I've been dizzy off and on for about half a year now and it's starting to get a little old. Laugh if you will, but I'm almost completely serious.
I would say that I wake up feeling light-headed three out of seven days a week, and if I proceed through the day in a reckless fashion (for example, turning my head from side to side with wild abandon or going back and forth from fridge to microwave one too many times), the situation quickly deteriorates into full-on vertigo, and I am forced to bark ineffectual commands to two renegade children from a recumbent post on the couch until help arrives or the spinning subsides.
There is nothing quite like being laid up on the couch and watching your twenty-month old scale a set of bookshelves on his quest for the shotgun lighter your husband got as a Christmas gift. (Splendid idea, Marge! We'll get the non-smoking family with two kids a lighter in the form of a toy rifle! It's just the ticket!)
Before you become too alarmed, let me add that I've already been checked out by a bona-fide neurologist, who, after subjecting me to various examinations and maneuvers that would make any circus side-show contortionist proud, was unable to find a specific cause for my troubles.
I was, however, reassured that I don't have a brain tumor, although this hasn't stopped me from Googling it on an almost daily basis. It's just part of my routine: wake up, check site stats, Google "brain tumor + symptoms of."
Now, I do realize that things could be a lot worse and I am truly thankful for my overall good health, but holy stinkin' heck, is it too much to ask that I be able to whip my head around in periscope fashion without the earth spinning off of its axis?
With two kids under the age of five, I have to use the periscope maneuver almost every day. In fact, you would be surprised at the number of mundane activities that require one to turn one's head with some regularity.
Anyway, here's what I've tried so far:
- drinking more water
- taking vitamins
- Anti-dizziness medication
- Exercise (strangely, if it doesn't send my brain into orbit, it does sometimes help)
- Pomegranate juice (um, only one glass so far because it tastes like poison. POISON.
Anyone else out there dizzy? What is the antidote, if I might ask?
(Oh yeah, and all you symptomatic Googlers out there, check out this little article - When the Patient is a Googler.)
Gulp.
24 comments:
I usually get vertigo every spring. I haven't really found a cure. Sometimes it is so bad I can't drive. Thankfully, that doesn't happen often. If you come up with any solutions, I'd love to hear them.
hmm... hypoglycemia?
pregnancy? naw. you'd be bigger by now.
anemia?
ear infection?
I'm right there with you.
I had everything from my colon to my brain scanned, poked and prodded. Of course, everything came back normal.
I'm starting to think it was a food allergy. I pretty much gave up (well, seriously cut back on) dark soda (diet coke, etc.) for the time I had braces my braces. Right after I got them off I had a large one and sure enough my symptoms hit. I was addicted to Vanilla Diet Coke right about the same time I had a persistent lower abdominal pain that wouldn't go away. I think the two were related.
You might try cutting out caffeine and/or soda.
I also found that my electrolytes were out of whack. I started to up my salt intake and I felt significantly better.
I've become so frustrated with the medical community and their inability to figure out wtf was wrong with me.
Vertigo is a HUGE problem for a lot of people and it seems little can be done about it.
Good Luck!
My brother had the exact same thing. For at least a year, maybe two. He also was thoroughly examined. I can't remember what solved it for him but it did go away. I'll give him a call to find out what helped him.
That sounds awful! Really.
I'm so helpful, aren't I? My aunt had a similar problem a few years ago. I will have to ask my mother if she ever got a satisfactory diagnosis.
I'm at a loss. Gadzooks64 has some good advice and it sounds about right. Also, you might want to try going to a good chiropractor. It is surprising how many things can be fixed with a really good adjustment. But you have to find a good/reliable chiropractor. There seems to be a lot of quacks out there in that profession.
Good luck, and keep us posted.
Well, I'm not a doctor and don't even play one on the Internet.. but sounds like inner ear stuff to me. :)
That sounds like no fun at all. You need that periscope action. (And a shotgun lighter for a gift to someone with two wee kiddos? WTF?)
I've had a bit of dizziness, which I associate with having blood pressure on the low side. (I'm always told that my blood pressure is "great," but I think it tends to go too low.) I find that eating more salt makes me feel better when I tend to get dizzy. I see that Gadzooks64 mentions salt and electrolytes, too. And electrolytes. Actually, I tend to crave the salty potato goodness (fries, chips or hash browns), which gives both sodium and potassium. Speaking of electrolytes.
And, huh. I think pomegranate juice is tastes good. If it tastes nasty to you, I think you should avoid it. It is clearly not your friend.
Well I'm glad it's not a brain tumor (since that was the first thing that came to mind before you revealed it wasn't that). Have you had your blood sugar checked? Could you pregnant (insert evil laugh here please)?
Man I hope you find a remedy, that sounds pretty nerving after awhile.
No good tips, sadly, but I hope it goes away soon. Sounds dreadful.
i'm like this a lot. i attribute it too my almost toxic levels of espresso without enough water. oh, and blogging makes me dizzy too. hth.
Blogging makes me dizzy, too! If I spend too much time on the computer, I get dizzy. Which is not a good thing for a writer. But I don't know what to do to alleviate it. I just wait for it to pass.
Sorry I'm no help.
You know what would help? Doing the meme I tagged you with. Yep, it'll be the trick, just you wait and see!
Since you've been checked out, I assume you also got tested for obvious ones - hypotension/hypoglycemia etc.
I feel for you with two such young children. I have the occasional dizzy spell and I know it's awful, but in my case, it is often caused by dehydration.
If exercise works, I guess you'd want to keep that up.
Good luck - hope you find a solution/cure.
Heidi
Happy New Year Rima.
Funny you should post about this...hubster has been having dizzy spells for the last week. In fact on Monday he woke up with the spins, couldn't get up for about an hour, but forced himself to because he had some serious skiing to do.
My mom has similar episodes, and suggests that he sleep with his head elevated. She takes Bonamine by Pfizer for hers. Hers started as an "ear infection" a few years ago; middle ear stuff is never fun.
Hubs will be hopefully getting checked out sometime next week once the docs are back on normal schedule. I'm hoping it's just something like that, vestibular stuff.
I'll be interested in seeing others' comments too. How annoying it must be for you to have to deal with this on a regular basis, but it's good that it's not anything serious.
Normally I wouldn't suggest this for fear of being seen as a weirdo, but because you are an enlightened soul, as evidenced by the Astral Projection Experiment of 2007, I'll go with it.
In 'Captivating', Stasi Eldredge says that her severe dizziness was the result of spiritual attacks.
I don't know how I feel about that one way or another... just putting that out there.
I have no advice. Other than if you get cranberry-pomegranate juice, it tastes better. But only if you like cranberry juice.
You can also go 1/2 pomegranate 1/2 sparkling water. You won't taste the poison as much.
I emailed you on this too, because I think everyone should be aware of the dangers of SPLENDA!!! Google Splenda and headaches. That's what caused mine and as soon as I cut out the artificial sweetener the vertigo stopped.
I experienced vertigo off and on (mostly on) for a few months, several years ago. I went to the doctor and somehow agreed to try an "experimental" treatment. I have no idea what it was called or if it is commonly used now, but it was based on the idea that the dizziness is an inner ear issue and that some part of the inner ear isn't functioning as it should. I ended up with a one time "physical therapy" session where three doctors literally shook my body and head back and forth and side to side in a special series of "moves" for a few minutes. It sounds BIZARRE. It WAS bizzare. But, damn if it didn't work. After that I felt VERY dizzy for about 30 minutes (couldn't leave the office) and then, whammo, never had vertigo again. So, uh, maybe Google, "vertigo, physical theraphy", or something like that?
Also, yes to the Splenda and aspartame associations. Bad stuff, it is.
I've had bouts of vertigo over the last year, too. I wasn't sure what it was - sometimes I thought it was anxiety, just feeling overwhelmed - anyway, it still comes up occasionally. It is really scary, especially when you are taking care of your little ones! You may have tried this already, as you referred to medication, but I take dramamine. It makes me sleepy as hell, but it works. Another friend had it and had a treatment that Jennifer described above. They gave her Valium. What a lucky wench. I hope you figure out what works for you. The caffeine issue or electrolyte imbalance sounds possible, too.
Oh, and I am WITH you on the Pomegranate juice. A friend offered it one time and I almost spit it on the floor.
I had the same problem for a while and it turned out to be caused by TMJ. It was worse in the morning because (according to the dentist), I was grinding my teeth in my sleep which made the joints on either side of my jaw and, consequently, all the little bits and pieces in my inner ear, swell up/fill up with fluid. A couple weeks with a football-player-type mouthpiece to break the grinding habit and the dizziness diminished significantly.
Just browsing the internet. Your blog is very, very interesting. great read.
Just a note to stay away from SPLENDA. I had to go to Urgent Care last weekend I got so dizzy I couldn't stand up. Also, I have lots of allergies and seem to have balance problems around May and November. This has been going on since 1995 after a severe bought with labrynthitis. Just have to learn to live with it I guess...
I am 26 and have been experiencing occasional (once a month or less) severe vertigo since I was seven. I too attributed it to dark-colored sodas after returning to drinking them after a long hiatus from colas. I had also thought it was related to caffeine because I also used to drink those Starbucks Mocha Frapuccino things and get dizzy. But now I think it has more to do with the artificial coloring used in the dark sodas and in frapuccinos, because I brew my own coffee from bagged grounds and have no noticable trouble. Lately, I've been having the worst and most consistent reactions from drinking cranberry juice. As I type this, in fact, the world is spinning a little bit. And guess what? had about four glasses of cranberry juice last night. Really sucks, cause cranberry is my favorite juice. If you're like me, then its probably food related, and you might start making a food journal of the meals you eat to help you pinpoint your specific triggers.
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