I really hope someone will answer me...please...

[Ihatepalps2]

hi...im a 47 yr old female. no real health issues other than hypertension and overweight. I had a scary thing happen an hour ago. ( which is why Im on here at 4am!) I seem ok now....??  
Let me back up a bit, tho. For the past, oh, 2-3 months..ive had ringing..hissing, etc noises in my ears. First one..then the other...then both...it changes. I also, very rarely, can hear my pulse in one or the other ears for short periods of time. The pulse hearing thing doesnt happen very often. But the ringing does.
at 2am this mornng, I woke up, and switched positions--wow! I was immediatly SO dizzy, the ceiling, bed, just spinning. Ive never had this before! I changed positions and just laid there..afraid to move. Slowly...it went away, and I was so tired... I fell back asleep. Its now 4am...and again, same thing. I woke up, tried to sit up and again, the bad dizziness. I finally made myself sit up, and it seemed better. Why? I got up went to the bathroom...came back, and laid down..the second I laid down, it was back. Everything seemed to be twirling in a circle. I just stayed there...didnt move....and slowly it went away. But its scaring me!! I keep thinking, am I going to have a stroke?? Are my arteries plugged, that go to my brain?

I had called my regular Dr last week about the ringing..pulse hearing in my ears. She said might as well not see her, and just said to see the Ear Nose & Throat Dr. I was going to call tomorrow for an appt. Now I will for sure.

Ive had something like this one other time. It was at least a couple years ago, and I didnt wake up in the night dizzy, but when I got up that morning, I was...I went to work, and it got worse. I finally went down to the nurse at work. They checked me over...and I think said vertigo? I remember her saying it was a viral thing? I might be way off...but they sent me home. I remember I had to walk touching the wall--I was that dizzy. And then, it was when I looked up or down.
Today, I just tried it, looking up and down, sideways, doesnt do anything. Im just afraid to lay down!!

I will call my ENT tomorrow....but anyone else ever have this happen? What was the end result. Im sitting here at 4am scared to death!

One other time

[Nancy T]

A virus can affect the inner ear (and/or the nerve connecting it to the brain) and cause dizziness for usually several days, sometimes taking a few weeks or even months to recover fully. This is called vestibular neuritis. Look it up and see if it sounds like what you might have had two years ago.

As for spinning when lying down in bed, getting up, looking up or down, turning over in bed--that could very well be benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). That is a benign and usually very easily curable condition with canalith repositioning maneuvers, a.k.a. the Epley maneuver. It tends to occur in people who've had previous inner ear problems and in older people. Bothersome but definitely nothing dangerous!

Hopefully your ENT will be able to sort things out and help you. In the meantime, check out the excellent information on Dr. Hain's Web site on dizziness:

www.****.***

Good luck!

[tomsant]

Remember that hypertension itself may cause this spinning sensation (vertigo)

Your ringing in the ear  may also have a connection to the vertigo.

Since you are able to walk (of course with difficulty) and since you didn't loose consciousness, things appear to point to simpler diagnoses.

No big deal, but you have to be seen by an ENT, to rule out the different possibilities.

Don't worry.

Best,

Thomas Antony