vertebral artery insufficiency

[sue2324]

In october 2006, I had a sudden onset of severe dizzyness and blurred vision which i have to this day.  My mri was okay but it is believed I had a brain stem stroke.  I also ended up with sleep apnea and dysautonomia.  More recently, when I tilt my head back, I get vertigo, ataxia, trouble swallowing, fuzzy vision esp in left eye, left facial numbness, right sided weakness, and I was told by a neurosurgeon it sounds like I am cutting off blood supply to my brian.  The symptoms last for minutes to hours.  When I am extremely careful with how I turn my head, I feel much better.  Please help for I cannot get a doctor to listen to me and they keep passing me back and forth between vascular surgeons and neurologists but noone is doing anything to help.

[joali72]

I too have had vertigo, visual disturbances, some ringing in ears(but mild and not all the time), trouble concentrating, and left sided numbness on my chin..also weakness/partial paralysis in left arm for years that comes and goes. Neurosurgeon says I have a problem with flexion of neck- my vertebrae want to hyper extend during flexion, they want to close on the nerves as opposed to open..not sure how it got that way but during my classes at school, while taking notes and looking down often, I get very light headed and dizzy, have had visual spots, dimming and flashing lights in field of vision, and feel like I will have a drop attack, very fast fainting..I had a positive tilt table test, was told vaso vagal but then another cardiologist is telling me it may not be and may be something else entirely because I was given nitroglycerin and he said everyone would drop in bp and pulse with it..so not for sure but am wondering a lot about this vertebral artery insufficiency as I have had  many of the symptoms when looking down for extended periods of time..what type of dr helps with this? Should I ask my neurosurgeon or does it need to be my cardiologist to deal with this?

[sue2324]

i am still having the symptoms so had angiogram today and came back perfectly normal- been to 15 months of vestbiular rehab with no success

[Dr Sharma]

Hi there. Vertibrobasilar insufficiency happens when the neck is over extended back into a sink during hairwashing, damaging the blood vessels in the neck and disrupting the blood flow to the brain, resulting in a potential stroke. Vertigo is the most common symptom of decreased blood flow in the vertebrobasilar distribution.  The vertigo due to VBI rarely is brought on by head turning, which could occlude the ipsilateral  vertebral artery and result in decreased blood flow to the brain If the contralateral artery is occluded. If there is accompanying diplopia, graying of vision and blurred vision, you must check with an ophthalmologist.  if VBI progresses, there may be weakness of quadriceps, felt like buckling of knees.  Consult a neurologist immediately and get a quick investigation for the same. Take care.