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Vertigo, Disequilibrium, pulsatile Tinnitus, etc
Approximately 8-9 weeks ago, I started having light shows and head rushes. I frequently get pulsatile tinnitus if I lay on my stomach. I fainted 4-5 times then started having intense vertigo. I was in a spinny world most of the day. It did not make me vomit but frequently made me feel nauseated.
An ER doctor thought it was meniere's and put me on serc. The symptoms did not approve so a second Dr added gravol and prednisone. The spinning sensation eased off after 5 days.
Now, I have a frequent feeling of disequilibrium. I am staggering almost daily (usually to my left).
I went to an ENT and they ruled out Minere's, crystal imbalances and any inner ear disorder. I often feel dazed and slightly confused. I'm scheduled for a carotid ultrasound and a CT scan (in two months). In the mean time, I am freaking out. I'm afraid to drive. If I turn my head quickly, I get a comet effect where objects seems to slowly drag with me. I have a pain in the base of my skull that feels like a pressure.
Does anyone have any insight? Any clue what this might be or how I can make it better? ANy advice is appreciated!
An ER doctor thought it was meniere's and put me on serc. The symptoms did not approve so a second Dr added gravol and prednisone. The spinning sensation eased off after 5 days.
Now, I have a frequent feeling of disequilibrium. I am staggering almost daily (usually to my left).
I went to an ENT and they ruled out Minere's, crystal imbalances and any inner ear disorder. I often feel dazed and slightly confused. I'm scheduled for a carotid ultrasound and a CT scan (in two months). In the mean time, I am freaking out. I'm afraid to drive. If I turn my head quickly, I get a comet effect where objects seems to slowly drag with me. I have a pain in the base of my skull that feels like a pressure.
Does anyone have any insight? Any clue what this might be or how I can make it better? ANy advice is appreciated!
Ok, do the CT and the physician can always order the MRI if necessary.
You should of had the VNG and Caloric testing when you went to the ENT Specialist in addition to the other tests. Did he do the rotary chair test? These are all the vestibular tests that SHOULD be done in addition to the ones you had to rule out anything going on with the inner ear.
This has got to be something vascular or inner ear related.
You should of had the VNG and Caloric testing when you went to the ENT Specialist in addition to the other tests. Did he do the rotary chair test? These are all the vestibular tests that SHOULD be done in addition to the ones you had to rule out anything going on with the inner ear.
This has got to be something vascular or inner ear related.
No to both VNG and Caloric testing Londres70.
Still waiting on a CT scan and not even booked for an MRI. :/
Still waiting on a CT scan and not even booked for an MRI. :/
An MRA focuses on imaging vessels in the head/brain.
See what the results of the EKG and the Carotid Study are and then discuss the possibility of having a MRA done if necessary.
Did the ENT Specialist do Caloric testing and a VNG?
CT or MRI done?
See what the results of the EKG and the Carotid Study are and then discuss the possibility of having a MRA done if necessary.
Did the ENT Specialist do Caloric testing and a VNG?
CT or MRI done?
Hi again
My doctor ordered the carotid study and ekg, those were done a few days ago and I have not yet heard the results. I'm scheduled for a Holter monitor in september and a CT scan in september. My cholesterol wasn't bad.
I'm still really off. I've started to notice little things here and there. Like I'm unusually fumbly. I'm dropping things frequently and I constantly need to fix what I type ( Where ever i see an underlined word). I've never had issues with that before.
When I get up In the AM i seem to be mostly okay, but give me 30 minutes or so and I have this feeling like I am hovering or something. ALmost like my body feels tipped forward and to the side. If I go out at all (even to say, chapters), I can't seem to process everything around me and I start feeling woozy and staggering to my left (usually) Sometimes I know its coming and I try to compensate and lean to my right but wothout much changing. It's like being on a boat and trying to stay upright on a rough sea. After these episodes, I am physically spent. I end up sleeping for what feels like hours (though sometimes its maybe 45 minutes)
What is an MRA? No one has mentioned that to me yet..
Loimmarmar, I tried what you suggested, looking up and closed my eyes. I had an almost instant headrush and fell to my left.
Thanks for the support, both of you. I really appreciate it..
My doctor ordered the carotid study and ekg, those were done a few days ago and I have not yet heard the results. I'm scheduled for a Holter monitor in september and a CT scan in september. My cholesterol wasn't bad.
I'm still really off. I've started to notice little things here and there. Like I'm unusually fumbly. I'm dropping things frequently and I constantly need to fix what I type ( Where ever i see an underlined word). I've never had issues with that before.
When I get up In the AM i seem to be mostly okay, but give me 30 minutes or so and I have this feeling like I am hovering or something. ALmost like my body feels tipped forward and to the side. If I go out at all (even to say, chapters), I can't seem to process everything around me and I start feeling woozy and staggering to my left (usually) Sometimes I know its coming and I try to compensate and lean to my right but wothout much changing. It's like being on a boat and trying to stay upright on a rough sea. After these episodes, I am physically spent. I end up sleeping for what feels like hours (though sometimes its maybe 45 minutes)
What is an MRA? No one has mentioned that to me yet..
Loimmarmar, I tried what you suggested, looking up and closed my eyes. I had an almost instant headrush and fell to my left.
Thanks for the support, both of you. I really appreciate it..
Hello again,
Happy to see you are still trucking through. Sleep at this time for several hours during the day is great because, your body NEEDS that to help keep you upright when your up.
If you were to bend from your waist and touch the floor and then rise, (not quickly), does that change ANYTHING, eyesight, hearing, feelings or sensations in limbs,, lightheaded, dizzy, (you know, they are 2 different things), Anyway, What about when you stand and close your eyes, one at a time, head tilted back and close eyes, Do you get dizzy and or lightheaded at any of those times.
As Londres70 said the MRA is more finate than MRI and sometimes even a angiography is needed to confirm areas that are hidden either in the heart or the brain, and or to differenciate between an aneurysm and or weak walls of vessels.
Please continue to keep us updated on your findings because, I know this will help someone. I know what it is like to be there, and the less we feel alone, the greater the success in fighting it, whatever it might be, just the travel through the trying to find out process is complicated, LET ALONE LIVING WITH IT !!
Hugs to you there, girl. Have a wonderful Blessed(non-dizzy) Day!!! GOD BLESS!!! loimmarmar
Happy to see you are still trucking through. Sleep at this time for several hours during the day is great because, your body NEEDS that to help keep you upright when your up.
If you were to bend from your waist and touch the floor and then rise, (not quickly), does that change ANYTHING, eyesight, hearing, feelings or sensations in limbs,, lightheaded, dizzy, (you know, they are 2 different things), Anyway, What about when you stand and close your eyes, one at a time, head tilted back and close eyes, Do you get dizzy and or lightheaded at any of those times.
As Londres70 said the MRA is more finate than MRI and sometimes even a angiography is needed to confirm areas that are hidden either in the heart or the brain, and or to differenciate between an aneurysm and or weak walls of vessels.
Please continue to keep us updated on your findings because, I know this will help someone. I know what it is like to be there, and the less we feel alone, the greater the success in fighting it, whatever it might be, just the travel through the trying to find out process is complicated, LET ALONE LIVING WITH IT !!
Hugs to you there, girl. Have a wonderful Blessed(non-dizzy) Day!!! GOD BLESS!!! loimmarmar
With your family history of heart attacks I would HIGHLY suggest you rule out ANY cardiovascular issues that you could have.
I would recommend having an MRA (not an MRI) and a Carotid Duplex Study.
Labs ok? i.e. Cholesterol, Triglycerides, etc.
I would recommend having an MRA (not an MRI) and a Carotid Duplex Study.
Labs ok? i.e. Cholesterol, Triglycerides, etc.
Thanks for the replies! I went to sleep for a couple of hours this afternoon. My Dr. says this is because it's exhausting trying to maintain my uprightness!
BPPV was ruled out by the ENT. He also did hearing tests, the brainstem response test and the test on the table, that checks for BPPV ( I forget what its called).
Personally, when all this started, I thought it could be blood pressure. Mine is sometimes low ( in the range of 50-60/ 100-110) and usually closer to 66/120. My TSH was fine. Blood sugar was normal too. My GP just checked my prolactin level to ? pituitary tumor but I haven't heard from that yet.
My breathing is fine, sometimes i get winded though and I DO wonder if the head rushes are a lack of oxygenation. My dad passed away with a severe heart, lung and kidney disease. I had a cousin die of a massive heart attack at 40 and my grandfather died in his early fifties of a massive heart attack too. I'm 35.
I'm just baffled by so many varied possibilities. I've been told everything from ms to aneurism to tumor. I just wish I could get my life back.
I haven't touched alcohol, gave up soda, and am trying to eat better. I find exercise killer though. One wrong move makes me woozy.
BPPV was ruled out by the ENT. He also did hearing tests, the brainstem response test and the test on the table, that checks for BPPV ( I forget what its called).
Personally, when all this started, I thought it could be blood pressure. Mine is sometimes low ( in the range of 50-60/ 100-110) and usually closer to 66/120. My TSH was fine. Blood sugar was normal too. My GP just checked my prolactin level to ? pituitary tumor but I haven't heard from that yet.
My breathing is fine, sometimes i get winded though and I DO wonder if the head rushes are a lack of oxygenation. My dad passed away with a severe heart, lung and kidney disease. I had a cousin die of a massive heart attack at 40 and my grandfather died in his early fifties of a massive heart attack too. I'm 35.
I'm just baffled by so many varied possibilities. I've been told everything from ms to aneurism to tumor. I just wish I could get my life back.
I haven't touched alcohol, gave up soda, and am trying to eat better. I find exercise killer though. One wrong move makes me woozy.
Hello,
And Londres70 also,
I know what you all mean, and it is just a trip, in and of itself, right! The symptoms you speak of ,came to visit me after the thirteen hour brain surgery to repair a brain bleed. I have since learned that the exposure later on to mold, activated a toxic immune system breakdown response, that was started years prior, when there was a natural gas leak for 3 1/2 years in my home, and I know that That was the INITIAL thing that then caused the cascading effects of the immune response to the perceived threat.
Check you thyroid, ( TSH ), mine was all over the place. That can cause all symptoms mentioned.
As Londres70 said, keep up with a good healthy way of eating, YOU ARE FEEDING your health or symptoms. COMFORT food is the last food I would eat right now with all the preservatives and such. I do not have gluten or causin any more and the detox from the mold still comes and goes even 10 months out. Most of that is balance related and the eye things. It looks as tho I'm DRUNK times 3.
Were either of you exposed to something that could cause these toxic like symptoms you are speaking of. Bp is a possibility as in my case it was the cause of the cluster migrains and petite gran-maul seisure, (all after the rupture and surgery).
First- ck tsh----2nd- blood sugar---3rd---possibility of exposure to toxic chemical or mold in the basement.
For me, traveling in one direction on the bus, okay, but switch the side of the bus, going the same route, well, it would send me. As far as the ringing in the ear, (to me it just sounds better), anyway, mine is kinda there all the time in the backround and at times, it is halarious, it will kick in on one side or the other, or sometimes both, at a louder low pitch hum,...the all the sudden it goes to a higher pitch but lower gear, like you shifted a manual tranny from 2 - 3 or visa-versa, 3 - 2.
I learned to notice the things that happen like this, and sometimes they are so funny, I am in amazement of our bodies, and how they are made to function properly , now getting it to do that is HARD WORK. I have become an expert in the variety of symptoms that can accompany conditions and exposures and or diagnosis of symptoms we show.
I learned to write it on the calander and now have a ledgend for all the abbreviations used for Full body functioning. Big P in corner circled means, poop, (we should all do that daily), sometimes the pee seperates or is red, without period, or it looks dirty, not cloudy, dirty. I know, I write drunk now for the balance issue and I have learned to HOLD UP WALLS wherever I go. If you prop your butt against the wall and place your feet in a 12 by 12 triangle, that will allow you to stop the spin...for then, how long it lasts, changes with each step you take.
ONE THING THAT JUST CAME TO MIND!!!!. HOW are either of you breathing during these sensations. I will tell you mine if you enlighten me please, it's just a thought, wondering and pondering. It is a theory that is starting to blossom nicely.
Please keep in touch as there are not many who have the sight we do. Have a wonderful Blessed day!!! GOD BLESS!!! loimmarmar
And Londres70 also,
I know what you all mean, and it is just a trip, in and of itself, right! The symptoms you speak of ,came to visit me after the thirteen hour brain surgery to repair a brain bleed. I have since learned that the exposure later on to mold, activated a toxic immune system breakdown response, that was started years prior, when there was a natural gas leak for 3 1/2 years in my home, and I know that That was the INITIAL thing that then caused the cascading effects of the immune response to the perceived threat.
Check you thyroid, ( TSH ), mine was all over the place. That can cause all symptoms mentioned.
As Londres70 said, keep up with a good healthy way of eating, YOU ARE FEEDING your health or symptoms. COMFORT food is the last food I would eat right now with all the preservatives and such. I do not have gluten or causin any more and the detox from the mold still comes and goes even 10 months out. Most of that is balance related and the eye things. It looks as tho I'm DRUNK times 3.
Were either of you exposed to something that could cause these toxic like symptoms you are speaking of. Bp is a possibility as in my case it was the cause of the cluster migrains and petite gran-maul seisure, (all after the rupture and surgery).
First- ck tsh----2nd- blood sugar---3rd---possibility of exposure to toxic chemical or mold in the basement.
For me, traveling in one direction on the bus, okay, but switch the side of the bus, going the same route, well, it would send me. As far as the ringing in the ear, (to me it just sounds better), anyway, mine is kinda there all the time in the backround and at times, it is halarious, it will kick in on one side or the other, or sometimes both, at a louder low pitch hum,...the all the sudden it goes to a higher pitch but lower gear, like you shifted a manual tranny from 2 - 3 or visa-versa, 3 - 2.
I learned to notice the things that happen like this, and sometimes they are so funny, I am in amazement of our bodies, and how they are made to function properly , now getting it to do that is HARD WORK. I have become an expert in the variety of symptoms that can accompany conditions and exposures and or diagnosis of symptoms we show.
I learned to write it on the calander and now have a ledgend for all the abbreviations used for Full body functioning. Big P in corner circled means, poop, (we should all do that daily), sometimes the pee seperates or is red, without period, or it looks dirty, not cloudy, dirty. I know, I write drunk now for the balance issue and I have learned to HOLD UP WALLS wherever I go. If you prop your butt against the wall and place your feet in a 12 by 12 triangle, that will allow you to stop the spin...for then, how long it lasts, changes with each step you take.
ONE THING THAT JUST CAME TO MIND!!!!. HOW are either of you breathing during these sensations. I will tell you mine if you enlighten me please, it's just a thought, wondering and pondering. It is a theory that is starting to blossom nicely.
Please keep in touch as there are not many who have the sight we do. Have a wonderful Blessed day!!! GOD BLESS!!! loimmarmar
Sounds like BPPV. What testing did the ENT Specialist do?
I can relate because I had the same symptoms almost two years ago. I don't have the vertigo anymore but still have problems with my balance as I walk. I still have NO definite diagnosis.
Definitely get the carotid US and the CT Scan.
My best advice: Keep as active as possible, don't drive until you sort this out, try to keep your diet clean as possible and avoid caffeine and alcohol.
Any hx of heart or bp issues?
I can relate because I had the same symptoms almost two years ago. I don't have the vertigo anymore but still have problems with my balance as I walk. I still have NO definite diagnosis.
Definitely get the carotid US and the CT Scan.
My best advice: Keep as active as possible, don't drive until you sort this out, try to keep your diet clean as possible and avoid caffeine and alcohol.
Any hx of heart or bp issues?
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