Advice on Vertigo

StarliteTara

First off, I know I should consult a doctor and I have an appointment scheduled already for a checkup. With that being said, I'd love to hear what you have to say and if you have an advice. I have never had Vertigo in my entire life until March of this year. (I googled vertigo and self diagnosed myself with it but honestly don't know much about it). In March of this year, we spent an entire week touring colleges with my oldest son. One of the places we toured was UT Chattanooga. I have allergies and almost always have a bit of drainage on my ears. So when we were driving through Chattanooga and such, my ears kept popping. Pretty typical for me as I chewed my gum hoping it would stop and it did. Well the next morning I rolled out of bed to turn off the alarm and stumbled a bit. I tripped over the suitcases walking to the bathroom to take a shower and the whole room spun in the shower. I was nauseous the entire day. Never got sick but if I turned my head too quickly everything would spin. This continued for a couple days getting a little better each day but I never fully shook it. I'd be okay most days but every night when I lay my head down on the pillow and look at the ceiling, it spins a bit.
Fast-forward to May, we went to Universal and Islands of Adventure for vacation. I took a motion sickness medicine with me although I've never needed it, I figured with this whole vertigo thing that I didn't want to chance it. I didn't have any issues the whole week until we got back home. Of course on the plane ride back, my ears popped like crazy again. Again, pretty common for me but the next morning I woke up again with the same issues. So...the little research I've done says vertigo is an inner ear thing. Am I crazy thinking the whole ear popping thing is related? Or is it something else all together? I'm not sure what all you'd need to know to give your opinion on the matter but I don't take any medications. I mean I'll pop a Benadryl after I mow the yard because I know I'm going to be miserable but I don't take any daily medication. I drink almost 80 ounces of water a day so I'm staying hydrated. Thoughts? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Phirrgus

You have the same symptoms my wife has been dealing with for years and could be treatable by anything from antibiotics to surgery. Your best bet is that appointment with the ENT specialist. Hopefully it's something that can be dealt with easily. Best of luck with it.

spiriteagle99

It could be a sinus issue. An ENT should be able to help.

I developed Benign Paroxymal Positional Vertigo this spring, which also makes the world spin. A PT tried to fix it, but was only half successful. Changing positions, especially moving from lying down to standing or vice versa, starts the world spinning. Now that I know what it is, I don't worry about it. Next time I see my GP, I'll ask for a quick treatment.

mom23mangos

It's caused by crystals in your ear getting out of place. You can try doing the Eply maneuver on yourself or your dr can do it for you. First you have to figure out which ear is the problem.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/home-epley-maneuver

LyndaBSS

mom23mangos wrote: »

It's caused by crystals in your ear getting out of place. You can try doing the Eply maneuver on yourself or your dr can do it for you. First you have to figure out which ear is the problem.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/home-epley-maneuver

Exactly what I was going to recommend. The maneuver typically works for me. If it doesn't work the first time, try again. You won't damage anything by doing it more.

WickedPineapple

I've had vertigo on and off since I was a teenage. It's gotten worse as I've gotten older. My mom is also prone to it.
We've both been to multiple doctors. She's also been to an ear, nose, and throat doctor who's been doing the epley maneuver on her whenever she gets it. It's hard to know whether that helps or not because eventually vertigo will just go away on it's own. They all pretty much say the same thing, they don't know exactly what causes it so there's no real way to prevent it.

We do think it's inner ear related. I've discovered I can get it from allergies, viruses, and weather changes (temperature, pressure, and humidity). So I take allergy meds year around, try not to get sick, and stay indoors during big weather changes.

I did have a good experience with a nasal steroid. I had pretty bad vertigo for several weeks (it was affecting my walking) before going to the doctor. Since it was May and pollen was particularly high that year, he thought it could be allergy related and gave me a nasal steroid. The vertigo was gone in a couple days. However, when I tried the nasal steroid the next time I got vertigo (February), it did nothing at all. So if you think it's allergy related, that might be a good thing to try.

StarliteTara

mom23mangos wrote: »

It's caused by crystals in your ear getting out of place. You can try doing the Eply maneuver on yourself or your dr can do it for you. First you have to figure out which ear is the problem.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/home-epley-maneuver

LyndaBSS wrote: »

mom23mangos wrote: »

It's caused by crystals in your ear getting out of place. You can try doing the Eply maneuver on yourself or your dr can do it for you. First you have to figure out which ear is the problem.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/home-epley-maneuver

Exactly what I was going to recommend. The maneuver typically works for me. If it doesn't work the first time, try again. You won't damage anything by doing it more.

Thank you both! I'll definitely check it out!

runlaugheatpie

I had BPPV and was "repositioned" by a physiotherapist. no medicine needed. (I'm not in the US by the way, in case that matters)

StarliteTara

WickedPineapple wrote: »

I've had vertigo on and off since I was a teenage. It's gotten worse as I've gotten older. My mom is also prone to it.
We've both been to multiple doctors. She's also been to an ear, nose, and throat doctor who's been doing the epley maneuver on her whenever she gets it. It's hard to know whether that helps or not because eventually vertigo will just go away on it's own. They all pretty much say the same thing, they don't know exactly what causes it so there's no real way to prevent it.

We do think it's inner ear related. I've discovered I can get it from allergies, viruses, and weather changes (temperature, pressure, and humidity). So I take allergy meds year around, try not to get sick, and stay indoors during big weather changes.

I did have a good experience with a nasal steroid. I had pretty bad vertigo for several weeks (it was affecting my walking) before going to the doctor. Since it was May and pollen was particularly high that year, he thought it could be allergy related and gave me a nasal steroid. The vertigo was gone in a couple days. However, when I tried the nasal steroid the next time I got vertigo (February), it did nothing at all. So if you think it's allergy related, that might be a good thing to try.

OH thanks! Honestly I really had no idea what it might be. I thought it had more to do with my ears popping. lol! I've had allergies my entire life so I guess I figured I would have been dealing with this my whole life instead of just this year. I would say I enjoy having a little buzz but I don't enjoy it when I feel like I have one all the time. lol!

StarliteTara

Phirrgus wrote: »

You have the same symptoms my wife has been dealing with for years and could be treatable by anything from antibiotics to surgery. Your best bet is that appointment with the ENT specialist. Hopefully it's something that can be dealt with easily. Best of luck with it.

Thanks! It's one of those appointments that when you set it, it takes over a month to get in....so I thought I'd ask the question here and see what everyone says.

StarliteTara

spiriteagle99 wrote: »

It could be a sinus issue. An ENT should be able to help.

I developed Benign Paroxymal Positional Vertigo this spring, which also makes the world spin. A PT tried to fix it, but was only half successful. Changing positions, especially moving from lying down to standing or vice versa, starts the world spinning. Now that I know what it is, I don't worry about it. Next time I see my GP, I'll ask for a quick treatment.

Thanks for your comment. My appointment is a month away so I thought I might try a few things in the meantime to see if anything helps. It's just crazy that I've never had issues before this year.

StarliteTara

runlaugheatpie wrote: »

I had BPPV and was "repositioned" by a physiotherapist. no medicine needed. (I'm not in the US by the way, in case that matters)

I'll have to google it and see if that's something offered around here. Thanks!

grimendale

Agree, check with an ENT. There are a lot of things that could be causing it, ranging from fluid retention all the way up to a problem with the cochlea. A specialist should be able to narrow it down and maybe prescribe something to help. My wife has pulsital tinnitus, which affects her inner ear pressure and can give her horrible vertigo. It took a couple of ENTs before she found one that was able to figure out what it was and get her on something that actually helped.

StarliteTara

grimendale wrote: »

Agree, check with an ENT. There are a lot of things that could be causing it, ranging from fluid retention all the way up to a problem with the cochlea. A specialist should be able to narrow it down and maybe prescribe something to help. My wife has pulsital tinnitus, which affects her inner ear pressure and can give her horrible vertigo. It took a couple of ENTs before she found one that was able to figure out what it was and get her on something that actually helped.

Thank you! We will wait and see what the doctor says. In the meantime I'll check out the site the ladies shared above. :-)

LyndaBSS

Go try the maneuver now, if you're able. It's not going to hurt anything. 😉