Does anyone else find dizziness/vertigo provoked by open spaces?. I had a bad time 3 years ago with dizziness/vertigo - was ill for 7 months, off work for 4 of them. Had all manner of investigations which excluded my heart, brain or ears as the cause. Only possiblility neither proved nor disproved was migraine associated vertigo, but I couldn't understand why it happened all the time. Eventually was ok, don't know what helped, but persisted with very occasional problems in open spaces, which I kind of worked around. Had recurrence about 6 weeks ago and now get really panicky when approaching open spaces, which doesn't help. Taking amitriptylene as migraine prevention which makes me very tired. Anyone had anything similar?
I think vast open spaces,. mess with the eyes.... I call it visual overload and your brain has a hard time processing it.
Personally I haven't had that issue in the past. Now with this recent Vertigo spell, I go into a large store and my eyes kind of freak on me. But i just take a breather and then all is well again.
Hi, Sarah, intresting you say about visual overload, cos I would have thought open spaces had little of that, but I had a big problem a couple of weeks ago in an open space, but the pattern of tiles on the ground really seemed to get at me an I was awful for hours. Supermarket aisles were a complete no go for me before, but I'm not that bad this time. Hope you recover well.
ALthough i personally Don,t have a problem with wide open spaces, mine is more inside, I have just come back from my appointment at the Neurological Hospital in London and will share with you a list,of on line, You Tube, special videos that are for our problem,with exercises to,do. Am about to,look myself!! Lots more, some for driving (I don,t drive). Whichnimwill share Also another time.
Emis Moderator comment: I have removed the direct links. If users want this information please use the Private Message service to request the details.
http://patient.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/398331-private-messages
Sorry folk it,seems the videos on YouTube do not come with exercises as I thought. I will call my,lady tomorrow and clarify that? I am thinking that they may just be for desensitising which is okay too.
Look up Vestibular Occular Reflex, VOR, and I believe that you will find your answer for why large open spaces and large stores with busy isles cause issues for people that suffer from vestibular deficits. Gaze stabilization exercises will help to overcome this.
This is my theory..... Yes people prone with dizness can feel visual overload in many situations.... In a crowded grocery store, while I may get dizzy for a minute, I find if I focus on something it goes away... But with open spaces (say a field) there's nothing for your eyes to draw attention to.... Does that make sense?
Hi Terry, can ask you something, while I am waiting for my post to be r ,moderated? .when you say gaze stabilisation, what does that consist of?I have been given some videos to watch on YouTube, basically of walking through crowds,,down streets, supermarkets,,even though I do not have a problem at the time, my physio reckons the ,knock on, effect that comes later is,caused by all that motion that i have probably adjusted subconcu
iously!
My PT just gave me some yesterday....
1. Focus on one spot and then move your eyes as quickly as you can back and forth
2. Focus on one spot BUT move your head side to side as quickly as you can with your eyes still focusing on that one spot.
I have to do them up to 5 times a day for up to 1 minute.
I have exactly the same problem open spaces send my dizzyness into overload,have been forcing myself to walk the local park everyday and focusing on objects while I am doing this which has helped me.I have had vestibular labyrynthitis for 6 months now with 24/7 virtigo,I would say i am around 70 percent better,in your post you mention having your problem for 7 months and would like to know how it went away with yourself? Did you find youself getting better bit by bit or did the virtigo go as abruptly as it started?.Cheers.
Just go to Youtube and type in "Gaze Stabilization VOR". There will be several that come up. Some were produced at the University of Michigan in the US and they are good. Some others are produced by DR. Lisa Koch. Use her name added to the search above. I also had a website for exercises called "saccades". You can find those on a website called eyecanlearn. Just enter that search into Google.
The Koch videos on Youtube are really good, though.
Wow,that,s,great Terry,,thanks,I,will,definitely have a look at those! They may be better than the ones I,ve been given to look at. Have younusednthem yourself, and got anything outnofmthem?
Yes i know those ones, they didn't.t help me much at all.
I agree with SarahCuda, open spaces are a visual overload. It were an issue for me for around 2 months. I would find it hard to focus on anthing, it all looked a little odd I could only walk looking at the ground to begin with as all the different distances of things combined with motion of walking, overload of colour and stimulus would make me feel ill.
Yes, I used the saccades website and some from each of the University of Michigan videos as well as some of those that Dr Koch demonstrates.
And did you find them Helpful,,results,etc?
With all of this stuff it is hard to tell what helps and what doesn't. I think that time has made the most difference. But, in saying that, having done them I can now go into large stores with little issue and walking and peering down the street scape does not bother me. Early on I had a bouncing sensation when I walked like my eyes and head were out of sync, hence the research in the VOR. That answered my questions as to what I was experiencing and then I started the exercises. Took me probably 2 to 3 months to get the feeling resolved going into stores.
Hope that somewhat answers your question.
Yes, interesting, thanks
Thanks, Terry, I'll follow this up and the info on your subsequent posts
Hi, Mark. It improved gradually. Don't know if due to medication, prayer, or just time. But never went away completely, as I said I worked around the open spaces thing to a large extent, but now it's not so good, even crossing the road is a problem. I wouldn't dare try a park at the moment - good for you!