Please help! I can not live like this anymore!

Ears, nose and throat
1

I honestly feel like I've been living with vertigo and migranes for so long and so much I have no idea what it's like to NOT have it. 

It's to the point now where if ..and I mean IF I feel brave enough to go out in public I go in a wheelchair, but I rarely go anywhere anymore. I don't drive because I don't know when another attack with happen. 

Last March 2015 I was visiting my Mom in the hospital and I was bent over her bed writing something and I felt something happen that had me spinning so fast. It was so bad everything went black and I couldn't see anything. dropped to the ground (Some said I was shaking) and felt like I had just blacked out ..but I was concioous of things aroound me. 

3 days later in happened again while I was teaching a class. Both times I had a migraine before and after the episode. 

From the second time it happened I've  had vertigo daily. I had a MRI done shortly after and saw a nurolgist who told me I had Aura Migranes and perscribed me Topamax. (A drug I do not wish to take and so I didn't. THe side effects sound worse then what I have!)  

I have vertigo all the time. I can't seem to go out in public because the lights, the stimulation everything bug's me, I have migranes when I am getting my time of the month, Migranes related to the pressure and the weather. Migraines related to everythign it feels like. BEfore I would have a migraine maybe every month or month and a half ..now it's daily. Is it possible to be in a migraine for a year or more!? 

I just found out I am celiac and have been gluten free for 3 weeks. 

I have ringing or a weird throbbing in my ears from time to time. I have sinus pain with my migraines and pain in my ears often in or behind them. 

I had another vertigo attack in May 2016 where I was out in public and sitting in my wheelchair and my eyes started to spin and roll in my head. I lost all my depth perception and was spinning and moving so quickly I thought I was going to pass out and had to hang onto the chair for dear life. Again I had my head turned down and was looking at something. 

I have total anxiety about this now all the time and I just need to know if there is anything I can do to fix this. 

Will a drug named Serc work to help take away the vertigo and migraines? 

Is this aura migraine even when there is vertigo without migrane? 

I keep feeling like this may be related to my hormones as I feel like I'm pre-menapauce and I am now doing bioidentical hormone therapy but that doesn't seem to be helping with vertigo and the migraines. 

IF u have any words of encouragement or advice I would really LOVE to hear them. I want my life back. 

Thank u! 

 

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I know what you mean exactly about wanting my your life back . I have had this now twice this time it started in begging of Feb. I feel really off balance and my perception of space and how I can fit in to my environment is at times really gone. I feel like my brain is some how damaged because my memory is so bad. I am a teacher and I worry how I will manage going back to work.

I started with migraine like headaches at the beginning that lasted three weeks I could not move I was so bad just in darkness unable to do anything. This passed eventually. My periods which have been out of control so some time now became really heavy so this kept me in the house. I was encouraged to get a stick at first I wanted a chair like you as I couldn't walk at all. It was so difficult to judge my movements and my husband thought I looked like I was walking on the moon.

I have taken serc. I have been taking it since March 32 mg x3 before that I was taking 16mg x3. The 16mg x3 a day did nothing. And the 32mg x3 a day took over a month to start kicking in. But I soon discovered it had helped me when I had to come off it. I was ok for 2 or 3 day and then I was terrible again. I would recommend the sec I have it very carefully timed out during the day now.

I know this is awful. But hang in there we will come out the other side. Take care and stay in touch x

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By the way I think mine maybe related to my hormones as I had been feeling a lot better but my period returned and wham I feel really off again. I thought I might have been feeling better definately due to serc but also I noticed a huge improvement after having a very short courselves of antibiotics for a urinary infection. But if it was that it's returned now. I don't know it is a bit of a mystery and it's seems doctors struggle with it. But I can say the serc works in the higher dose but it takes time. I didn't find it helped straight away it took so long that I didn't think it was that ..the tablets that had done the trick thought it was time that was solving it but when I came off the tablets for a week for tests it hit me.

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Remember to find pleasures in what you love even though life isn't the same. I remind myself to enjoy the simple things I suppose it's mindfulness. Chin up lots of people here to help. We support each other. There are days that I want to give up and feel I can't go on and I just feel like crying. But that's when I remind myself to enjoy so simple pleasures.

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I'm so sorry you are having to live this way. Mine got bad, but I went on meds because I had to keep working. I was afraid of the meds and side effects too. I tried one med first that made me worse, then found relief on the second med. But I have to follow the migraine diet to some extent or even the med doesn't work. I basically can't eat anything in a can or prepared. I make my own stocks/sauces, no cured meats, etc.

If you're not wanting Topamax, why not try another preventative? I tried nortriptyline first, but had a side effect. I then tried propranolol, which allowed me to function, but I did feel like a zombie for about a week. I started with lower dose, and worked my way up slowly.

On the Topamax subject, I've had neuros tell me that if you can work up to a therapeutic dose and stay on it for a year, it can "reset" the brain, where one may be able to go off it and be migraine free. I have not tried it because of my job. I am a scientist, and have to speak like I know what I'm talking about. That is one of its side effects, finding words is not so good. But I've told myself if I still have these when I retire, I will try the Topamax.

Menopause seems to be a common time for these things to start up. You can add me to that list, as well as a few others on here. I just met a lady today at lunch who has hemiplegic migraine. She passes out, and loses all control and feeling on one side of her body like a stroke. She's been off work 6mos, trialing meds, and is finally getting better. And she is late 40s, perimenopause, never had a migraine in her life. At first, I was taking bio identical progesterone and it seemed to help. Then just recently, I figured out it was making me worse, and I stopped it. Our hormones can swing, so HRT that helps at one point, may not at another.

Are you in the US? From my research here, verapamil and Effexor seem to be meds favored for migraine vertigo. But I've also read that most of the preventatives can work. Can you ask for something besides Topamax? Serc is not available here in US, but I was on a migranous vertigo support site where a few people from Europe were taking serc, oftentimes in combo with another drug.

You said a neuro diagnosed you. Have you also consulted with an ENT to rule out inner ear issues that may coexist with your migraine disease? Do you have any fluctuation or loss in hearing during your attacks? You mentioned tinnitus- I have that too, and it gets worse with attacks. I've been worked up for both migraine and menieres disease. 2 neuros say migraine, and one ENT said maybe atypical or subclinical menieres. Lol, even the drs can't agree!

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This might sound silly but have you had your eyes checked????  Do you live in the states??

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Hi guys

Thank you so much for all your support and encouragement!

I do think this has a lot to do with pre- menopause. I'm only 44 but I had my kids early at 17. I am doing HRT and the progesterone helps me sleep and I do have less intense migraines when I have my period.

I have an appointment with my nuro on Wednesday. I'll keep u posted.

I live in Canada

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I have had them checked and just needed reading glasses. I'm in Canada

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Greetings , my name is Freddy A. from Ecuador ..... first of all I want to say that Vertigo is a complicated illness but not terminally ill, is very common in the world that affects all kinds of people. Vertigo has multiple causes and multiple conditions. In my case when I was a child, doctors detected vertigo caused by middle ear problems , I had migraines often. Episodes of vertigo are repeated throughout my life , these are cycles where some time I'm completely normal and sometimes I suffer vertigo. like your Sarah, In a time when I was completely normal I woke up one day without balance, disoriented, with vertigo. I was lying in bed without moving one month. When I was better, I went to the otolaryngologist and diagnosed me Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) The neurologist diagnosted me panic attacks... actually I'm with panic attacks.

I think you also have panic attacks...........I hope you get better soon , I know it 's horrible but you have to be strong !.

Remember that after the storm comes the calm