stargrave

To be precise the 4th in 2 year and months of having this.

I don't know it it's over yet, and I'm going to describe it for you, to ask some questions if someone wants to answer or give an opinion.

Quick overview: It started on Nov 2004 strong BPPV like attack in the morning, generic VRT for a pretty much dizzy free 2005(aside from one BPPV like blip), and fropm Jan 2006 I started with a pretty much 24/7 cocktail of all other vestibular symptoms like: visual, unsteadiness, fog, pull down sensation, you know the drill.

This(yesterday's night) whas the second BPPV like blip in two monthes, yet milder, itr was the first ever that didn't happened when I woke up, I still feel uneasy about it but It's much milder now, I don't quite get the Home Epley, haven't done it ever.

Here is the drill, I finally can tell apart those attacks from the rest ant in all my dizzy feeling variations are like this:

1. BPPV like attack: 100% positional, it starts when I change my relative head position, mostly when I bend over. Aside from the first one(2004) where it was an inmediate and unbearable spinning sensation on pretty much every head movement, this blips kind of start a few seconds after I change position, and it's a spinning sensation which starts slow, and kind of gains intensity up to the point I felt like I was going to fall, or felt very I'll, with no other symptom associated but sometimes a mild visual spinning illusion. The positional nature of it, the "slow start" and the I'm going to fall if i don't change position nature of the spins, set this one apart from the rest.

2. Quick spin bursts: Sometimes relative to position, sometimes showing up out of the blue, this spinning like sensations are quite strong too but they start much more quickly than the BPPV like attack, and they also stop much quickly. I don't feel like falling because they are too fast to get me there, even as sometimes they feel strong like hell.

3.Unsteadiness, mostly felt on my head or on my relative point of support(feet, hips when I'm sitting down), It's like a feelñing drunk sway which feels "permanent" and it's stronger when associated with eye, head or body motion, in one feet or narrow stances, it can give extra trouble, curiously it feels stronger sitting down, but(don't know why) it disappears when I'm sitting down on the car driving. I will add the pull down(forward, back, left and right)sensation to this category

4. Visual: Drom oscillating and jumping vision to visual lock, where driving trough tunnels watching LCD's or moving patterns like electric stairways make me feel ill, this visual oddities can appear with or without associated fog or unsteadiness.

5. Fog: Unreal sensation of being wathing everything through glasses, dificult concentration, light sensitivity.

The spins mostly feel like in the opposite direction to my "bad ear", but not always, and I have an "eternal ear clogging" due to a perennial state or allergies, whcih I've had all my life, and years without the added spinning symptoms.

I have a caloric test detected right ear dysfunction, allergies history and miagraine history, where I bet on VN complicated by both of the conditios mentioned above.

Even on my first caloric test I was already well compensated and the doc thought it will be over within months, but I'm more than a year before, having symptoms.

Finally(sorry for the length) here are the questions:

1. Does the BPPV like attack sound to you like BPPV? and if it's not BPPV could it be triggered by something else? MAV? Recurrent VN?

2. I haven't tried The Home Epley because I didn't quite get it from the sticky, and was kind of afraid because I've read that it might trigger some BPPV like sypmtoms when done wrong or without supervision, and when you don't really have a BPPV attack. I tried Brandt ones, but I believe those are mostly habituation exercises, and can cause the same induced BPPV or neck trouble I mentioned above.

3. Never, even in my worst BPPV like blips and attacks, I've tested positive on Dix-Hallpike, even as Michelle(balancechicago) mentioned that brain can compensate so fast that BPPV might me masked quickly, without beign dettected on the test.

So as you can see, what worries me, besides of the length of my condition(more than two years), is the possibility of have this step backs after so long, where I fear the worst from them.

I must say that even as I was already well compensated when my ear problem was oficially detected, I've advanced in balance with my exercises up to the point where I can stand makeng alot of full head circles in a close stance without feeling like falling(something that happened in the begining=, and I can make a modified romberg(one feet in ftont of the other eyes closed) for a pretty much longer time than before.

Haven't got any hearing loss detected, but I have some ocassional cloughing and pressure which feels like it lowers my hearing for some seconds, without staying there, and even having some extra(ocasional too) sound sensitivity.

Even so, I haven't feel a relevant improvement on my dizzy spells and symptoms with this relative balance and hjabituation improvement.

Any thoughts? Opinions? All are welcome.

PS

I forgot to mention that I'm quite tired(an exhausting week), and my allergic condition is a point above the usual, where I migh eben om some respiratory infection(not 100% sure). And I also iek to mention than taking NSAID's(naproxen and/or ibuprofen) sometimes helps me a lot with this blips, and sometimes even in a general way with my symptoms.