I woke up on Fathers Day, got out of bed, and promptly fainted. Didn't feel too bad after that, but got progressively more dizzy as the day went on. I noticed that day and the next that the longer I remained upright, the better I could function, but it was only after about 8 hours of sitting up that I felt even close to normal. Urgent Care doctor said I had fluid behind one eardrum and prescribed Transderm Scop and prednisone. I've been on the Scop ever since. Every time I try to come off the Scop, I get violently ill. I've been to see my family doctor and a specialist (ENT) and had testing today which found nothing abnormal in my ears; next is an MRI. I was supposed to go without any meds for 48 hours before testing, but I just couldn't do it - I vomited so much yesterday that I lost 5 pounds in one day - I finally had to use a Phenergan so that I could sleep and handle the car ride to get to the test location. I don't have any nystagmus or the associated visual spinning (although I've had that before, about 5 years ago). I also don't have ear pain, tinitus, headaches, or many of the other symptoms associated with vertigo, and when I have high blood pressure, it appears to be caused by the vertigo as it is normal otherwise. When I'm not medicated, my head feels "weird" but hard to describe - sort of like when a body part "falls asleep" and feels all tingly. Or like "snow" on an analog TV. And my visual field feels narrower, as if it were darker around the edges - except that it isn't really. Can vertigo be chronic like this? These Scop patches are quite expensive, even with my insurance, but I can't seem to do without them. And I'm getting really sick of throwing up! Is it typical for the vertigo to go on like this?
Do you have a history of headaches at any point in your lifetime? Yes, history of migraine along with just about every other kind of headache there is, sometimes daily for years at a time - but that stopped about 3 years ago and I seldom get headaches now.
Do you have ear pressure or tinnitus?
No ear pressure yet, and the tinnitus only started today. It's been all day apparently, because I notice it whenever I think about it. Oddly, it's not in the ear that had fluid behind the eardrum.
I have noticed that each time I go off the Scop patches for whatever reason, a) I seem to get sicker quicker and b) when I put a patch back on, it doesn't seem quite as effective as before. I.e., while I feel better because the nausea is more or less suppressed, my head still doesn't feel right. My brain feels like a bobble-head inside my skull. I am fortunately still able to drive to work; I'll be in a pickle if it gets to the point where I can no longer drive.
