headache dizziness tension

[igloo2]

Hi, I've had some troubles with dizziness. Let me explain. When I lay down or look upwards everything becomes a blur and spins out of control. When I sit back up it immediately stops. I can be laying still for hours and it still spins out of control. I've also had sharp pain when moving my eyes left to right and tension in my eyes and difficulty raising my eyebrows (but looks normal to doc).  Sometimes eye movements cause dizziness or "wavey eyes bouncing back and forth".  I also have a constnat headache (mostly in the front) that never goes away.  There is all this pressure behind my eyes nose and forehead and often is worse when I'm dizzy.  
I used to get near syncope alot but that has stopped and now instead of syncope I get this deep trobbing in my head that feels really good because it takes the edge off my headache some and a brief relief of my symptoms as a whole, during what would be a syncope, but my vision rarely fades now as it used to.  
I had a CT, MRI, MRA, MR venogram of brain, MRI cervical, all normal but there is a mention of "The cerebellar tonsils are at the level of the foramen magnum but no herniation is seen".  Do you think this could mean anything toward my symptoms?  Also if not then can  you tell me what you think may be wrong with me? (note: I also had a normal ENG test and an EEG as well).

Thanks for your time in sorting out this mess.

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-SH]

First of all, keep in mind that I am unable to diagnose you because I am unable to examine you, this forum is for educational purposes.
   The symptoms you describe are consistent with Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).  The most common cause of this condition is otocaria (calcium deposits) that break off in the ear canals sending the wrong signals to the brain.  These signals also cause jerky eye movements (called nystagmus). You mentioned that your electro-nystagmogram (ENG) was negative, but it is not very sensitive and can miss a lot of cases. A better test is Video nystagmogram (VNG) that is more sensitive for subtle nystagmus.  Fifty percent of cases of BPPV do not have a defined cause.  It is thought that migraine headaches are associated with BPPV and treating the migraines improves the vertigo (room spinning dizziness).  Thus I would suggest a trial on a migraine preventative medication such as Elavil, topamax, nadolol, etc. (will start to work in 2-4 weeks).  Form your description of the MRI it does not sound like you have a chiari, but a CINE CSF flow study would be useful.
I hope this has been helpful.

[mike1105]

are you on an effexor or cymbalta like drug? sometinmes these drugs cause symptoms like yours, especially when trying to wean off.

[clovismanhunt]

Try Meclizine for spinning/vertigo which is available from your pharmacist w/out prescription, but is not OTC.
It works for vertigo.
An antibiotic may cure an inner ear infection whioch can cause these spinning symptoms also. Good luck, I've been there.

[Alrich]

There is now an OTC Meclizone.  It is called Bonine and is a 25mg Meclizine.

[looby170]

A related discussion, i keep feeling dizzy and got headaches and shooting pains and preasure in my head and my eye twitches and got flashes in my eyes and my head throbs and preasure in my head was started.