My daughter had vertigo a few months ago. The doctor had her lay in various positions to see which ones made her dizzy. He diagnosed her with positional vertigo. He said drugs would not help in her case, and gave her several exercises to do at home. The exercises worked and she does not have vertigo now.

"Life is too short. Buy the purse."

I had a day or two of that last year and mentioned it to my doctor after the fact. I asked if there was any med I could take if it happened again. She showed me an exercise to do and said there really is no medication to help. I know it really is a horrid feeling, especially if you, like me, live alone.

"People will forget what you said. They will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

I've had vertigo for probably 25 years now. I have a lot of sinus/drainage issues and tend to have fluid in my ears frequently. Originally I was prescribed meclizine, until it came out OTC as a travel sickness med, along with good decongestants and antihistimines. It is an awful feeling - it just had me home from work 2 weeks ago. I wish you luck!

You were born an original - don't die a copy.

There really isn't a test...just a bunch of questions from both my doctor and then the therapist my doctor sent me to.

I had to go to therapy because mine was so bad...they make you lie down on one side until the spinning stops then they make you sit back up until the spinning stops...they do this on both sides and on your back and stomach. I had to do this everytime I went to therapy and I went to therapy for 3 weeks until mine stopped...the key is to keep your eyes open and focus on one thing until your dizziness stops...if your eyes are closed they can't focus on a black hole. Plus I have to carry Meclizine with me at all times just in case.

The therapy isn't fun and it is rough but knowing that someone can help you makes it a little less scary.

Dear God - Please make me as good of a person as my dog thinks I am.

On 3/8/2012 lobstergal said:

I don't understand why doctors tell people that there is no medication they can take for Vertigo because that is absolutely not true. The one I was prescribed is called Antivert.

That's the one they put me on too - I couldn't remember the name of it when I posted a while ago!

Antivert is the same as meclizine. So many people have vertigo problems it went over the counter about 5 years ago. They have lots of different brands. It may say for motion sickness or sea sickness but it is what they have you use for vertigo. Really makes you sleepy.

I occasionally get positional vertigo. The doctor generally does some coordination testing to determine if it's a stroke and so far - so good. Just vertigo.

Doctor recommended that I keep Dramamine II (meclizine) on hand.

I don't remember any tests. Mine was due to an inner ear infection both times I had it.

"We're all mad here." - The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland

I also have positional vertigo. The "Epley Maneuver" does work. My doctor told me NO MEDICINE. It is very scary to have this and hopefully yours will go away. I am on the 15th friend who has had it or did have it. If it were not for them describing to me when it happened I would have thought I was dying.

The cause of my vertigo was diagnosed by a neurologist. I had crystals in my inner ear--positional vertigo. I went to a physical therapist who was trained in this area. After weeks of doing specific exercises to move these crystals, I was fine and have had no recurrence! Good luck, jmn!!! Dizziness is really awful, isn't it?

I don't usually write anything on the boards but this one caught my eye. Last fall I had what you are describing, severe dizziness, nausea, I can really say, the worst feeling I have ever had! Sometimes it lasted 15 to 30 minutes but sometimes much longer, mild dizziness, close my eyes for a while and it would pass. Other times so severe I wanted to call 911, it just didn't feel like anything I ever had before. The big problem, I found,was not knowing when it was going to hit me so driving was out of the question. I went to the ear, nose and throat doctor after about 3 weeks, he saw right away that I had fluid in my inner ear. He put me on a no added salt diet for a month, it really didn't improve much. When I went back on Dec 14 he put me on a diaretic, Diamox. I take 250 mg a day to dry the fluid, I can thankfully say, I have not had a single episode of dizziness since!!! He doesn't know how long I'll be on it, I see him every 2 months but as long as its working I don't care. I hope you have success in treating your problem, if your doctor doesn't suggest Doamox, you might mention it to him. He also gave me meds if I do get dizzy but I have never had to use them. Good luck and let us know how you made out.

I had a really bad episode of vertigo while at work. Not a good scene. To make it home I had to stop 4 times in a 40 minute period to take a nap, just to feel normal enough to continue to drive to get home to bed. Went to DR. and she gave me some migraine meds, because I was getting alot of headaches too. I never used the migraine meds. I did have two more smaller episodes after that. On a whim I decided to have a delayed response food allergy test. I found I am very "sensitive" to many odd foods I would never think to be allergic too. I cut those foods out, one in particular that I would have daily, was tea. I have since stopped drinking any kind of tea.

I will say I have been feeling MUCH better. No more headaches, or dizziness. I am not here to sell anything, but to let you know what a difference this has made in my life.

Good luck.