Hi. I am a 30 yr old mom who was recently diagnosed with Vertigo. I will briefly tell you what brings me here...
Sunday (not even a week ago) I woke up around 9 am. I had my 6 yr old in bed with me b/c she was not feeling well through that night. I woke up talking to her for a minute while we both still laid down. All of the sudden (about 5 mins after waking up) I began to spin. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath not knowing what was going on. I thought it subsided. I sat up and started to feel it coming again so I stood up to go walk to get the phone across my bedroom. WOW....I thought I was dying! I didn't know what to think first. My world was spinning. I couldn't walk. I dropped to my knees b/c of the dizziness. I was so scared. I got to the phone and went to call 911 b/c my husband was working. I hung up before the 911 operator even answered b/c my 8 yr old walked into the room. I called her name b/c I thought I needed help. I had her call my husband to come home right away and I also had her call my mom who lived about a mile away. The spinning lasted about 30 seconds to one minute I think. Felt like forever. I was very disoriented after. Developed a slight anxiety attack b/c of my nerves. I didn't know what this was. I even had my older daughter go get me some OJ b/c I thought it may have been my sugar levels. (No problems with sugar, but I didn't know what else it could be.) I am also hypothyroid so I thought well maybe its that. My husband came home. I was afraid to even move. What just happened to me was the scariest thing in my life. I was so so so scared. He took me to the ER. I didn't want to go through the day without knowing what happened. They took my vitals....did some tests...did a CT SCAN b/c of the symptoms I gave them. I was okay, just a bit dizzy before the CT SCAN so I thought I was better. I figured it was just a dizzy spell (a bad one) since all the tests came back okay. Well, when they did lay me down for the CT SCAN about 8 hours after that mornings attack I had it again. Spinning! World was spinning so badly I didnt know what was up and what was down. Nothing like I ever experienced before. I gpt really scared again. It was terrible. They did the CT SCAN once that subsided. About 30 seconds I would say. Then after the scan they sat me back up slowly....SPINNING once again. Subsided in about 30 seconds maybe shorter. So that first day of the symptoms I had 3 really bad Vertigo attacks. Like I said before..I was scared. I never felt anything close to this before. So the CT SCAN came back with no negative results. They diagnosed me with Vertigo. Did not give me a kind or another name....just Vertigo. All they said was to follow up with gen dr next day to see what may be causing this. So that night I was very disoriented. Felt like I was on a boat in very choppy waters...couldn't look down without getting a little dizzy. Same looking up. Okay from side to side really. Knew I couldnt lay down or I would start spinning. I slept sitting up on the couch. Next morning (Monday) I went to my dr. After a brief exam she said she thought I had labyrinthitis. She gave me a prescription for the dizziness. Like Antivert but the generic. It did not work until maybe a day later. Well, maybe it did work. I don't even know. Maybe a tiny bit. She made an appt for me to get in with a local ENT who sees many Vertigo patients who will do some exercise or something to make it better? Can't get in until this coming Monday. So since Monday I have been taking this med to help with the dizziness. I do not feel like vomiting at all. I just am SO off balance. SO scared that I will have another full blown Vertigo attack. I feel like I am trying to walk along the isle of a bus that is driving fast and like I am trying to bend down to pick things up and turn around on that bus. I am on a boat with choppy waters constantly. It's funny b/c some hours I am better than others. Some times I even find myself forgetting I have this right now. I will not drive this way. It's hard having two little kids, but I can't risk it. I am still sleeping sitting up. My right ear was said to hav some fluid in it and they told me to take Claritin D for it. It feels very full. It has felt full and has caused me to think I had wax build up about a month ago. I forgot about it until Sunday. Anyway, I don't even know what to ask you. All I want to know is, will this go away? Should I go to the ENT to do those maneuvers? I am scared to go b/c it is likely I will have a Vertigo attack during them and I will definitely have a panic attack once I start spinning! I hate drs to begin with. My husband will be with me, but I am still deathly afraid. What can this be from? The fluid in my right ear? Does this get better day by day or an I just getting used to the feeling like I think is the case? I get around the house and clean lightly. I go out but just dont drive. Yes, it bothers me, but I cannot let them control me. I have anxiety issues to begin with. I don't want them to get worse. Tomorrow I have an important wedding to go to and I just have to force myself. BTW I do not have problems standing up quickly from a sitting position. ITs really just the laying down that I cannot do. Of course this is to avoid the bad vertigo attack. Otherwise I still feel dizzy constantly and off balance ALL day long. This is scary. I dont like it. I can deal with it for now, but I dont know how much longer I can do this. Its only been a few days and I have read that some people deal with this for years. I dont think I would be able to. Not with my anxiety as it is. I have to kids 6 and 8. It would be hard. What can you tell me for advice, support, ideas, anything at all? ANYTHING will help me seriously. Thank you if you got this far. I appreciate it.

It really sounds like an inner ear infection to me. OR something in your ear is infected...especially if they hear fluid in there...just fluid alone would cause you to be dizzy. I would hope they would put you on an antibiotic to clear your ear or just in case. My husband has that same thing happen at least once a year and we get him right on Bactrim(sulfa antibiotic) to dry out and clear up the fluid. He has gone to many doctors that want to argue with him about it but he is too old to get into an arguing match...we just keep the antibiotic on hand and put him on a two week course so he doesn't' get into the full blown dizziness/nausea. Good luck to you ...it is quite debilitating not to be able to stand upright and take care of kids. It happened to me just once and man I didn't know what the heck was wrong with me I had 3 kids at the time and had one in the crawling stage and the most I could do is to keep her blocked off in the living room with me because I couldn't stand up. ...I also had an inner ear infection. Good thing for Sulfa.

Hi

Sounds like an Inner Ear infection--most likely caused by a virus---go to the first post on this board "Information Archive"(Sticky)---there u will find all the info on the problem(s) and what u can do about them and what u can expect from the Doctor(ENT in ur case).

It is hard to tell exactly which inner ear infection/problem u have but it sounds like---the most common one BPPV---so take a look at that one(in the Archives) and the info on the Modified Epley Procedure(MEP)---including the video for the MEP---the way to sleep etc.....

It sounds like the ENT/Procedure---they are talking about is---the Epley Procedure(standard treatment for BPPV). If so the procedure may have to be done a couple of times---to clear the ear rocks out of the canals---followed by Vestibular Rehabilitation Training(VRT)---to retrain the balance system and get things back to normal----can take a while.....

In any case---take a look(or have someone) look in/at the "Information Archive" post 1st on board.

By the way---ENT's usually are not very good at "Inner Ear Infections"---there are exceptions---the Doc's who specialize in that/this medical area are:

NEUROTOLOGIST

Good Luck!

Thanks for the responses. I stopped the Antivert meds and feel brand new. I am still dizzy during certain movements and haven't really tried to lay flat again yet, BUT ont he Antivert I was much more dizzy and just felt so out of it all the time. Now I feel like I have myself back in one way or another and will work to getting 100% better. Dont know how long it will take, but coming off of those meds really made me feel a lot better and I am not in a constant fog, not feeling like I am walking on a moving bus, not on a row boat at all times. Dont get me wrong...I still get that feeling at certain movements or times when up and about cleaning or whatever. BUT it is not constant and that is what was bothering me so much. Thanks again for your responses. I will check out the other links.
Did anyone else ever experience Antivert to make you feel worse? Or maybe I sam just getting a little better and didnt need it? I dont know why I feel better off of it.

Thanks for the responses. I stopped the Antivert meds and feel brand new. I am still dizzy during certain movements and haven't really tried to lay flat again yet, BUT ont he Antivert I was much more dizzy and just felt so out of it all the time. Now I feel like I have myself back in one way or another and will work to getting 100% better. Dont know how long it will take, but coming off of those meds really made me feel a lot better and I am not in a constant fog, not feeling like I am walking on a moving bus, not on a row boat at all times. Dont get me wrong...I still get that feeling at certain movements or times when up and about cleaning or whatever. BUT it is not constant and that is what was bothering me so much. Thanks again for your responses. I will check out the other links.
Did anyone else ever experience Antivert to make you feel worse? Or maybe I sam just getting a little better and didnt need it? I dont know why I feel better off of it.

Hi

*******REMOVED********:cool:

okay so i read it. do you mean this caused me to overcompensate? i dont understand exactly what this info was about. what are you really wanting me to look at? sorry if i sound dumb...i promise, i am not! :)

Have u resolved problem? I would be very interested if u have. You mentioned laying down causes your and u haven't tried again. That is what got my attention.

Mine began Saturday morning when i got out of bed. When I sat up, the world was going around and around and I sat there until it went a way for the most part. However, during the day I noticed occasional feelings of inbalance and I could even cause some of it by looking down between my legs. SO, I layed down again during the day and WOW, I felt like I just went over a cliff, things were spinning and I. thought I was in free fall. After a few minutes of panic, things seemed to be ok but when I got up, the same thing happened but not as bad. I can recreate it by laying down and that is what u mentioned.
I would appreciate any info.
Pauley

I do think that Antivert made my dizziness worse. After I started taking it, I ended up in bed, not just sitting on the couch. I was calmer, although somehow also my heart was racing, but somehow my dizzy situation seemed more severe...???

I also had the feeling of the room spinning around and around when I sat up in the morning and laid down at night. I went to ER and found my ears to be lodged with some very hard wax that had to be dug out because the flush didn't work. I am on Neo/Poly/HC 1% otis sus falcon drops 5 drops in each ear every 8 hours. It has been over a week and I still have the spinning sensation when I sit up in the morning but is a lot milder. Does any one know how long it takes. My ear passages were scraped real bad with the Hard wax being removed. Hope it stops soon. Thanks for the help.:angel:

Thanks everyone for sharing ur experiences. I researched Vertigo and found Benign Paroxsysmal Positional Vertigo and the Canalith Reposition Procedure, aka the Epley procedure. If u are interested see http://users.aol.com/inventmd/bppv.html . I felt better and after reading some of the post on this forum; particularly about gradually laying down and getting out of bed, I tried that and have been successful twice now getting in and out of bed without the world going crazy. I plan to see a Dr. this week and have my ear wax checked and see what he thinks.
Again, try gradually getting in and out of bed and avoid looking up at a severe angle.

Thank everyone for their posts. Your info really helped.
:)

Hi there!

I am brand-new to this board and somewhat brand-new to the Vertigo thing. After reading through many of the threads here, I realize now that I have been suffering with Vertigo for awhile. However, my Mother has it so bad--days on end where she has to crawl through the house and just vomits nonstop--that I never believed I had it. Now I see that it comes in many forms & fashions, much to all of our dismay.

I am responding to tell you that I understand, mostly. I am a newly single Mom, so when these spells hit me, I have no one to fall back on for help. I, like you, am afraid to drive when my head feels this way, so I tend to stay put and stay inside. Sometimes my guilt makes it all worse because I feel like my daughter is watching too much TV or we're reading books all day long (and she has to read to me because I can't focus on the words without feeling woozy).

I, also, suffer from anxiety issues. They are tenfold when I have these spells. What is frustrating for me is that I feel like people believe my dizzy spells aren't really real but just reactions to my stress. I don't deny that they both feed off one another, but I do believe that my dizziness is very real--no matter where it originates from. But I have a plethora of sinus issues, and the vertigo tends to come on when I have a stuffed head, a sinus migraine, and fullness in my ears (not to mention aching joints everywhere). So, I believe my Vertigo is somehow connected to the fluid in my head, and the anxiety just intensifies it. My mind never shuts off, so that doesn't make it any easier.

This dizzy thing IS indeed scary. I feel for your situation being a Mommy. I feel for EVERYONE'S situation because this is God-awful and very irksome, but when there are people who depend on us while we are wishing for nothing more than someone to care for us, I believe it is even tougher of a struggle.

I just crave "normalcy". I want to be like the other Mother's at story-time and the park who are enjoying themselves and not grinning and baring it for the sake of their child's well-being, like I so often feel that I am. I don't want to have to say, "Mommy needs to bend down slow, so just give me a second, Sweetie." I most definitely understand your position, and your fears.

Hang in there and stay true to yourself. Your children will understand. And no matter what, you're a good parent. Don't let this problem make you think otherwise. I know how easy that is... :)

I hope yours passes faster than some people's. I also hope you find good meds and the culprit of your dizzies. ;)

Good luck!!!

Hi Swooning,

Just wanted to say it sounds like you have a condition called migraine associated vertigo - also known as MAV - also known as Vestibular Migraine. In the sticky post at the top of the board you will find information about it. It can be treated with daily migraine preventatives. The sinus pain (often also a migraine symptom) the full ears and the intermittent and accompanying attacks of vertigo are all very typical of it.

You would need to see a neurologist who is familiar with the condition.