Anyone ever had a sudden onset of vertigo?

N

NancyNGA

Well-known Member
Location
Georgia
What did you do for it?

Did it ever go away completely? Did it ever come back?

About a year ago it hit me one morning all of a sudden. Tried to get up out of bed and it was like someone slammed you back down.
Every time I lifted my head the room would start spinning violently. Took a couple of weeks to gradually go away. Not a fun time at all.

My balance still doesn't seem as sharp, even months later.
 

NancyNGA said:
What did you do for it?

Did it ever go away completely? Did it ever come back?

About a year ago it hit me one morning all of a sudden. Tried to get up out of bed and it was like someone slammed you back down.
Every time I lifted my head the room would start spinning violently. Took a couple of weeks to gradually go away. Not a fun time at all.

My balance still doesn't seem as sharp, even months later.
Click to expand...

My husband had this 11 years ago. It didn't go away for about 1 1/2 years. Doctor said it was an 'episode' possibly a small stroke. MRI showed no damage. He's perfectly fine now but his really good balance that he had before is now just good balance.
 
Ameriscot, I'm sorry it took so long for your husband to get over it. Feeling nauseous is worse than anything to me.
I'd trade for a toothache any day.

Luckily I knew pretty much what it was when it happened, because my girlfriend had described her episode in great
detail to me earlier, and it was exactly the same.

Funny thing, I had a routine physical already scheduled right after this happened. Doctor tried to tell me it was a
sinus infection. I argued but he insisted and prescribed antibiotics. Geesh! Obviously he had never had vertigo.
This was nothing like a sinus infection.
 

Every once in awhile (rarely) but it only lasts for a minute or so. In MY case I think it IS a sinus problem; it seems to go away
when I blow my nose. It sometimes happens when I'm lying flat in bed reading but subsides in a few seconds.
When one gets older it happens when you get up too quickly from a sitting position.
COULD be serious but more often NOT.
 
Falcon said:
Every once in awhile (rarely) but it only lasts for a minute or so. In MY case I think it IS a sinus problem; it seems to go away
when I blow my nose. It sometimes happens when I'm lying flat in bed reading but subsides in a few seconds.
When one gets older it happens when you get up too quickly from a sitting position.
COULD be serious but more often NOT.
Click to expand...

I've got orthostatic hypotension which has gotten much worse. I get up the least bit too quickly and I'm ready to pass out within about 10 seconds. I'll walk from living room into kitchen and have to hold on the counter, or just sit on the floor. It's like my legs turn to jelly and there is absolutely no blood in my head. Dr. just said it's better than high blood pressure.
 
There are so many causes and degrees of this condition, it first struck me to a sever degree as what you experienced I believe around 2005, I can't remember the exact year, but the earlier part of the the 2000's, I have the paperwork for that first time somewhere around here. Frankly, I recall issues in childhood as well. Anyway, I still have to take medicine because for some people like myself, it never goes away completely we just get reprieves. Sometimes I might look up at a painting on my wall and it looks tilted when it's not. What fun.

It can be caused by a sinus infection, water in the ear or something more, mostly the the lingering cases can sometimes baffle your doctor and you hope you have a very knowledgeable doctor who won't be dismissive of your concerns, believe me it happens. There's also condition called Meniere's disease, sensory disorders. There's a boatload of things that could be at hand. Not so easy for doctors to always pinpoint and you can only hope you have a very knowledgeable doctor that's willing to suggest proper testing instead of giving you a script and sending you on your way.

More often than not though, the majority of cases are quite minor and often people don't have more than one or two recurrences.
 
AprilT said:
There are so many causes and degrees of this condition, it first struck me to a sever degree as what you experienced I believe around 2005, I can't remember the exact year, but the earlier part of the the 2000's, I have the paperwork for that first time somewhere around here. Frankly, I recall issues in childhood as well. Anyway, I still have to take medicine because for some people like myself, it never goes away completely we just get reprieves. Sometimes I might look up at a painting on my wall and it looks tilted when it's not. What fun.

It can be caused by a sinus infection, water in the ear or something more, mostly the the lingering cases can sometimes baffle your doctor and you hope you have a very knowledgeable doctor who won't be dismissive of your concerns, believe me it happens. There's also condition called Meniere's disease, sensory disorders. There's a boatload of things that could be at hand. Not so easy for doctors to always pinpoint and you can only hope you have a very knowledgeable doctor that's willing to suggest proper testing instead of giving you a script and sending you on your way.

More often than not though, the majority of cases are quite minor and often people don't have more than one or two recurrences.
Click to expand...

The Dr. ruled out Meniere's for my husband.

I've met several people who say they occasional episodes of vertigo. Cause unknown.
 
Ameriscot said:
The Dr. ruled out Meniere's for my husband.

I've met several people who say they occasional episodes of vertigo. Cause unknown.
Click to expand...

Frankly, I keep hearing it's infrequent from what I've read, but I'm beginning to think it's not so infrequent considering how many people I'm encountering over the net that seem to have this and repeat occurrences no less. So at this point I :dunno: I just know for me, it's a pain and that first time waking to the room spinning was mind blowing, I took a cab to the emergency room once I was able to move, other times while heading to work, I would be walking down the road and it would be like trying to walk through a wind tunnel.

Some interesting info:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dizziness/basics/causes/con-20023004
 
Ameriscot said:
I've got orthostatic hypotension which has gotten much worse. ..... Dr. just said it's better than high blood pressure.
Click to expand...

I guess I've got this too, but didn't know it had a name, LOL. My BP is always low, usually around 95/59 (+/-) I have problems washing my hair in the shower.
Closing eyes, extra heat on body/head, holding breath, all at the same time---causes balance problems and dizziness and I came close to blacking
out 2 or 3 times. I make sure to at least try to breathe now. Definitely better than high BP.
 
NancyNGA said:
I guess I've got this too, but didn't know it had a name, LOL. My BP is always low, usually around 95/59 (+/-) I have problems washing my hair in the shower.
Closing eyes, extra heat on body/head, holding breath, all at the same time---causes balance problems and dizziness and I came close to blacking
out 2 or 3 times. I make sure to at least try to breathe now. Definitely better than high BP.
Click to expand...

I looked it up online and found the name of it. Just means our blood pressure is not good at regulating itself. It seems to happen a lot for a couple of weeks, then I'm okay for a month or two. Then it comes back.
 
jujune, I read about the Epley maneuver back then and tried it a couple of times myself. Don't know if it helped or not
because I wasn't sure I did it right.

Then I found this cute cap. You are supposed to move your head so that this little ball suspended in oil goes through
that tube from one end to the other. If you do that, then you've magically done the maneuver. Looked like fun until
I saw the price. The price has actually gone UP since then.

http://www.amazon.com/Veritgo-and-Dizziness-Treatment-DizzyFix/dp/B005GRG6PA/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
 
I had a severe attack of vertigo in August of last year. I got up during the night to go pee and when I held the grab bar to turn around, the whole wall slid back. I held the grab bar and the other wall for a few minutes until the wall went back in place. I did my business and went back to bed. The next morning, I couldn't get off the bed. I thought I had had a stroke. I called DS and he called the rescue squad. At the hospital, they said I had had an attack of vertigo. They prescribed antivert. I took one and slept for hours. I took another one at the time I was supposed to and slept for more hours. At that time, I was looking after my sick DH and working. I knew I couldn't take the antivert and do all I had to do. I called family doc and got an appointment. He said I had rocks in my head and some of them had come loose. We have these tiny crystals in our inner ear that help us keep our balance. Sometimes some of them escape to where they are not supposed to be. That's what causes vertigo.

My doc told me to turn my head sharply to one side, look at a spot on the wall until the dizziness went away. Keep doing that until it got less and less. He said I was training my brain to ignore the loose crystals. It took it a few days but it worked. I still have to remember not to make any sudden turns, though.
 
Shirley, that's the medicine I take and it's why I don't take it as often as I need it, it knocks me out and I get nothing done at all. I was sent to have all kinds of testing done, there is some inner ear issues, but that's not the overall culprit, so, being they haven't a true diagnosis, they just rewrite my antivert script as needed. Not much else that can be done, I have too many other conditions all or none possibly contributing. For a long time, it was frustrating, sometimes still is, but, I've learned to live with it as best can be expected. I'm pretty much dizzy every day of late, but no major attacks at least not this week anyway. LOL.

Meclizine is what's on the bottle, but it's the same.
 
Shirley said:
I had a severe attack of vertigo in August of last year. I got up during the night to go pee and when I held the grab bar to turn around, the whole wall slid back. I held the grab bar and the other wall for a few minutes until the wall went back in place. I did my business and went back to bed. The next morning, I couldn't get off the bed. I thought I had had a stroke. I called DS and he called the rescue squad. At the hospital, they said I had had an attack of vertigo. They prescribed antivert. I took one and slept for hours. I took another one at the time I was supposed to and slept for more hours. At that time, I was looking after my sick DH and working. I knew I couldn't take the antivert and do all I had to do. I called family doc and got an appointment. He said I had rocks in my head and some of them had come loose. We have these tiny crystals in our inner ear that help us keep our balance. Sometimes some of them escape to where they are not supposed to be. That's what causes vertigo.

My doc told me to turn my head sharply to one side, look at a spot on the wall until the dizziness went away. Keep doing that until it got less and less. He said I was training my brain to ignore the loose crystals. It took it a few days but it worked. I still have to remember not to make any sudden turns, though.
Click to expand...

That's apparently what the Epley Maneuver does; it's supposed to get those crystals back where they're supposed to be.
 
It's kinda like the Epley Maneuver but in that you have to lie with your head hanging over the edge of a bed or something. You need someone to help you.

April, try the turn your head thing and see if it helps. It can't hurt. You have my deepest sympathy, dear.
 
Shirley said:
It's kinda like the Epley Maneuver but in that you have to lie with your head hanging over the edge of a bed or something. You need someone to help you.

April, try the turn your head thing and see if it helps. It can't hurt. You have my deepest sympathy, dear.
Click to expand...

Thank you. :) I do that head turning maneuver once and a while, here and there, sometimes it helps.
 
I don't think it was actual vertigo at all, but when I was working I became very dizzy and I could see little floating lights/images in my peripheral vision. I was high up on a machine platform, so it was a bit disturbing. I couldn't walk alone, I had to guide myself with the railing and make my way down the stairs when the feeling subsided a bit. It went away for a little while, then the same thing happened...and went away.

I'm not one to rush to the doctor for anything, so I just decided that it must be dehydration, since I was working long hours, and drinking a lot of coffee and not much else. As soon as I got home, I filled a liter bottle I had with filtered tap water and drank it down. I started drinking water every hour or so, and had a small glass during the night when I used the bathroom. I got back to normal and it never happened again.

A gal where I worked after that said her husband had vertigo, and it had to do with his inner ear fluid. Guess the doctor took care of it with meds.
 
I started having vertigo last year. When my appointment for blood work came around, I asked my GP about it. She wanted to give me a perscription, but I told her no thanks, that I would just sit down and wait it out. She too said it was an inner ear thing. It does teach one to have patiences. :tapfoot:
 
In some instances it can easily be treated with a little patience, thats not the case in all instances like with many other things. It will depend on the degree and other matters as well. Vertigo isn't the same for everyone, a knowledgeable doctor can vouch for that. Just as what Sea first said, dizziness doesn't necessarily equate to having Vertigo or related illnesses for that matter. One can just be dehydrated or have crystal disturbances in the ear, low blood pressure, low blood sugar one of a half a dozen contributing factors can be at hand for causing a person's dizziness. One size doesn't fit all, one cure happens not to always work for all. It's like when people think they have something and they can just borrow someone else's medicine though the dose prescribed may be calculated specifically to take in the other person's other health factors.
 
I've had attacks where I have actually physically fainted. Once looking down an escalator that was stopped for repairs, another time looking out a high rise window watching a cement mixer.

And once almost in the fabric store when someone held up a length of fabric with a swirling bold design on it.

It's weird and I have learned to look away when that unpleasant sensation starts.
 
Anyone can get it from getting up too quickly. For an elderly person, maybe a good idea to sit on the bed for half a minute to let the blood pressure normalize before standing.

Ear infections can also effect balance.
 
Knightofalbion said:
Anyone can get it from getting up too quickly. For an elderly person, maybe a good idea to sit on the bed for half a minute to let the blood pressure normalize before standing.

Ear infections can also effect balance.
Click to expand...

Funny that the only time it happens to me is when I get up out of my chair in the living room with my feet up on the footstool, never first thing in the morning on getting out of bed.

But I wouldn't say I was dizzy, it's more like a total lack of blood in my head and jelly legs.
 

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