraid of getting these spells and not having medical tre3atment nearby.  I stopped fishing by myself and basically stayed in doors because I was afraid of having an attack in public.

I finally overcame my fear (somewhat) of being alone or going to places where medical treatment is far away but I'll NEVER forget what it felt like to have one of those episodes. I still anticipate my next episode to happen any moment though. You're not alone and if there is ANYTHING I can do to help then by all means please let me know.

Take care and good luck,

Doug.

[BrianinMD]

has anyone been put in "the chair" at their neurologist?

You get strapped into a chair in this small circular "room" barely bigger then the chair and when they shut the door its pitch black dark. They start with different light displays having you track them with your eyes, since your strapped in and catch move. After that you get spun around at different speeds. I went in feeling fine, came up screwed up for a couple of hours.....

[MALTESE FALCON]

My wife suffers from Maneers Syndrome (sp). It's a problem with her inner ear filling with water. When the dizzy spells first started, she  was walking the dog, and like Avid, fell to the ground and couldn't function. Fortunately one of my neighbors saw her and phoned me.

She has to take a diuretic every morning, and this helps alot. when she does have an episode, she takes a Valium and lays down until it goes away. Sometimes an hour, and some times all day. My wife's boss is very sympathetic to her problem, because her brother has the same syndrome and had to retire, because his symptoms are almost constant.

Good luck to all with this problem. It's nothing to take too lightly.

Falcon

[The Unabasser]

Avid...so good to hear from you...always wondered where you went to

I hope your situation improves

[Catt]

Ah huh allergic to work  

[senko_77]

Hey Avid, glad to see your doing a bit better and have it under control.

Here's another thing that it could possibly be. About 3 years ago, my mom began having huge vertigo attacks at home and work that would put her on her butt. At first I thought it was her trying to be funny at home, but then when it happened at work and out in public, I realized that it wasn't a joke. After months and months of doctors trying to figure it out, my dad replaced some part of the wall in the master bedroom, and it turned out that we had a water leak and there was mold growing in there. The type of mold it was can cause vertigo according to the DR's. So, don't know if you have had any exposure to mold recently, but that's what gave it to my mom.

Hope you get better man!

[Tin]

Hey Avid, glad to see your doing a bit better and have it under control.

Here's another thing that it could possibly be. About 3 years ago, my mom began having huge vertigo attacks at home and work that would put her on her butt. At first I thought it was her trying to be funny at home, but then when it happened at work and out in public, I realized that it wasn't a joke. After months and months of trying to figure it out, my dad replaced some part of the wall in the master bedroom, and it turned out that we had a water leak and there was mold growing in there. The type of mold it was can cause vertigo. So, don't know if you have had any exposure to mold recently, but that's what gave it to my mom.

Hope you get better man!

So did this exposure to mold also give you your fishing abilities? ;D

[senile1]

It's good to hear from you, avid.  Keep us posted on the vertigo situation.  I wish you and yours well.  

[avid]

Wow!!.  Thanks for the outpouring of support.  I sorta suspected to hear from people who have it or know someone who does.  I say that because alot of people have told me similar stories after I mentioned it to them.

I had another attack last night.  Not as serious as the fall down kind, but upsetting because I wanted to believe I was cured.

I have another visit to my ENT who is excellent and performed the Epley manuever on the 17th.  I may try to move this up if the dizziness continues.  I have a neruologist appt. on May 7th.  I have no idea what tests she will perform, but being seen by a neurologist is important.

No meds have been prescribed yet.  The Epley seemed to do the trick.

The mold thing is something I haven't heard of but I can tell you that this is Florida.  Mold is a fact of life here.  My work place had it's roof torn off in the '04 hurricanes and the mold level in that place is off the charts.

"I always thought you were a little off balance but I thought it was a mental thing."   Thanks fishindaddy.  I would have been soooooo disappointed if someone didn't make this joke.  LOL.

Thanks again for the support.

[Raul]

Finding what causes it can be a tricky situation, it can be an inner ear problem, it can be neurological, it can be cardiological.

I once suffered vertigo attacks, three days in bed made me go to the doc. Checked my ears and they were fine, did me an electro it came out normal, but my bloodwork came out with frightening high levels of cholesterol ( and I 'm skinny ! ), gave me medicine to lower the cholesterol levels and the dizziness dissapeared in 4 days.

And here I am, almost 45 on a strict diet !  

No bacon, no salami, no pork meat, no shellfish, no chicken skin,  fatty meat, in other words, can 't anything I like !   >

[FishingBuds]

Yea Avid, I really hope it gets better.

I too have suffered from dizzyness since 2007, I shrugged off the Vertigo thing from a emergency doctor, she did the head thing movement and declared that I had Vertigo, gave me some meds and sent me home, kinda peed me off. After a Chiropractor and my family doctor I'm currently being looked at for T.M.J. Its the jaw thing, My symptoms have been Jaw lock,popping, sore, head aches, bad neck pain/neck cramps(that would bring me to my kness) and spinning/dizzyness.

So, hopefully its on the right track, Lord knows at this time I'd rather findout what it is so I'll quit going crazy about it :-/

[Chanchito]

Thanks for sharing. I've had it an it's brutal... it's hard to even read about it because I fear it. When I had it I couldn't stop vomiting until I took some strong meds. The first time, about 4 years ago I was ordering a burger at an outdoor joint and hit the floor. I couldn't stop getting sick and I couldn't stand up. (They closed shortly thereafter, lol) After about 30 minutes of hell I crawled to my car and called 911. I had about 5 major episodes and all the tests etc.. I take a small diuretic almost every day and carry the nausea and dizziness pill in my wallet, incase it happens. But, knock  on wood, it hasn't happened in over 2 years. I'm not the same and never will be. VERY important to lower the salt in the diet and the diuretic helps to flush it out. I do fish alone but the long river kayak trips are probably done. No amusement rides of any kind or any crazy things like that. Exersize is important too. Good diet. Hang in there and lower the salt way down.

Dave  

[bilgerat]

Have your ears checked for earwax. Seriously.

My brother had dizzy spells, disorientation, etc. The doctor removed a large quantity of wax from his ear canals (Raul touched on this) and it pretty much straightened him out. Everyone gets it to some degree, it's not from poor hygiene. Your equilibrium is affected by this.

Hope it's something simple, best of luck.