Six days ago I started feeling vertiginous. After two days I went to the hospital and the doctor looked in my eyes to confirm that it was BPPV and gave me betahistine 48mg daily.
I've read up on Epley Maneuver and have been practicing it several times daily. The vertigo has gone from a 6/10 to a 3/10 since that first few days - though I don't know what combination of meds, exercises and compensation that is.
I'm perfectly fine sitting, even computing; it's when I stand that I have trouble balancing. It's not that the room spins (that seems to have passe), I just waver and stumble a lot.
What I don't know is how to tell which ear it's in. Moving my head side-to-side doesn't really induce vertigo, though tilting my head down does.
The Epley maneveurs do not induce any vertigo. I would have thought they would definitely do so, considering how much I'm moving my head around.
Can I be sure this is BPPV?
When I had bvvp when I layed on my right side it felt like I was dizzy. Also looking up I got the spinning feeling. But only the ENT can say what side it was, they do a hall pike test in the office and they can see your eyes moving and you can tell them when they put you back with your head off the end of the table and your head to one side you will fell it and they will see your eyes moving. They usually can do the eply once and then put a foam neck brace on you so you can't move your head up and down for 2 days and that usually takes care of it.
You ade not expert in that, bppv can be related to diff canals in the ear. Not knowing which ear and exactly menuever you may create more problems. Best bet is exp PT who treats dizziness. Go to PT and he will first checj which ear and what mebuever. I think you should also do a ENG balance test ti kniw the details, ENT doc is the answer fir that. Hope this helps.
Which would be great, if they would see me. No help in the ER. My followup appointment with an ENT was scheduled a month from now. I had to beg them to get it moved up to next week.
So, I'm on my own till then.
Not knowing which ear is effected and doing epely can make it worse. Your primary can sometimes get you into a ENT faster. Mine did. I couldnt get a app for 3 months even begging. Primary got me in in 3 days. You will most likely end up in PT anyways. Primary can get you into them fast as well. They can tell you in a couple minutes what ear is causing it. Get you started on treatment. ENT will probably tell you PT is a start. Schedule you for VNG testing. Hearing test. ( Which is more than just hearing. Tells them as lot) . Results from those will decide if you need to see neurologist. Where i am now. Go to primary tuesday to get referal to a neurologist.
What side are you focusing on when doing the Epley maneuver?
You can find what side is bothering you by doing this:
Lay down face up and turn your body to the right side, and put your head down close to your chin, and see if you feel any spin or any off balance sensation, do the same turning to the left side of your body. Which ever side feels like you're off balance or spinning that's the side affected.
As the doctor looked at your eyes, I am confident with the diagnsois.
Eleftherios S. Papathanasiou, PhD, FEAN
Clinical Neurophysiologist
Fellow of the European Academy of Neurology
Do you notice feeling dizzy when you roll over in bed? if you roll over to your left and feel dizzy then it is your left ear and vice versa. I have it in my left ear but also have migraine vertigo.
I don't seem to have any prefernce for a better/worse side.
In fact, I experience virtually no increeased dizziness when performing the Epley Maneuver, either side, any position, including liying down on the floor. The time when I notice the instabiltiy is when I stand up and walk.
Yeah, he saw the jittery eyes. It's the rest of the sympoms that seem off. I guess every patient is unique.
Dizziness in bed is minimal and does not favour a side. It's standing and walking that gets me.
I have rolled over in my sleep and dreamed i was dizzy. Woke me up and i was dizzy
Lol. Its hard but you do have to learn to sit up slow. Wait a minute or so before standing to.
I have BPPV in my left ear, it's very pronounced when I roll over. I also have MAV. I thought the two were one thing, BPPV until the consultant told me that my balance problems were due to MAV. Now I know the difference and take medication for MAV (silent migraines) which has made a world of difference.
I changed the light switch in my bedroom to a dimmer switch. When its off it has a halo light around it. Like a night light. Gives me something to focus on when i roll over and get dizzy. Lol.
I had a tendency of jumping out of bed, those days are gone. Now it's a slow rise and turn outwards. When this first started I swung myself out of bed as usual and fell straight to the floor. I crawled around for a while until i got some sense of balance back.
I had a therapist years ago was awesome. She has it. So when i told her what i was feeling she understood. She said most people have one real bad episode. The other episodes wont get that bad. Her first bad one she said she sat on the floor and screamed. Her husband bought a huge tv for superbowl parties. She cant even go in that room when its on. It bothers her so much. TV and comp bother me bad. Phone not so bad.
I agree that all other episodes have never been as bad as that particular one, I had to take a month off work, couldn't walk through a door without gripping onto the side of it, staggered about like the drunken sailor, fell over when i went from light to dark and basically, felt spaced out and couldn't focus my eyes properly. Everything seemed strange. I thought I had something much more serious wrong with me like MS.
Since then I am told that my brain has been retraining itself and has plasticity so that it can adapt to the changes i need to make. I have also cut out certain food that cause the silent migraines and found these to be mostly cheese and chocolate. I was told by the consultant that as it took so long to be diagnosed it would take longer to heal and i have been on medication for over a year which i am now being weaned off.
I am pretty much asymptomatic in bed. Sure, a little disorientation if I roll over, but meh. In the morning I'm fine getting out of bed. Until the moment I'm standing. Then I tend to stumble. In fact, my symptoms are almost only when I'm standing and walking. Lucky for me I sit for a living and can work from home.
I went for a drive today to test my abilities. It is exactly like driving wth a buzz. l probably wouldn't handle an emergency with my normal perceptive ability.
Were you given any medicine?