FEELING DIZZY IN MORNING OFF BALANCE AFTER EXERCISING

[Mike385]

I have this problem of feeling off balance and dizzy for awhile now, over 2 years to be exact...i got a bad cold over 2 years ago and my ears never stopped popping and always feel stuffy.  They pop all the time. ive been to several docs and one said it was fluid and the other said its allergies...im at a loss...it gets really bad when i exercise, its like im dizzy and off balance for like 2 hours when i finish working out, why is this and what could this be.. i broke my nose about 3 years ago and the doc said i have a deviated septum, could this be causing all of this?  i also wake up alot with moderate headaches, and my nose is always plugged.



thanks
Mike

[Nancy T]

Vertigo (a feeling of spinning or movement) is not a disease or disorder. Vertigo is merely a symptom--that is, something that you yourself feel. Tests will not tell you whether you have vertigo (or dizziness)--only YOU can tell if you have vertigo, when you feel it!

What you would be tested for (at an ENT's office) is diseases or disorders of the inner ear or brainstem.

[SCook9989]

You should probably be tested for vertigo... it seemes very likley that is your issue. Dont go looking for a zebra untill you know its not a horse.

[Mike385]

i have never never been tested for vertigo...i have no ringing, but my ears do feel full and they always crackle and pop...its weird that i get dizzyness and offbalance after working out and in the morning but it seems to go away after about an hour or 2 after i work out, and when i get woke up it goes away, im baffled!

[SCook9989]

Have you been tested for the different types of vertigo? it sounds like vertigo, especially if you are moving your head around when you exercise. I have vertigo and it is a fluid issue in your ear that had happen for different reasons, sometimes a long time irritation of your ear, and the sooner you find the cuase the less likley it will have a long term effect. Do you ever have rinning in your ears, and the poping you say is that like a fullness feeling in your ear.

-Scook

[Nancy T]

P.S. Another possibility is that when you had the cold, the virus attacked your balance nerve (the eighth cranial nerve), or your inner ear, and the leftover damage from that has caused the dizziness and motion sensitivity. (Google "vestibular neuritis".)

Sometimes vestibular rehab therapy (done by specialized physical therapists--again, find lists at the Vestibular Disorders Association Web site) helps with this. But see a neuro-otologist first. That should be your first step. They can refer you to a vestibular PT if appropriate.

[Nancy T]

Wow, sounds like me except for the cold and popping/stuffy ears, which I never had.

In the 1980s I kept trying to work out to an aerobic exercise video... I can still hear that music in my head, I tried so many times! But exercise--or just walking--made me feel woozy and dizzy and weak-kneed for an hour or two--exactly like bad carsickness, except only in my head. I felt very slightly dizzy/off-balance all the time.

It got VERY gradually worse until 1999 when it suddenly got worse (I sneezed hard and lost the hearing in my left ear and got dizzier; the dizziness improved; but then a couple months later it got worse again and has remained so).

I also have little headaches and stuffy-nose trouble. In 1999 I got visual auras and thus discovered I was a migraineur. I would bet money that you are one too, even if you don't know it. Any family history of migraine? Read up on migraine. It can manifest in different ways besides headache. Migraineurs tend to be quite motion-sensitive, which it sounds like you are. Most headaches--especially morning ones--are in fact migraines. Do you get easily carsick? Can't read in the car?

That said, in 1999 and onward I also developed a boatload of other weird neurological symptoms. MS was suspected but it's been kind of ruled out, despite some red-flag symptoms of it. Dizziness has a LOT of possible causes, and unless you have other strange things going on, don't worry about MS. I just brought it up because it was suspected in my case due to other symptoms.

You should see 2 types of specialist, starting with one and moving to the other if you don't get a diagnosis or help from the first one.

1. Neuro-otologist (also spelled neurotologist). These are ENTs with extra training in the inner ear and its connections to the brain. They know WAY more about dizziness than your basic ENT. Find one at the American Neurotology Society or Vestibular Disorders Association Web sites.

2. Oto-neurologist. This is a neurologist with extra training (or self-study) in the inner ear. They look at dizziness "from the brain outward", while the neuro-otologist looks at dizziness "from the ear inward." Find one at Dr. Michael Robb's site (google "robb otoneurologist") or at the Vestibular Disorders Association Web site. Most of them are also listed on the American Neurotology Society site. But you won't see them LISTED as "otoneurologists"--that is not any kind of official classification. It's just that some of them call themselves otoneurologists. It's confusing because that term is often used, especially in Europe, for both ENTs and neurologists specializing in dizziness, but technically it should be reserved for doctors who trained as neurologists.

Oto-neurologists can be hard to find because they aren't a subspecialty that everyone recognizes and lists. The best thing is to start with a neuro-otologist (a specialized ENT; they actually get a recognized certificate in "otology/neurotology"), and if that doctor cannot solve your problem, ask them for a referral to a neurologist specializing in dizziness, and they will know what you're talking about. Or, you can CALL a doctor's office and ask if he/she SPECIALIZES in dizziness and sees mainly dizzy patients.

Good luck! Oh, do you find that your motion sensitivity is WORSE when you get a lot of sleep and improves with MILD sleep deprivation? That's the case with me.

Nancy