Hello, everyone--
Thank you so much for bearing with me as I try to figure out what happened to cause my crazy dizziness of the last 5 months. I just wanted to let you know that I found an extremely interesting article that seems to answer many of my questions. I thought it might interest some of you as well...
The research showed that painful stimulation (via electrodes I think) of the trigeminal nerve provoked dizziness/vertigo in people with migraines. I think they were trying to show some direct connection between the trigeminal nerve (implicated in migraine) and the symptom of dizziness.
Some of you may know that my severe dizziness began the day after a root canal--during which they numbed the trigeminal nerve (and it was an unusually horrific dental experience for me--lots of shots, unusual reaction to the lidocaine/novacaine, etc.). Anyway, since now I realize I have been having migraine headaches all along, perhaps that means I was susceptible to this vertigo via trigeminal nerve stimulation. I don't know for sure, but it does make sense, doesn't it?
(The same study, "Trigeminal stimulation elicits a peripheral vestibular imbalance in migraine patients," also discussed nystagmus a bit, saying that migraine can cause nystagmus suggestive of both central and peripheral problems.)
Anyway, I guess we all had some kind of massive trigger(s) that started the whole process for us, and I'm not sure that the dental stuff definitely did it for me, but it sure explains a lot if it did!
Now, if only a cure were as readily available as this explanation!
Take care, everyone!
--Violet
