hi there Jennifer,
I saw your note about dizziness. I know that I have had same with the cervical disc herniation I suffered as it alters your balance. I kept falling because I felt off balance or dizzy.
I mentioned this to my chiro who is well informed seasoned 50 yr. old and actually who diagnosed my c5 6 herniation, and he said he hears that "dizzy" word a lot. By nature your neck is to be curved and it sounds like through aging you have lost that curve which could be for a number of reasons - that straight spine is the end result of something going wrong.
You need to have a chiro look at it and may be an ortho. Many specialists don't talk about the balance problems, the funny tics one gets or the ringing in your ears because that is not directly associated with the area they work on or are conversant with. What you need to do is keep a journal of what sets these symptoms off and talk to people on the board and often they will concur with you.
Once I herniated my disc I kept tripping over things as your balance is affected by this distortion in your head. It all makes sense but try having a specialist tell you that; they may start barking up the high blood pressure tree and often than not your blood pressure is normal.
My disc herniation was initially felt by tightness in my chest so my gp did xrays there. I had told her what happened about whiplashing my head back on the cement and my back as i fell from a chair but her lack of knowledge as to the symptoms of pain from cervical disc herniation left me in incredible pain for months till I awoke paralyzed down one side and ready to cut my arm off. G.P's refuse generally to go outside of their office and make a referral when something is outside of their pervue and clearly radicular pain was. So...
None of us are medically educated but we have become advocates for ourselves in order to move forward with some difficult pain and symptoms we have endured. I am doing well but know that on a daily basis being dizzy can impact your day enough to be bothered by it so why not rationally try to stabilize it or rid yourself of it or adapt to it by understanding what it evolves from.
Good luck .. I hope others can offer more insight.. .keep reading.
Nero
