Hi everyone,

my history is this ....

5 years ago starting taking really bad dizzy/vertigo attacks and went to my gp telling him that my left ear felt pressure all the time.
GP told me there was nothing wrong with my ear and I had anxeity attacks.
Then I started getting a severe buzzing in my left ear day and night and the vertigo attacks still continued and I felt off balanced constantly.
Gp told me it was just tinitus and anxiety.

5 years on , and 2 ear infections later ,a new gp told me I have retracted ear drums with fluid behind my ear drum. So she sent me to audiology , there he gave me a nystugmus test and I showed significant nystygmus, also could walk across the room with eyes closed (one foot in front of another) .
When I told him about the tinitus in my left ear , he seemed concerned..
he said I do have a inner ear disorder of some sort. Then he told me I have possible MAV , so I should cut out chocolate and cheese which I have been doing so for 5 weeks. This hasnt made any difference at all , I am still so off balance, dizzy and floaty all the time. So I dont see how it can be MAV ?
I am having some tests done this tuesday where they put pads on my head ?

Does anyone know what my problem could be or what my symptoms suggest please ?

Wow, that's a really long time to deal with this without even a proper examination. That's horrible!!

It sounds like you have someone now who takes this more seriously. I don't really know much about MAV but I think I read somewhere that only about 1/3 of people with MAV respond to diet. So I guess it's possible that if you do have MAV, you're part of the majority of people for whom dietary changes doesn't work.

But you know yourself better than anyone. I assume you've read up on MAV already, and if you don't think those symptoms match yours, then they probably don't. At least you have more tests scheduled, it looks like your Dr is willing to check out different possibilities.

I have no idea what test that could be where they put pads on your head. :confused: Sounds weird!

I THINK its to check the messages from the brain to the balance organs i think , to check the nerve, gosh im not even sure myself now ,lol.

maybe they are checking to see if i have a brain ,lol.

Yes you're symptoms sound like vestibular migraine, particulary if this has been going on for five years. Your condition might not even be triggered by cheese or chocolate - there are many, many foods that can contribute to migraine and randomly cutting two and not getting results shows nothing. As another poster said, some people aren't even affected by food. I am unclear why you would dismiss this diagnosis.

I suggest you read the chat I have been having with Ali on the board, where I have written some long replies explaining about migraine and how it presents and what to do. She is also in the uk and I have suggested a hospital that might be helpful.

best,

maybe they are checking to see if i have a brain ,lol.

LOL!

Made me laugh

Hi all, I sure don't really know near as much as most on these boards. But I have BPPV,, I went for an MRI last week, and Monday he told me it looked good. (I'm taking that as,it must be normal), that's a good thing. Anyways, he has explained a lot of other procedures and different testes they, (Drs & specialists) can do to Dx and rule things out,as they go. Well,I hardly ever can remember names, but he did tell me about somekind of Electrobe type test. Where they put lil pads in certain places or patterns on your head, in most tests,I guess they have you do certain little tasks,(maybe like peg-board games?)and some are for hearing detection,and some are for motion detection or sensetivity.But those pads relay all kinds of different information to different instruments that inturn record how your brain is responding to all these stimulants. Anyways, like I said,I don't remember what he called that test,, or even know if that's what your gp is talking about or sending you in for. But if it is what he explained,, you can rest a ease knowing,, You do have a brain. lol. And he says this is a totally painless procedure.
Anyrate, I hope the dizziness goes away well before then, and hope you feel better real soon. :)

thanks guys, it will be interesting to see what tests they do for me and its this tuesday !!! I didnt think buzzing in the ear was typical with MAV ?

He told me I have sound selective tinnitus (certain noises trigger it).

i know on my last test he was telling me to stare this way and turn your head to the right and I was so confused I turned my head to the left ,lol.....so he could be looking for a brain ,lol.

take care people and I hope your not suffering too bad at the moment xxx

Oooh, those electrode pads around the eyes or something? I think that's kinda like the infrared goggle test to measure nystagmus. But I'm really not sure...

My PT gets left and right confused all the time... maybe she should see your Dr and get checked for a brain? :D

I read a little bit about MAV, and I think you can have all kinds of symptoms with it, including tinnitus.

Hello,, Ya know,,, I think it's great how we can feel so crappy or even wosre, and come on here to look for some kind of relief. For me, my relief has come mainly from being able to relate with a lot of you - feeling a lot of the same things I been lost about and feeling. A Big Thank You! To ALL for that !
But also,,, even with the mysery and anxiety,, coming here and reading,, and still being able to find some hint of humor. Iether in what someone else says, and lately especially in what freely flows from what I say,, cause that truely helps me feel more and more like I'm getting over,,or atleast 'am getting a whole lot closer to over this thing.. I sure hope it works the same for all of you too! It's just real nice to be able to laugh or even just giggle at things!!


" So he could be looking for a brain, lol "

That just get's me I'm smiling and LMAO !!!!!
Good Luck to you mnsk !

msnk - I would start on a very strict migraine diet (not just chocolate and cheese) and eliminate ALL of those items for at least 4 months and see if your symptoms subside. Start there.

Yes, buzzing in ears, ear fullness, ALL of that junk can be cause by migraines - a swelling of blood vessels in your vestibular area. In order to make them go bye bye, try reducing the dietary triggers FIRST, and if that doesn't work you may need meds. I have MAV and I am finding that I can control the majority of dizziness and yuckiness with diet. I still need to do more (i.e. regular cardiovascular exercises) but I am starting with diet.

I still need to do more (i.e. regular cardiovascular exercises) but I am starting with diet.

Oh yes, cardiovascular exercise... man, I need to get back to the gym!


Good luck with your tests, mnsk! Hope they can figure out what's going on.

Hi
i just wanted to say i have been going through the same stuff for almost 6 yrs...dizzy, ear fullness, nausea..I use to think it was Menieres, but my new ENT thinks it is BPPV. I am having a hearing & balance test this month..not sure what will hapen after that but you just learn 2 live with it. ;-(
its wierd b/c if my dizzys are caused by my "position"..then why am i dizzy when im not even moving?? I cant even seem to "set off" an attack, they are so sporatic, no warning at all.
good luck anyway~

Pumama, Humour is a relief when you suffering with anxiety and dizzys,
sometimes its good to laugh at yourself , I walked down the road with my friend and kept bumping into her , I somehow managed to find the funny side of it. And when i walked into a shop recently the lady asked me "whats wrong with your leg?" I said "nothing" and she said but you look like your walking funny so I said "maybe its because I have lost my balance due to my inner ear disorder" and she replied ahhhhhhh!!! "thats what it is! I thought you had been drinking:( " I replied if I had been drinking Id be walking better than this :angel:


Sonic, 6 years is a long time to be suffering without a diagnosis , . but I know what you mean about getting dizzy with out head movement.
I only have to move my eyes slightly to trigger it off , I been told I have visual vertigo.
Ive never considered myself to suffer with any type of Migrane but Last night at 2am I had a Migrane attack !!! it was horrible , everytime I turned over in bed my the left hand side of my head pounded and I felt sick with it also I hurt over my left eye, its been 5 hours now and I still feel it but it calming down, So maybe I do have MAV :confused:
Its strange becasue the past 2 days I have had only a little bit of dizzyiness, its like I got for 3 weeks suffering then I get a couple of days relief , then Im off again !

Yesturday my mother in law phoned me , she has been getting blindness in her left eye that comes for 30 mins or so, they at first it was mini strokes in the back of her eye but now they say she has migranes without headache,,
so these Migranes do appear to effect everyone differently.

Sipa, thanks for your support, I will let you all know how the tests go, I will need to wear plently of deoderant cos I will be terrified,lol.

Missy, I will investigate more possible foods that I can avoid, as I had a Migrane attack last night I know eactly what I ate for my dinner last night at 9pm , I ate the following .........

salmon, potatoes, brocklie, ketchup,brown sauce.

followed by a Healthy bar that has too many ingredients to mention. but just checked it and it says 6% of white chocolate chips yet the front of the packet says it has a yogurt coating !
This is gonna be difficult.

Another thing is this , last year I had allergy screening done properly,
my blood test showed I have no allergys except a small reaction to yeast, is this something different ???

Almost ALL of this dizziness.. the 'feeling like i'm swaying', 'feeling like i'm on a boat', 'feel like i'm moving when i'm still' is caused by migraine. This has become apparent in the last 10 years. This 'dizziness' is 5 times as common in women as it is in men.

VN, Labs, Menieres are RARE conditions. Allergies, TMJ, ear infections, sinus infections have never been shown to be a cause of vertigo.

Migraine is present in at least 20% of women. There is no surprise why these forums always have a large female preponderance - and the link between hormones (progesterone) and migraine (those who suffer vertigo due to migraine in particular) has already been shown (Baloh and his team released a paper earlier this year regarding a study which showed a particular variant of the progesterone receptor to be associated with migraine-associated vertigo with an extremely low probability (P value of 0.007) that this association is by chance. You can find the abstract of this paper on pubmed or by doing a web search.

So many people look for the rare and unusual answers rather than the common.

Even though most vertigo and dizziness is due to migraine, its a shame that they didn't give it a unique name, or people would me much more receptive to it. They associate migraine with a periodic headache.. which is an old understanding of migraine that is completely false. Migraine is a lifelong neurological condition, and if it is treated is very likely to resolve the dizziness completely. This has nothing to do with compensation. Compensation and decompensation are very real occurences, but they are not what most people describe. In 5 years time they will still be talking about a 'blip'.. which is not a blip.. but a time when migraine activity has peaked and is causing severe symptoms.

interesting reply admw , I think I should change the tiltle of this post because now I am convinced that I do suffer migraines and although most of them are silent migrines they are MIGRAINES.
I believe hormones can make a huge contribution , cos like you say its mainly women, but the title does be little an acute illness, infact my Migraine was so severe last night I thought i needed the paramedics, I couldnt move my body cos of the thumping in my head and I still feel crap now.
I phoned the audiology department to tell them about this attack, they told me to stop doing my VRTS cos my left eye had been hurting alot doing them, its obviously triggering symptoms for me.
Roll on Tuesday when i get my tests done, they told me they are checking the way my eyes move ( I have had nystugmus in my previous tests but this one is more comprehensive !
The most difficult thing for me to understand is WHY do I have near constant imbalance 24/7 ?

Big hugs to everyone suffering xxx

Almost ALL of this dizziness.. the 'feeling like i'm swaying', 'feeling like i'm on a boat', 'feel like i'm moving when i'm still' is caused by migraine. This has become apparent in the last 10 years. This 'dizziness' is 5 times as common in women as it is in men.

VN, Labs, Menieres are RARE conditions. Allergies, TMJ, ear infections, sinus infections have never been shown to be a cause of vertigo.

Migraine is present in at least 20% of women. There is no surprise why these forums always have a large female preponderance - and the link between hormones (progesterone) and migraine (those who suffer vertigo due to migraine in particular) has already been shown (Baloh and his team released a paper earlier this year regarding a study which showed a particular variant of the progesterone receptor to be associated with migraine-associated vertigo with an extremely low probability (P value of 0.007) that this association is by chance. You can find the abstract of this paper on pubmed or by doing a web search.

So many people look for the rare and unusual answers rather than the common.

Even though most vertigo and dizziness is due to migraine, its a shame that they didn't give it a unique name, or people would me much more receptive to it. They associate migraine with a periodic headache.. which is an old understanding of migraine that is completely false. Migraine is a lifelong neurological condition, and if it is treated is very likely to resolve the dizziness completely. This has nothing to do with compensation. Compensation and decompensation are very real occurences, but they are not what most people describe. In 5 years time they will still be talking about a 'blip'.. which is not a blip.. but a time when migraine activity has peaked and is causing severe symptoms.

Adam

Good Post Adam---Scott would prob agree with all of that---think he is on travel...good research!!

Another couple of words about MAV, mnsk - the food triggers are hard to pinpoint because it can actually take up to 48 hours to trigger a migraine. So it may not be the foods that you JUST ingested. It could have been something(s) that you had a day or two ago. That is why they say to eliminate ALL triggers, and then slowly reintroduce one by one so you know for sure what is your trigger(s).

Also, it is suspected that dizziness in migraine folks can actually be a sort of "aura". Some people SEE very odd things before they have the migraine itself (called an aura). I never got visual auras (excluding some spots and floaters). But a different type of aura can certainly be the dizziness. So, for example, a couple of days ago I had a dizzy spell when I laid down, and pretty much for the whole next day (had to call in sick to work). The days that followed, the dizziness subsided but I had a constant dull headache. So, sometimes its helpful to know this so you can kind of prepare.

Lots of info on migraines online. Adam had a great post and he is certainly correct about the correlation between women and migraines and HORMONES. I have been talking a bit with sipa about this on another post. I am convinced that many women on this board are more likely to have migraines rather than Labs and such.

Oh, and lastly, I went to see Baloh recently and he said to NOT do vestibular rehab if you suspect migraine because this can actually make it worse (which is sounds like it did for you). I know alot of people do benefit from vestibular rehab, but it's not for everyone.