I am reading more about MAV. One thing that is not clear to me is whether or not MAV can cause the violent, rotational vertigo or only dizziness. When you read "vertigo" it has different meanings to different people. Thanks in advance!
Alas, it causes both. Dizziness is more common, with brief moments of vertigo. It also sometimes causes positional vertigo which mimics BPPV. I my experience (15+ years of vestibular migraine) it doesn't usually cause hours-long rotational vertigo as experienced by menieres sufferers. But having said that...the only thing predictable about vestibular migraine is how unpredictable it can be! Everyone is vastly different with symptoms, triggers, etc.
I am having a difficult month. It started with BPPV which I thought would resolve quickly, instead it has turned in to constant dizziness. I keep thinking this is my typical menieres ramping up but I am on AVs and some of the symptoms have me wondering if this isn't MAV. I read that BPPV can precede a long MAV cycle.
I also have a lot of neurological symptoms. I am unsure if they fit menieres or MAV. My vision "field" doesn't look right, my eyes are tight/difficult to move, my shoulders are tight and bounce/jerk. Does any of this sound remotely familiar? I sound crazy...
GardenGal have you tried meclizine for the dizzy? It is available over the counter (cheap even generic). It works for any time I am dizzy/off balance. (Doesn't help me for full rotational vertigo though.)
People with MAV are three times more likely to have BPPV episodes as well, for reasons scientists don't understand yet.
When I feel really crappy, my eyes can definitely be difficult to move, or it feels... weird and uncomfortable to move them. I think that might be what makes reading a trigger for feeling worse if I'm already over the threshold because of food or something.
Nic - I haven't tried meclizine in a while. I'll will try again, I have some in my pill stash. I haven't had any rotational attacks and my ear is quiet with not much fullness. I am thinking this is not mm. I have been avoiding MAV food triggers for over a week and haven't seen much change. I think it takes months to see a difference? The imbalance is constant. I only feel good when I lay down. I was running 6 days a week and have now been bed bound, unable to even take a walk. Sucks.
That period for me last April, the imbalance/"dizzy" feeling for me was 24/7. I had to touch walls when walking. Had to have a light on at night. Was sick to my stomach. The meclizine (every 4 hrs) helped. Almost immediately I felt a difference. I assume (assume since I didn't go to the dr) that I may have had some sort of ear infection (no pain) or something going on different than normal. I had that 24/7 feeling for a couple of weeks at least before I tried the meclizine.
Nic - were you on AVs at the time? You just worked out of this and you have been fine for another year? I am definitely holding on to walls and not functioning. I had a goal to run 40 miles this month...can't even walk my driveway for the last two weeks. This is such a mind game too. Thanks for your input!!!
That was right before I started a/v. Once the meclizine kicked in, I took them every 4 hrs for about 10 days before it "felt" like I was not off balance again as I get 3+ hrs into dose. I started a/v in May I believe. Have been good since May 2014. My long stretch of off balance was in Apr 2014.
That's not what I wanted to hear! I wanted you to say you were on avs, like me, and that I would be just fine! Haha.
Meclizine every 4 hours? The box I bought says two pills a day. Are there any problems taking meclizine more frequently?
I didn't have to take at night. But during that period within 3 hrs I started feeling off-balance again, so another meclizine. I know for some it makes them really tired, for me during that time it seemed like not having to fight for balance offset the side effect of fatigue. Pill dosage could be different too. Mine are the lower 12.5 mg ones. I was told no more than 100mg per day when I was prescribed initially (before pharmacist told me to buy OTC as it cheaper!).
I find the concept of MAV interesting. I just visited a Neurologist who believes thet head pain and or migraine is the result of the inner ear going off and not the cause of vertigo.
MAV vertigo can last more than 24 hours, MM vertigo lasts less than 24 hrs.. vertigo is not dizziness. http://menieres.org/talk/index.php?topic=1356.0
I was on the Meniere's Disease Team facebook page and they asked the group what they have found helpful in their daily management of your particular symptoms: One of the members sounded like she had MAV, so I thought that I would share her response: " I was diagnosed with 'atypical Menieres'. Nothing worked for me - not the standard drugs, excercises or sodium reduction diet - until a neurologist prescribed a drug that he said for some reason seemed to work well with his atypical patients. It is called Sibelium (Flunarizine). It is a migraine prophylactic. I had had non-stop dizzyness and slow moving vertigo for seven months, bilateral tinnitus, ear pain, nystagmus and perception of movement. I was completely debilitated. Within two weeks the dizziness, vertigo, nystagmus and perception of movement was gone, and stayed away for at least 3 years. I couldn't believe it. I had no side effects either. The only down side was that it wasn't available in Australia, so I had to get government authority and have it ordered into the country, so it was slightly more of a convoluted process that just writing a prescription. I think it might be available in the US, I'm not sure. I know it has long been widely used in Asia and the EU. If you have atypical Meniere's symptoms and have found no relief, I would recommend giving it a try."
From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flunarizine Flunarizine is a drug classified as a calcium channel blocker.[1] Flunarizine is a non-selective calcium entry blocker with other actions including histamine H1 receptor blocking activity. It is effective in the prophylaxis of migraine,[2] occlusive peripheral vascular disease, vertigo of central and peripheral origin, and as an adjuvant in the therapy of epilepsy. It may help to reduce the severity and duration of attacks of paralysis associated with the more serious form of alternating hemiplegia, as well as being effective in rapid onset dystonia-parkinsonism (RDP). Both these conditions share a mutation in the ATP13A gene; flunarizine is not available by prescription in the U.S. or Japan.[3] Flunarizine has been shown to significantly reduce headache frequency and severity in both adults and children. Flunarizine was discovered at Janssen Pharmaceutica in 1968.