I had a new experience with the vertigo this week. It came on after a long hot weekend, I got dehydrated from the heat and playing 2 outdoor gigs in two days. On Sunday, I was moderately dizzy and nauseous for 2 separate stretches of maybe 4 hours each. Enough to keep me down most of the day, but not enough to call it an episode. I attributed this to the dehydration, since I felt better Sunday evening. Monday I woke up groggy, but felt well enough to do normal stuff. It was a rainy day in Houston, so we stayed inside most of the day. Early Tuesday morning, I woke up with loud tinnitus, ear feeling full again, and a throbbing headache. I took all my supplements, and although my stomach was starting to feel uncomfortable I had a small breakfast and some coffee. I had two errands to run, then some work to catch up on. I tried to work, but could not concentrate. Then the room started to spin to the right... I laid down and tried to brace myself for an episode. Whenever I closed my eyes, I would feel a strong sensation of falling backwards through space. Whenever I opened my eyes, I would sense the room spinning around me slowly to my right - not at all like the severe rotational vertigo I had in my first few episodes, with everything spinning and tilting wildly in all directions at once - but no less disconcerting. This went on for about 4 1/2 hours, then the falling backwards feeling tapered off and the room seemed still again. I stood up slowly, took two steps and felt my head being jerked sharply to the left. Sort of like being a fish getting hooked and yanked sideways. I lost any sense of balance and almost fell down, then felt my head being jerked again to the left. This happened three or four times over the next 20 minutes. I went back to bed and slept for 12 hours. Wednesday I was back to normal - just a little groggy. So - what's with the feeling of being hooked like a fish and getting pulled suddenly to the left?
Could be cervicogenic vertigo since you probably have to keep your hea down and tilted when you play your instrument.
never heard of this... will have to check into it... thanks! I do have a tendency to tilt my head when playing, I think, due to not hearing so well on the right side
It gets really hot and humid here in Houston. I've gotten moderately dehydrated a few times over the last couple years - it has always resulted in day or two of feeling mildly dizzy and nauseous, but not quite a full episode. One time I played outside for 3 hours in mid-July... It was awful..!
I can remember one of my worst vertigo attacks being caused by dehydration. It seems odd, the docs suggest diuretics to keep excess fluid out of your system but if you become dehydrated you could be prone to a severe vertigo attack. I suggest you stay hydrated, my vertigo attack that day put me down for 48 hours. Not fun.
I am staying hydrated, cut back on the coffee, and staying out of the heat. It has been a very long week indeed. I have also been taking a Benadryl twice a day along with my normal supplements the past few days. Tinnitus is down, fullness is gone, and balance is about as good as I have had this year so far. Jeez... it is already June. I am just now figuring out my business plan for the year! One thing for sure - any more outdoor concerts are out....! Happy Days to all - and FIGHT ON, as they say in southern California...!
Hi Vicki: Thanks! the benadryl is just the otc brand, 25mg of Diphenhydramine. I do not feel any sleepiness from it.
Sounds like combination of nasty vertigo and near drop attack? Sorry to hear it. Yuck. It sucks!! My vertigo attacks have changed, too - much faster onset, little warning. Some attacks I'm less nauseated if I keep my eyes open, sometimes I'm better to keep them shut. I use dimenhydrinate (in Canada is Gravol) and Ativan or clonazepam or imovane. I carry Gravol and Ativan or clon anywhere I go.
I'm not sure it helps with the vertigo... For me, once that starts there is no stopping it - I just need to find a flat space and try to hang onto something. I don't ever try to swallow stuff while it is going on either... not even water. My experience with vertigo has been different over my past few episodes - this most recent episode especially with a relatively mild attack on Sunday, then a day off, and then the spinning room and the violent jerking sideways thing on Tuesday. Taking the benadryl was an attempt to knock the inflammation down by drying my ears out. We have it in the cupboard for my wife, who had a weird reaction to formaldehyde fumes last fall (which is an entirely different story in itself). I don't know if it worked, or the episode was just winding itself down already, or if I did something else that helped - it was all a blur for me while it was going on. :-\
Imasteeler, If you can't swallow any meds - have you tried meds that melt in your mouth (dissolvable Gravol, Ativan sublingual), or a suppository? I have a nurse friend who offered to come by and give me injectables if I got a prescription from a doctor. I haven't had to go that drastic yet, but I know some cities/communities have nurses who will do such house calls. Hope this might help the misery!
Thanks, AnneT. I am always cautious of putting stuff in my stomach when dizzy - it is not that I cannot, it is that I choose not to specifically so that whatever is already churning around in there can hurry up and get it over with... Last week in between the dizzy spells I also took VertiCalm (25 mg meclizine) and Vertigoheel, which is supposed to be dissolved under the tongue. But I just read this on Wiki about Benadryl (Diphenhydramine): "Diphenhydramine also has antiemetic properties, which make it useful in treating the nausea that occurs in motion sickness" I was looking for the antihistamine effect, not this... but if it helps with nausea, even better!
I've alos read it help with dizziness and vertigo Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) Diphenhydramine (Benadryl), blocks the effects of histamine in the body. This antihistamine treats the symptoms of allergies and colds. It induces sleep and treats the symptoms of motion sickness. It treats mild forms of Parkinson's disease. Diphenhydramine treats the dizziness of vertigo and helps patients relax enough to fall asleep.
My neuro-otologist recommended Epival as a preventative medication that is helpful for migraine and Meniere's sudden onset vertigo and drop attacks. I'm going to wait and see how I am with less stress, and trying some other lifestyle things to decrease any migraine component or triggers for the vertigo, but nice to know I can try it if I want.
What I have learned from studying vertigo is that your left ear stopped sending signals so your body thought you where falling to the right so it jerked you left. I always fall to the right. Here is the video I found very helpful. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/streams-of-consciousness/2014/05/12/what-is-vertigo-video/
Thanks, Karenplus8 - this is a good video. Whenever I try to explain the vertigo to people, many times they cannot grasp just how disconcerting the feeling is. They seem to believe there should be some kind of pill I could take... This video explains it very well, in easy to understand terms.