My Husband Is Dizzy

lots of good advice...I would add 2 things:

I have a friend who had some form of the flu this season and she and others at her work who seemed to have the same flu still have dizziness

This may sounds crazy, but I get all kinds of weird symptoms if I eat trans fats. One of them is dizziness. Try eliminating them! It's a good idea anyway.

I didn't look at all the responses, but I would recommend looking into blood sugar issues. They can be caused by diabetes, hypoglycemia, adrenal fatigue. Also, might try a chiropractor---his neck may be out and need adjusting, which could cause dizzyness as well.
Good luck!
J.

Have they ruled out anemia?
How about hypoglycemia?
Low Potassium and Sodium?
Sounds like you need to find a doctor that's willing to look into things a bit more. I'd go for the specialists, too. Health is worth far more.

Not fun! My mother-in-law had a similar situation and went to several doctors/specialist. She was finally diagnosed with Minears (sp.?) disease. She went to some physical therapy to help counteract the vertigo. She flew on an airplane recently and hasn't really had a problem with it. Anyways, she said one thing that really helped was going to a chiropractor and getting her ears adjusted. They can do it, she said it was a little painful, but really helpful. But if you do choose to go to a chiropractor I would make sure they do adjust the ears. Good luck. I hope he gets better soon.

You may to see if he is diabetic - could be low blood sugar.

My first thought is about something I learned when I was in college - my major was audiology. Unfortunately I can't remember the real name for it, but it was something nicknamed "having a rock in your head," or a bit of cerebral spinal fluid calcifying in your head. It often occurs in people who have had some sort of head trauma.

The fix is simple - stand up, bending over with your head at your knees and flip your head up quickly. Someone should be there to make sure the person doesn't fall. This should dislodge the calcification and make the dizziness go away. It won't make it go away forever, but if may be an alternative to suffering for several days.

Hope it helps! Also, make sure you aren't doing health tests in 2009 if you haven't met your insurance deductible - wait until 2010!

I had an issue with dizziness a few years ago. Mine ended up being "debris" in the inner ear. Their is fluid in the inner ear that brushes against tiny hairs as you move and send messages to your brain about where you are. Something (old skin cells or something) got knocked loose and were brushing up agains the hairs sending false messages, that didn't jive with what my eyes were telling me, causing dizziness and vertigo. It went away after a few weeks.

I would definitely get more testing to rule out other issues, but that may be a fairly benign cause to the vertigo.

Hi there,

I have had the same thing happen to me about 4 or 5 times. I have never been officially diagnosed, but I think it is some form of vertigo. My mom has it, and I believe it's hereditary.

Mine always pops up when I have had a head cold. I see a chiropractor occasionally and when I start feeling like I am going to be getting dizzy, I take over the counter meds for motion sickness. They contain meclazine (sp?) and help a ton. I have noticed if I can keep my head straight without bending it, it helps control the dizziness.

Working w/ my chiropractor has helped a lot. The first episode I had I was in bed the whole day and every movement made me spin. I was to the point where when I got up out of bed, I almost fell over with dizziness. After I took the motion sickness meds it was better, but once I started working w/ the chiropractor, the episodes were not near as severe.

Good luck, I know how scary this can be and I wish your husband the best!

I haven't read any other responses, but I had a similar experience and continue to have dizzy spells on occasion. I saw a couple of doctors about it, had a CAT scan (I can't have an MRI of my head) to rule out tumors, and saw a specialist. What it all came down to was that some of the "rocks" in the cochlea (the shell-like thing in your inner ear that helps you keep your balance) were in the wrong place. There is nothing they can do for it. Dramamine seems to help when dizzy spells last for a long time. Hopefully that is all it is for your DH. But, you need to make sure you rule out tumors or other serious causes -- so get the MRI and see the specialist. You'd hate to miss early signs of a tumor.
Good luck to your family.

Hi K.,

My daughter had similar symptoms when she was younger. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong and recommended MRI, etc. We decided to take her to a chiropractor first--glad we did! After the second visit it was gone, has never returned. In her case it was a displaced vertebra in her cervical spine. You may want to try a chiropractor first--much less expensive than the MRI and specialists if insurance doesn't cover it.

I highly recommend finding a chiropractor that practices Network Spinal Analysis (or just called "Network"). We've been taking our whole family for Network care for years--love it! It's very gentle and we've found it extremely effective.

Good luck!
B. in CO

My husband is a PA (physician assistant) and his training is a little different than Doctors. They learn a lot more 'hands-on' techniques. He says your husband is most likely suffering from BPPV. Go see a Dr or PA that can do Dix Hallpike test for confirmation and do the Epley technique to correct the issues. The ENT should know about this if you mention the above. My husband has done this for several people when their doctors haven't been able to figure out why someone was dizzy. It's as if the Doctors just don't think about this 'hands-on' technique instead of using MRI's / brain scans etc. Hope this helps.

Sounds like Vertigo! Do some online research and definately go to the ENT

Has anyone suggested meeting with a physical therapist? I was having terrible balance problems and dizziness. My doctor suggested that some crystals in my inner ear that determine balance might have gotten "tipped out". She sent me to a physical therapist who put me through a series of movements. Three days later, I was fine. If no one has suggested this, you might bring it up yourself.

http://www.brainandspine.org.uk/information/publications/...

Hi K. - that must be just awful for him. I've had bouts of dizziness after a cold too and it's so disconcerting. The link above describes several different types of dizziness and the associated diagnosis. It is very common to have dizziness after a cold.

A visit to an ENT would probably answer many of your questions.

I have had this myself, and although he may not have what I did, mine turned out to be an inner-ear virus. I happened to be at the pedistrician with one of my kids and casually mentioned that I was dealing with this unexplained dizzyness. She told me her sister had had an inner-ear virus, and it made her so dizzy she could barely stand! I don't know that you can get this diagnosed, per se, but mine was gone after a few weeks without ever finding any other explanation. There was also one year around Christmas where several people in the family were dealing with dizzyness and no other symptoms. (And involving 3 different households, so it wasn't being caused by something in our home) and again, after a couple weeks disappeared- especially after lots of rest. If he can't find a cause, it may just resolve with time. Good luck!

My husband and brother-in-law both had this dizziness. My brother-in-law had it first and they ran all sorts of tests, ct scan, etc. finally they diagnosed it as an inner ear infection.
My husband came down with it in June went to the doctor who said it is an inner ear infection. We didn't do all the test that my brother-in-law did because the symptoms were the same. The bad part is that my husband (and me :)) suffered with this for three months, at the end of august he woke up one morning and said "It's gone!" I tried all sort of stuff to help the infection, garlic, homeopathic medicine, herbs, etc. I'm not saying it didn't help but it didn't cure it. What we think happened was my husband had a cold a few week earlier and that fluid from the cold got trapped in the inner ear and became infected, because it is deep inside the ear it is very hard to clear out, you just have to wait for the body to release it. My brother-in-law still has it on and off. His ear-nose-and throat doctor says he has meuniere's disease.
I'm so sorry you are dealing with this, I was going crazy. The interesting thing is everyone we talked to said they had dizziness like this or knew some one who had. Most told us that it lasted a few weeks to a few months. I know that is great news but I found it comforting knowing other people knew how I felt. Good luck, my prayers are with you.

Hi K.,
You have gotten some good advice here. If you are looking for a chiropractor (which I highly recommend) find one that actually re aligns the spine and just doesn't give relief. I had such dizziness from the curve in my neck curving in the opposite direction. I had been to chiro's for 20 years and they never fixed it. The chiro I have found FINALLY is giving me the care I need and I feel great. Dr Kevin Noffsinger, he is awesome!
Also, dehydration can cause dizziness. Water intake should be 1/2 your body weight in ounces each day.
I hope that helps. L.

Not sure if this may be it but a friend of mine had severe dizzyness and other strange symptoms due to vertigo. They couldn't figure out why and it lasted for years and many doctors. Turned out that it was an infection inside a tooth!!! They had surgury and he's been good ever since.

Another thing could be a brain tumor. My fiance had a brain tumor and had strange numbness and dizzy spells randomly. Finally after a severe headache, we got a cat scan and found a tumor.

Medical bills are worth the fix if its interfering with your life.

Have they done any blood work on him? I had frequent dizziness when I was pregnant with my second and they found that my potassium level was low. Once I started taking the supplements the dizzy spells stopped!
Or try having his neck realigned by a chiropractor I've had that happen too it helps.

K., about a year ago I hit my head while sledding with my kids and knocked loose something in my inner ear and had the same problem your husband is having. I went to the doctor and he gave me some exercises to do to help get things back to where they ought to be. They did help, and I haven't had much trouble with it since. Supposedly this can happen sometimes, without a serious hit to the head. Its worth checking in to.

My former SIL used to get dizzy, vertigo feeling spells, and she also had lots of migraines. Took them several years to figure out that is was type II diabetes (her blood sugar was in the 600s when they finally fugured it out)... I don't think they ever thought to check her blood sugar as she is doesn't have the body type usually associated with risk for diabetes (she's 5'6" and about 125 or 130... healthy and slim, but the disease apparently runs in her family). Just something to think about and look at. Make sure they've check his blood sugar with his blood work. Hope you figure it out soon!

Hello K.;
I am by no means involved in the medical field but I have had bouts of dizziness and have found that it is usually that my neck is out of wack so I would check with a chyropractor (sorry about my spelling.) and see if he might need an adjustment and then if that doesn't work I would go to the ENT dr. and see if there is something there before spending a bunch of money on specilists. Another thing that came to mind, you stated that he had had a cold and even though he might not have an ear infection his eustation tubes could be pluged up so have him work on that area starting just behind his earlobe down just past his jaw. If it is that it might hurt a little ( depending on how bad it is, it might hurt a lot.) because that area could be cloged.
Sure hope this helps and good luck.
J.

this sounds very similar to something I experienced about 8 months ago. My friend is an ER Doctor so she helped me out, but it was so scary. I had vertigo - I swear I thought I had a brain tumor or something awful and I think it really was vertigo. I had also been sick and developed a head infection and they think it went into my ears. Every time I woke up from sleep or turned in my sleep it would make me want to throw up - it was so weird. Good luck to you - I am not trying to get you to not take health tests, but at least keep this in mind as you are going through testing to see if it's a possibility. Best wished to you,

My husband suffers from periodic vertigo. It is non specific and benign but can come on at anytime. He uses meclazine which is available over the counter for help when he has a "spell". He had a MRI, a VNG from the ENT and all came back okay. Sometimes you have crystals in your ears that get unsettled and cause you to feel as if you are out of balance or dizzy. There are exercises that can help you to trigger the dizziness and get the crystals to settle back down. They are not fun but they do help speed up the recovery of the vertigo. They involve, laying down quickly and turning your head to make the dizziness re-occur. An ENT can show you these or you can look them up online. It made me and my husband feel better to have the MRI to rule out any tumors or irregularities and to have a baseline for any future problems.

A friend of mine had symptoms like this and she went to the ER fearing a stroke or worse. They ran a bunch of tests and it turned out to be vertigo. I don't know how they treat it but really, I would just go to the ER and get it taken care of.

Dr. Carol Foster is an otolaryngologist that specializes in dizziness. She is fabulous! I think she is in the Denver or Aurora area. She used to work out of University Hospital. Look her up and give them a call. Vertigo is an awful problem that many physicians don't know what to do with. She does. Good Luck!

I had very bad dizziness to the point where everything was spinning in 3 directions at once. It would lasts from 30 seconds to 20 minutes and I could not walk. All I could do was crawl on my stomach. I went to ear/nose/throat specialist and he told me that some of the particles in my balance mechanism had broke and fallen out of the gelatin cube in the inner ear. These particles were bouncing into the nerve fibers that control your balance.
It is common thing. And eventually the particles will dissolve. A simple hearing test will see if it it Benign Positional Vertigo.
Check these websites:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001420.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vertigo/DS00534

There are several inexpensive medicine that will help.

The doctors your doctors saw sounds like a bunch of alarmists or doctors looking for a bigger payday.