Surgery unsuccessful because MAV?

I think if you are truly unilateral, the severe vertigo attacks *should* end. At least for a laby. I guess for a VNS if they fail to sever the nerve all the way there's a chance you can still get vertigo.

I have had zero vertigo since my laby in July but in the last couple months my dizziness has kicked up. My doc had suspected all along I have vestibular migraine as well. I'm going to see him soon and likely start some meds to see if it will help. It's nothing like the debilitating vertigo I'd been dealing with prior to surgery, though.

 

PND, I hope you find good answers and effective treatment.

 

It’s hard to describe. It’s definitely not rotational (vertigo) at all. It feels often like my head is going to float off my body. I guess that’s lightheadedness? I think of lightheadedness though as the feeling you might get if you get up too fast when your blood sugar is low. This is different. More of an imbalance feeling. My tinnitus also fluctuAtes and the dizziness seems to increase when the sound gets louder. I’ve also got new (quieter) tinnitus cropping up in my good ear.

The dizziness goes away completely when I’m lying down or in a moving car. Surprisingly it also felt better last week when I was on a moving cruise ship on vacation. I was so worried the motion of the ship would mess me up further but it felt a lot better. On port days on solid land I noticed the dizziness ramp up again.

 

Like you're walking on a trampoline?

 

Yes, oftentimes it does feel like I’m walking on a trampoline.

 

AnneT. I've had gent shots, a shunt, and 2 vns. Still have dizziness. I went on a Migraine diet before, and it didn't help. I didn't do it strict enough maybe. Guess I'll try it again. It's such a bore doing the MD diets, since it takes months (no MD diet results should actually take months when you think about it) and the success rate is a coin toss.

Anyway, there was a guy who recently told me he's much better now since he found out his was Migraine related. He used to post here. So that's hopeful.

 

AnneT, not sure what your asking, so I'll go on a bit. I'm not bilateral (at least not that I'm aware). Both VNS surgeries were on same ear. I haven't had a spinning attack in about a year. (However they were a month to months after my 1st VNS. Proving the VNS didn't work). To answer your other question about the type of dizziness after a VNS. In the first week after, you're pretty dizzy with bouncing vision. Then slowly gets better. For a successful VNS, it should almost fully resolve your feeling of dizziness/instability in 6 months to a year. For an UNsuccessful VNS, you just feel like you always did. In my case, I describe it as having a few too many drinks. Or like walking on a fishing tour boat. Also a key term linked with Meniere's is "fluctuating". Obviously meaning the degree of unsteadiness goes up and down. During the day, and depending on the day.

If you're asking how I can tell if my unsteadiness is just recovery from VNS, or my same old Meniere's...it's because of the fluctuating. I could understand a slow difficult but steadily improving recovery. But it's not. It's all still random/fluctuating.

But, it's "only" a month after surgery, so there's still a chance my problems really are just the recovery turbulence. I'll know for sure in another month or two.

(Sorry if that was too much detail. I tend to respond with future members in mind, who may be confused and wanting clear answers).

 

AnneT. Sectioning the nerve (VNS) would not help MAV.