Hello dizzy friends! I haven't posted here in a while. I started researching hormone imbalance a while back when the "inner ear" thing didn't clear up and sure enough, I have started a low dose of estradiol gel several weeks ago and have felt perfectly normal for the first time since this crud started a year ago. It is so weird, yet SO welcome to feel my old self again. The dizziness, anxiety, headaches, et al are completely gone. And believe me, if you read my past posts they explain exactly what lots of you are experiencing on a daily basis - dizziness, off balance, heavy head, pulling towards the ground, zapping/tingling, migraine headaches, nausea, fatigue, unrelenting exhaustion, etc...

I am elated, although quite disappointed that NONE of the doctors that I have seen throughout this ordeal ever even mentioned "hormones", "perimenopause", "menopause", "low estrogen" or anything of the like - maybe because of my age and being too young for menopause, who knows. :mad: So if you haven't already done so, please get your hormone levels checked out. You might think you are too young, but you're not! In my case, my estradiol level was very low at 21 (should be closer to 80 at the lowest). This can cause numerous neurological problems, which it did. So when I started taking the supplemental bioidential stuff at a very low dose, it is slowly bringing my levels up and making me feel alive again. And yes, men have hormones too - we ALL do. Hormones sustain life and if they are out of whack, so is your life/health!

So just a word to the wise (especially those women here who keep getting recurring episodes of this junk), get your hormone levels checked and do alot of reading up. Looking back I wish I had done this sooner!

Wonderful news Missy. I know you mentioned this before. It is wonderful you got to the bottom of your situation. I am curious, what kind of doctor did you see that sat down and listened to your request to have your hormone levels tested? Me and a friend of mine who gets horrible migraines were discussing this but were clueless on what kind of doctor understands hormonal stuff.

Good job and thanks for posting; it is an interesting thread and it makes me wonder about the women that come on here after having a baby. I know after my son was born I had post partum thyroiditis that ended up becoming permenant hypothyroidism. I had it for a few years and was controlled with meds prior to my virus and allergic reaction to an anti biotic that bestowed this crap on me.

Best,
Gloria

i found out i am lacking progesterone and 2 months ago i started using a progesterone cream and my last period I had no headache like i usually do,
first time in years !!!

so yes its possible hormones play a role .
do you use a cream ?

Aw yes, the question of what doctor to see. It's a good question indeed. Basically you will want to see your OB/GYN doctor. ANd it would be preferable if it is a woman, who is in her 40's or 50's who understands menopause and hormone imbalance. Be forewarned - most doctors do not specialize in hormones and may object to taking any "hormone therapy" because of the breast cancer scare a while back. But the type of estradiol you want to use is a bioidentical (made from plants and identical to the same estradiol our ovaries make) estradiol gel in a low dose that you apply to your skin in the morning and evening. There are different types out there but the two lowest dose forms right now are "Divigel" and "Elestrin". No side effects and after about 10 days I felt back to normal!

I started on the natural progesterone cream that you can get over the counter and it may have helped slightly, but nothing like the estradiol gel (which I guess is why it is only available in prescription). The good stuff is always harder to get it seems!

Hi Missy! I've been wondering what happened with you!

I'm going to have to ask my doctor about this. I know she tested hormones... but not sure she tested for that? I'm guessing it's not estrogen that's tested? She seemed receptive to the idea of hormones being an issue, so that's a plus. She told me about the progest cream, which I tried last month but it seemed to have no effect.

Missy! that is wonderful news....so funny you posted...i was going to put a thread up to search for you haha! i don't know if that will pertain to me? i am not pre-menopausal or anything, i'm 26...however, i have been on birth control pills for about 9 years now...so i wonder if that has anything to do with it. they have me on an MAV preventative at this time and am into about 4 1/2 weeks with no improvement on my constant visual issues. if i remember correctly, we kinda had similar symptoms.

anyhow...so glad you are doing well!!!!keep in touch:)

Hey Alexi,

There was a research paper looking at BC and vestibular disorders... it might have been the one Adam talked about, or it may have been a different one. I *think* it said that quite a few of the women who got off the BC got better.

Grrr, I wish I could remember. Maybe Adam knows what I'm talking about...

Hi Alexi and Sipa! Yes, Alexi, the BC pill can and DOES definitely impact your hormone balance. 9 years is bound to mess with the levels for sure. Not saying you have to get off of them or anything, but you may want to look into different options or try going off of them for a while. Warning though - your body is now used to having that extra estradiol that is obtained from the BC pill so you may get worse before you get better! But bottom line is that yes, even at 26 you can have whacky hormones. It doesn't necessarily sound like my situation where I was super low on estradiol which was causing the hellish symptoms - but there is also an estrogen dominance issue where you have TOO MUCH estrogen that can cause weirdness - which could be your problem because you are taking the BC pill.

I totally feel for you, Sipa. The docs tried to get me on migraine meds and I never went that route because I thought it was just too weird that they "all of a sudden" started happening without any previous migraine history. And I am glad I didn't take that route. It is true that I was having miserable migraines, but the migraines were caused by the low estradiol. Now that I am bringing that particular hormone up, I haven't had a migraine since and it is totally weird but awesome! Ask your OB/GYN for estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, thyroid blood tests. You may be on the low end of the range and need a little boost.

Ask your OB/GYN for estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, thyroid blood tests.

Estradiol is estrogen?

I don't have the results with me but from what I remember, she checked:

estrogen - fine
progesterone - fine (did tell me to use the progest cream if I started feeling weird, maybe my levels fluctuate but were fine that month)
testosterone - slightly too low

thyroid: I've had Hashimoto's for about 20 years and on synthroid for that. Gets checked regularly.

So the slightly low testosterone..? I tried looking that up but you can imagine what kind of results I got when I put "testosterone" into the search box. LOL!!

Hi Missy. It is so nice to hear from someone who has found relief! Could this be my problem at 31? I seem to have recalled asking my gyno about hormone imbalance and she didn't seem to think much of it, and I am always mentioning my dizziness and she hasn't said anything. What were your symtoms? I have constant heavy head, foggy head and just feeling like my head is buzzing. I never feel like my head is clear. I would love to fix it! :D

For me, when I started mentioning my "feeling off" a couple of years ago to my GYN, she said, "no, no, no - too young (I was 38 then). But something inside told me that it was hormone related. That is the problem with the regular OB/GYN docs - they are not very knowledgeable on hormone stuff really.

For me, my estradiol was at 21, and after reading and doing a lot of research, it should be somewhere at 80 at it's LOWEST. So if you look at your test and your estradiol is under 80, it could be causing your neurological problems like it was me.

My symptoms were like everyone else's on this board. Foggy head, weirdness, light/sound/smell sensitivity, nausea, buzzing/zapping, migraines, anxiety, insomnia, heavy head, stiff neck, etc... It is just unbelievable to me that the low level of estradiol could cause all of these things. But if you think about it, one of the MAIN causes of migraines in women is hormone fluctuation. Women are 3 times more likely to get migraines over men. So if the hormones cause migraines, they obviously cause other neurological problems. It's rather simple when you look at it that way.

Age doesn't really matter. You could surely be in permenopause at 31, which is basically the timeframe before you reach menopause, when your hormones are fluctuating. Or even have fluctuating hormones from childbirth, BC pills, etc.

I'm trying to understand this. You didn't take migraine meds because you don't believe it is migraine causing the dizziness - but you were having miserable migraine headaches and have now stopped along with the dizziness?

You may have resolved migraine with the approach you have taken by altering a major trigger (hormones). Migraine is still the cause of dizziness and other neurological symptoms, but you may have found and resolved the triggering factor, rather than cured a whole host of symptoms independently. It is rare for this to work, but it does sometimes - most notably with the birth control pill.

I just want to clear up any confusion that there is a direct link between hormones and dizziness - there is none known - but there is a direct link between hormones and migraine (very well established), and migraine is the cause of the neurological symptoms like dizziness etc.

I hope this persists for you.. it's always great to have another weapon against migraine... especially in those who are most affected (women, by at least a 5 to 1 ratio).

EDIT: Just noticed you have changed your approach in your latest post - this sounds more like it. Resolve migraine, you resolve the neurological symptoms. You are correct in that age is irrelevant, but the most common migraineur with dizziness is a woman in her 20's or 30's. But can occur at any age.

The docs tried to get me on migraine meds and I never went that route because I thought it was just too weird that they "all of a sudden" started happening without any previous migraine history. And I am glad I didn't take that route. It is true that I was having miserable migraines, but the migraines were caused by the low estradiol. Now that I am bringing that particular hormone up, I haven't had a migraine since and it is totally weird but awesome! Ask your OB/GYN for estradiol, testosterone, progesterone, thyroid blood tests. You may be on the low end of the range and need a little boost.

Adam - I'd like to bring this up to my neuro on the 3rd. I haven't really been dizzy but not perfect either. Do you know of research I could read up on relating migraines with BPPV (and possibly stress as the triggering factor) in addition to the one mentioned earlier?

scott is probably better grounded to comment on the comorbidity of bppv and migraine. it seems logical - migraine can cause vestibular damage just like VN does, which may then predispose the person to BPPV (noone knows yet for sure why those with vestibular disorders and migraine are more prone to BPPV).

my understanding of this area is that what people call BPPV is often not BPPV. BPPV is a particular disorder caused by loose otoconia in the semicircular canals. it causes positional vertigo (i.e. vertigo upon changing position). many other disorders cause positional vertigo - migraine being one of them. this doesn't mean the patient has BPPV.

>>>Do you know of research I could read up on relating migraines with BPPV (and possibly stress as the triggering factor) in addition to the one mentioned earlier?

Sipa -

The papers you can take with you or read yourself are:

1) Regarding the high association between migraine and BPPV -

Epidemiology of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: a population based study
M von Brevern, A Radtke, F Lezius, M Feldmann, T Ziese, T Lempert, H Neuhauser
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2007;78:710–715

Migraine and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: An outcome study of 476 patients
A Uneri, MD
Ear, Nose and Throat Journal, 2004;83:814-15

2) BPPV and stress

Life events and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: A case-controlled study
D Monzani et al
Acta Oto-Lar yngologica, 2006; 126: 987 - 992

Best ... Scott :cool:

Thanks, Adam and Scott.

my understanding of this area is that what people call BPPV is often not BPPV. BPPV is a particular disorder caused by loose otoconia in the semicircular canals. it causes positional vertigo (i.e. vertigo upon changing position). many other disorders cause positional vertigo - migraine being one of them. this doesn't mean the patient has BPPV.

Hrm, well, if that is truly the case, then this would complicate things. I do respond to the Epley, which (IMO) is suggestive of 'real' BPPV.

I'll read up on it.

Scott - Thanks. 2 of em are subscriber only.. grrr. I'll have to see if I can set it up to go through my old school... or maybe library?

Agree.. if you respond to the Epley very well then you almost certainly have BPPV.

Thanks, Adam and Scott.



Hrm, well, if that is truly the case, then this would complicate things. I do respond to the Epley, which (IMO) is suggestive of 'real' BPPV.

I'll read up on it.

Scott - Thanks. 2 of em are subscriber only.. grrr. I'll have to see if I can set it up to go through my old school... or maybe library?

Yes Adam, true, true. My main problem was migraine, which in turn was causing most of my misery definitely. The low estradiol was also causing some other things aside from migraine too, like the hot/cold flashes (which were actually a walk in the park compared to the other symptoms), and insomnia. But you are right, the migraines I'm sure were the cause of the horrid "list", and since those are under control due to the estradiol supplementation, I am back to normal. I guess the main culprit of waking my "migraine monster" was that low estrogen.

I have been experimenting since I am back to normal, and have been eating scary migraine trigger foods without setting one off. For months and months I was on that totally strict migraine diet from hell and in the past few weeks I have been timidly eating normally scary foods without any problems. I haven't tried alcohol yet - a little too chicken yet - but I may have a beer tonight and see what happens. However, I have had chocolate, tea (with caffeine), MSG foods, olives, onions, cheese, etc. which have had no effect on me (thank God).

I don't exactly know how uncommon it is for women to experience such drastic problems (migraines) with low estrogen, but from all of the boards I have been to (including others outside of this site), there are TONS of women who are experiencing the weirdness we experience in here and it doesn't seem to be well known (yet) that their problems may be hormone related. I have a feeling in the next several years it will become better understood, just like Baloh was saying about migraines becoming more of a issue in the medical field. When a patient goes to an OB/GYN doc or neurologist with the problems I was explaining, someone (IMO) should have emphasized the seriousness of menopause/hormone fluctuations causing migraines.

Oh, and another thing - to add to that last paragraph. For me (maybe not for everyone), it seems better to be taking a low dose of estradiol gel (a dab of gel on my thigh twice a day) that has no side effects whatsoever, but that certainly made all of my other symptoms disappear, rather than go the migraine preventative medication route. I mean, why not fix the cause of the migraines rather than live with the migraines and take medication that can cause a whole host of problems of their own? Believe me, if the migraine diet worked for me, I would have lived with it rather than take migraine medication. But food was not my main trigger - the hormones were (or lack of). Now, I'm not saying that is the same for everone. Some people have to take the medication - plain and simple. So it's definitely on an individual basis. But I think women especially who have just recently started getting migraines (especially if they are in their 30's and 40's) ought to look into the hormone factor.

By the way, here are the 35 symptoms of perimenopause/menopause/hormone imbalance. As you can see, there are several on this list that are being reported by women on this board (bolded):

Hot flashes, flushes, night sweats and/or cold flashes, clammy feeling
Irregular heart beat
Irritability
Mood swings, sudden tears
Trouble sleeping through the night
Irregular periods; shorter, lighter periods; heavier periods, flooding; phantom periods, shorter cycles, longer cycles
Loss of libido
Dry vagina
Crashing fatigue
Anxiety, feeling ill at ease
Feelings of dread, apprehension, doom
Difficulty concentrating, disorientation, mental confusion
Disturbing memory lapses
Incontinence, especially upon sneezing, laughing; urge incontinence
Itchy, crawly skin
Aching, sore joints, muscles and tendons
Increased tension in muscles
Breast tenderness
Headache change: increase or decrease
Gastrointestinal distress, indigestion, flatulence, gas pain, nausea
Sudden bouts of bloat
Depression
Exacerbation of existing conditions
Increase in allergies
Weight gain
Hair loss or thinning, head, pubic, or whole body; increase in facial hair
Dizziness, light-headedness, episodes of loss of balance
Changes in body odor
Electric shock sensation under the skin and in the head
Tingling in the extremities
Gum problems, increased bleeding
Burning tongue, burning roof of mouth, bad taste in mouth, change in breath odor
Osteoporosis (after several years)
Changes in fingernails: softer, crack or break easier
Tinnitus: ringing in ears, bells, 'whooshing,' buzzing etc.