Dizziness is not vertigo!

If you are barfing your guts out until you think your stomach will be projected into the toilet or the bucket and the world is spinning out of control and you cannot walk or stand or any such thing and it lasts or hours and maybe you get diarrhea simultaneously and hot and cold sweats and you think you are dying and no sound, no light, don't touch me, just love me and it lasts for hours and horrifies anyone who witnesses it and afterwards you are utterly exhausted then you have vertigo. Anything else is dizziness to one degree of another.
THAT is vertigo.

Folks come on posting that they have vertigo and they do not. It is awful, horrid and violent.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

I agree, and that has been my life the last 3 weeks about every other day or so. I have had dizziness also and there is a huge difference, I can function being dizzy, I can not when the vertigo hits.

I do see on this site people describing that that have vertigo 24/7 which I believe they are confusing dizziness with vertigo.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

Ok, I definitely am NOT experiencing Vertigo as defined by you folks who truly are suffering with it. - I definitely AM experiencing dizziness and a spinning of the world that I have never, ever experienced before. I can walk and function but drunkenly - I can think clearly but time goes by either really slow or really fast - i.e. I will look at my watch after an eternity of dizziness and only a minute will have gone by - or sometimes it seems like only a minute and 20 minutes went by - very strange and scary. So far only 3 episodes but I ride a Motorcycle and this has me freaked out.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

Buzz, I hope you never get vertigo. Wht you are experiencing is disconcerting enough.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

I would like to add to the vertigo symptoms.

There is NO WAY that you can be on the computer typing away at the same time you are experiencing true vertigo...NO WAY possible!

You have all you can do from visiting the ER room...and many (who are not used to it or have no meds to help..not that you can keep them down) do end up there the first time it happens to you.

Think of when you were a kid and you went round and round on a merry go round and got off...that immediate feeling....only WORSE!

It's horrible. period

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

Paul, you said that well.
If a person can maintain any sort of upright position, be it sitting or standing, and can function in any capacity, then they don't have true vertigo. I have witnessed my dear wife's vertigo attacks first hand, and they are indeed violent, vicious, ugly, and scary.
I too wish everyone could get it straight, and maybe spare some new ones a little confusion.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

That IS generally what I do mean (with the exception of the light - absence of light makes matters worst!).
But don't know about unable to do anything (Sorry Bergie) - yes even using a computer becomes difficult, but just find a good angle so the monitor is not spinning that much, and your fine (you should not have to see the keyboard, since it's just a standard typewriter setup, so, if you can type without looking at that keyboard...). However, it may be that bad initially (has happened to me), but so intense, after medication, no...
Exhaustion is a definite, but I found ways to put an end to that (but my methods will make the other stuff worst for some, and dose end up making even me more exhausted latter - but gets me through what I was working on at the time; mainly what I am after - not having to stop, or not do anything because of it.)
Now at first, just about anything forget about - but after time and experimenting (even with "forbidden fruit")....

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

Red, one cannot do anything with vertigo, but you say you can work the computer. No way, sir! Difficult does not touch it when the vertigo comes. Who would even try to use the computer? It takes every bit of energy just to exist when the physical world is a maelstrom of utter and complete ...well, just read the previous posts.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

Sorry Red...but I did have dizziness 24/7, for over a year and taking valium and other meds to keep it at bay. Believe me, I DO know the difference between dizziness and vertigo. With vertigo you can barely make it to the toilet to vomit your guts out (sorry...but I DO want people to fully understand the difference), you pray that you don't pass out from vomiting so hard and the whole time the room is spinning and you can't possibly walk straight. It feels like you just got off a fast spinning merry go round and can't possibly walk so you CRAWL back to bed or a chair and you can ONLY sit or lay still til it subsides...which is usually hours down the road. All you want to do is sleep. You question if you would be better off going to the hospital...especially if you are alone.


Dizziness is a woozy feeling.

There is a HUGE difference...I swear!

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

I pray to God I never experience true vertigo. It's bad enough living with the symptoms I do have. For someone as vomitophobic as myself, vertigo has an additional horrifying dimension - if that's even imaginable.

Now, having said that, is it possible to have true vertigo and NOT thow up?

George

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

That's right Gardenfish...you hit the nail on the head...vertigo is horrible and you can not function with it and anyone that has had vertigo knows the difference.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

Amen to that G-fish! My goal everyday is to try to make it through the day the best I can regardless of what amount of dizziness, fatigue, nausea I might be having BUT if the vertigo hits, that's it...game over....tilt....game, set, match....whatever. I've never even been close to being able to function with vertigo and can't imagine ever getting there. It's orders of magnitude worse than any of the other discomforts...MANY orders of magnitude.

Bob

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

I hear ya on that one Bergie!The woozy feeling is what I have everyday.As much as it stinks I'll take that over vertigi ANY DAY!I have experienced that too.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

I am laughing so hard I am crying. The fish has it right about vertigo. I have found that the room is really not spinning though. Took me a while to figure that out. My friends swore it was competely motionless. I argued back and was confused they didnt see it too....and why I was the only one barfing. As I became more enlightened I discovered it was my ear telling my brain to make my eyes jerk back and forth at light speed. My own private amusement ride gone awry. Now I just pop a dissolve in your mouth xanax, fall to the ground, put my finger tips lightly on my eyelids, feel the jerking and tell myself the room is not moving. Sounds crazy but it helps....dont get sick near as often....i just lay there until the wild eye movement, slows to slight jerking.....then slowing changes to minor twiches....then stops. (2-4 hours?) Time to get up and crawl to bed for a few hours sleep. Hopefully when I wake up I will only have moderate residual dizziness (not vertigo) and can stagger down the hall to get a coke. Ugh. Weclome to our world. But many have it worse....so I am happy for the steady moments and savor each minute of life. Ahhh. That first cup of coffee in the morning. Doesnt get much better than that. Sid.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

Good description, paul.
Bought back some nightmarish memories!

Unfortunately, there are people out there who believe vertigo is a fear of heights!
There was a drama on tv where a man was at the top of a ladder, too scared to climb down....someone said...'He'll be ok, it's just vertigo' ...someone helped him down and he was ok!! ???

Bad publicity!

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

very good post. Most of us do deal with daily dizzies, etc that can leave to so tired. But nothing like the horror of the big V. I literally make myself not think about the next time or I get upset.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

When this first started (2003)I was hit so hard with vertigo where I had to hold the wall, close one eye and stumble to my bed. Then i was vomiting and diarreah same time spinning on bathroom floor, awful. NO possible way i could do anything!!! That went on for 2hrs! As time went on and I changed my lifestyle things got better and now when the beast hits with it's true vertigo i do not vomit, just hellacious vertigo...upside down, all around vertigo. Yes Cara, i too don't like to think of the horror of it, it's been almost a year since i've had one!

I've had months of daily dizzies wITH vertigo mixed in here and there but by no means was it violent rotational vertigo when you hang on for life as your world flips upside down, all around.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

Good explanation. New people are understandably confused though because the dictionary definition uses dizziness as a synonym and does not make the distinction you do.

And I am really glad I don't have it.

 

Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

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Re: Vertigo is not dizziness!

Well, Point is, I have had all that there.
Just and when it first happened, nothing but time would get it down enough.
But being one that point blank refuses to allow anything to get in the way of anything - eventually found substances to allow "just do it anyway' - not fun, but.....
I keep saying it's similar to being so drunk the alcohol is making you vomit - but a bit more violent on the vomiting, and no euphoria.
And when I was younger, I used to do all kinds of things like that so...
But perhaps it's just me (based on the past, that would nor be surprising at all) - BUT regardless of all the experiments, still have not found anything that dose it fast enough for me - got concoctions that will get it down it minutes, but looking for seconds!
And no not totally, but enough to function - no where near at the best it could be.
It's just that, and constantly attempting, and use sometimes that involves something that is not legal at all - but I just don't care, as long as it works (but refuse to mention that part of it to any doc). (Example: if caffeine is too weak to get rid of the exhaustion, there are other substances that for sure will).
Since I'm told there is no "cure", then treat the symptoms, and do it in a quick matter - speed is everything.
But it's still not fast enough for say using a car in the "fast-lane" without pulling over to the shoulder for a little while - and there is where my problem is - I want it fast enough to act where even doing 80 or more, no need to even slow down because it will work in 1 second or less - that I've yet to find, but won't give up until I do (legal or not).
And yes have actually had to be carried in to a docs office, because of this, but by the time the doc actually came in, no problem (just won't say how I did it - my wife knows, but she keeps her mouth shut as well so...).