Dear Mommas, A few times in my life, when I am about to go through a big change for one reason or another, I experience vertigo. Extreme nausea, dizziness and a need to lie down so the world will stop spinning. I am experiencing it now. I have seen a dr. but because it does not happen frequently (every few years) so I have not been concerned. I also know some of it is connected to whatever passage I am going through in life. The dr. just said to lie down and wait it out.
For anyone that also experiences these spells, how do you shorten or lessen their severity. especially now that i am a momma, I don't have the luxury as in the past to "take the day off" and crawl under the comforter :)
Many thanks in advance.
Jilly.
Thank you for your insightful and helpful responses. The vertigo is better now as I am only left with some nausea. I will deal with it as you all have recommended -- from a physical as well as "anxiety/stress" perspective.
All the Best, Jilly
I experienced these too. Regular exercise seemed to do the trick for me. I started with a 1/2 hour swim at the health club. I think that the exercise helped to address some of the stress, and got good brain chemistry in motion. See if you can't find a way to have a "mommy time out" as things are getting ragged.
Hi Jilly,
So, to make this clear, is this *stress* related? Is that what you are saying?
In that case, it's not vertigo that can be treated the typical ways (vertigo is an inner-ear or cerebellar problem). If it is stress-related, you are more likely dealing with some kind of anxiety-like symptoms that make you dizzy/lightheaded.
This would be easy for your MD to miss if you are not telling her/him about the stress part of the picture.
t
are you clinching your teeth together? or pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth? both of these will cause pressure around your ears which will in turn make you dizzy. try to keep your jaws relaxed if you can. keeping the mouth slightly open or putting the tip of your tongue between your upper and lower teeth will help you relax the jaw. non drowsy dramamine will help with the spins. or a valium!! you may want to have your doctor do some inner ear testing to see if it's an inner ear problem. my problem started out just like yours, not very often, when i was super stressed, and progressed over a long period of time to a bout of dizziness that had me in bed for almost a week. i finally had enough and went to the doc and did some tests (had to go to two different docs, first said there was no problem and i knew he was wrong) and after some freaky testing i was diagnosed with a inner ear problem. all the symptoms of meniere's disease but no severe hearing loss! if you have insurance, go get some testing done! good luck!
Sounds to me like the vertigo is related to anxiety and you need to seek out the diagnosis from another dr. I have vertigo from my allergies and sinuses and have to take a decongestant daily and use Nasonex. I also have anxiety issues but that was before the vertigo ever started so I'd venture to say its' anxiety and not vertigo
benedryl may help with nausea, but of course will make you tired.
there are vitamins and/or herbs that may help. Different thoughts on this, but since you mention this occurs when going through a change stress comes to mind and an herbal stress reliever might do the trick.
there are other "brain" type herbs that could help as well. I'm a Shaklee Distributor and I've heard our mental acuity can help.
Contact me if i can help you. I'm so sorry. Vertigo is yucky!
What kind of doctor did you see? If it was a general practitioner, he may not know everything there is to know about vertigo. You should schedule an appointment with an Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) doctor who can do specialized tests to make sure if it is generalized vertigo or a specific type of vertigo called BPPV (you can google it to find more about it). If it is BPPV, it is highly treatable with physical therapy as Donita had said. Just make sure you the person you see is a certified vestibular therapist.
Ask your Dr. to refer you to a physical therapist. I used to work at a PT clinic and we saw several vertigo patients. 100% of them were better after 1 visit.
It's your vestibular system. You need to get to a balance clinic or occupational therpaist who does The Astronaut Program or something similiar.
I have never experienced vertigo myself, but my mom and s-i-l have so I know how bad it can be. With my mom, it ended up having something to do with crystals in her ears that were out of allignment - apparently we all have these crystals and they play a role in our equilibrium. Sometimes they can get out of whack and cause dizziness. My mom was given some very specific exercises to do to realign the crystals, and the doctor she saw also did some special moves and it all helped her get rid of it. Perhaps you can call a few ear, nose, and throat Drs and find one that is familiar with dealing with this issue, or look it up online and you may be able to find the moves to do yourself. Hope this helps & best of luck to you!
Hi Jilly,
When I had vertigo, they said it was viral, but there may be other forms. They told me to use dramamine and it made me really sleepy. All you can do is wait it out, if it is vertigo. Mine was bad enough to send me to the emergency room, and if you need them to see it in progress, you might consider doing that. Maybe you could go today and that way, you can see a doctor while it is going on and maybe they can help you sort it out and make it not last so long. When I went to the emergency room with vertigo, it was something that they saw in there frequently, so it would not be unexpected!
I would try to get checked out!
M.
