dollydd
10-12-2007, 10:37 AM
Does anyone have an opinion about whether it is possible to overdo VRT? I had been increasing the difficulty and duration of exercises but have been feeling more unsteady and one-sided and wondering if this is the reason. I am now at month 21 of this nightmare and had started to feel that I was making progress but struggling a bit in the last month after what I think was a mild decomp episode. What do other people do after decompensation – stop VRTs for a while, make them easier and build up again, make them more difficult?
Haven’t posted here before but have learnt a lot by browsing, thanks to everyone. Mine was a very sudden onset violent vertigo, room spinning and I was staggering around, unable to get up again once I was on the floor, and prolonged vomiting. Up to that point the day had been completely normal, I had done a 30 minute run, some stretching exercises and started work. I was taken to hospital and once the nausea was controlled and they were satisfied I hadn’t had a stroke or heart attack they let me go. None of the doctors seemed to know what was going on but a nurse lent over me and said I shouldn’t worry, it could just be an ear infection. Got up the next day feeling absolutely exhausted but just got on with things and went off to a business meeting in London.
I read in one thread that a single episode of sudden onset vertigo and vomiting usually means it is VN and I am wondering if I have had just one and the rest have been decompensation. I have had 3 subsequent episodes which put me in A&E because they happened outside and when you fall over on the pavement people get worried but they were not as violent as the first one, although I felt sick I didn’t actually vomit, no real vertigo, and this was the first time I heard the word ‘decompensation’ mentioned. The first 2 of these 3 episodes happened at two week intervals after the first one and then there was a gap of about 9 months until January this year, although in those 9 months I had some dizziness everyday, just for a few seconds, nothing like the original vertigo. A few times I thought I was going into major meltdown but managed to get over it. And within a couple of days of my 3rd attack I got acute sinusitis which left me with terrible congestion, stuffiness, excess mucous, all of which are still around and I think contribute a lot to my daily dizzies. GP has tried everything, corticosteroid sprays, long-term antibiotics and nothing works, so now back to ENT. Has anyone else had this experience or think there is a link between VN and sinusitis?
It seems to me that most doctors don’t really know what to do with us. Between January and October 2006 nobody even tried to diagnose me then I saw someone who suggested Labs. She reckoned that because I took so much exercise I was VRTing my own way to recovery but after my January 2007 attack I did get sent to a therapist for VRT. The improvement was immediate and continuing but it seems recovery from this mess is not in a straight line, more 3 steps forward and 2 back. My GP has never seen this condition before and didn’t even know what VRT was. My ENT guy is very sympathetic but likes ‘umbrella’ terms so he calls it Menieres syndrome, including Labs & VN in that. He agrees I don’t have Menieres disease because the audio tests results have been so good; I had an ECOG which showed raised pressure in one ear but apparently that proves nothing, it could just have been like that on that day.
On the upside, I haven’t suffered any hearing loss, no tinnitus and taking betahistine 3 times a day has completely got rid of the ear fullness feeling. I am able to exercise most days and have had some near normal days – last week I had 5 ‘no dizzy’ days, the longest stretch in 21 months! But this week I feel like I am back on that boat that I was sure I had got off and my legs are all over the place. So this morning I went much slower at the VRT and fewer reps. I am determined to get better but after nearly 2 years it does feel like such a long haul I sometimes feel I can’t do it. I think next week I am going to ask for a referral to a neuro-otologist as I see from some posts that this is the speciality that really understands how to handle us. Has anyone had a really good experience with this?
Haven’t posted here before but have learnt a lot by browsing, thanks to everyone. Mine was a very sudden onset violent vertigo, room spinning and I was staggering around, unable to get up again once I was on the floor, and prolonged vomiting. Up to that point the day had been completely normal, I had done a 30 minute run, some stretching exercises and started work. I was taken to hospital and once the nausea was controlled and they were satisfied I hadn’t had a stroke or heart attack they let me go. None of the doctors seemed to know what was going on but a nurse lent over me and said I shouldn’t worry, it could just be an ear infection. Got up the next day feeling absolutely exhausted but just got on with things and went off to a business meeting in London.
I read in one thread that a single episode of sudden onset vertigo and vomiting usually means it is VN and I am wondering if I have had just one and the rest have been decompensation. I have had 3 subsequent episodes which put me in A&E because they happened outside and when you fall over on the pavement people get worried but they were not as violent as the first one, although I felt sick I didn’t actually vomit, no real vertigo, and this was the first time I heard the word ‘decompensation’ mentioned. The first 2 of these 3 episodes happened at two week intervals after the first one and then there was a gap of about 9 months until January this year, although in those 9 months I had some dizziness everyday, just for a few seconds, nothing like the original vertigo. A few times I thought I was going into major meltdown but managed to get over it. And within a couple of days of my 3rd attack I got acute sinusitis which left me with terrible congestion, stuffiness, excess mucous, all of which are still around and I think contribute a lot to my daily dizzies. GP has tried everything, corticosteroid sprays, long-term antibiotics and nothing works, so now back to ENT. Has anyone else had this experience or think there is a link between VN and sinusitis?
It seems to me that most doctors don’t really know what to do with us. Between January and October 2006 nobody even tried to diagnose me then I saw someone who suggested Labs. She reckoned that because I took so much exercise I was VRTing my own way to recovery but after my January 2007 attack I did get sent to a therapist for VRT. The improvement was immediate and continuing but it seems recovery from this mess is not in a straight line, more 3 steps forward and 2 back. My GP has never seen this condition before and didn’t even know what VRT was. My ENT guy is very sympathetic but likes ‘umbrella’ terms so he calls it Menieres syndrome, including Labs & VN in that. He agrees I don’t have Menieres disease because the audio tests results have been so good; I had an ECOG which showed raised pressure in one ear but apparently that proves nothing, it could just have been like that on that day.
On the upside, I haven’t suffered any hearing loss, no tinnitus and taking betahistine 3 times a day has completely got rid of the ear fullness feeling. I am able to exercise most days and have had some near normal days – last week I had 5 ‘no dizzy’ days, the longest stretch in 21 months! But this week I feel like I am back on that boat that I was sure I had got off and my legs are all over the place. So this morning I went much slower at the VRT and fewer reps. I am determined to get better but after nearly 2 years it does feel like such a long haul I sometimes feel I can’t do it. I think next week I am going to ask for a referral to a neuro-otologist as I see from some posts that this is the speciality that really understands how to handle us. Has anyone had a really good experience with this?