@qualitygal wrote:
Been dealing with this lately. Saw the doctor yesterday and I'll be doing some therapy to help get the inner ear crystals back in order. This wipes me out and wears me out. So I'm hoping I can get this corrected and things back in order. I get so sick, for days.
Anyone else here, been dealing or have dealt with this?
Yes. Several years back I noticed vertigo under certain circumstances (head movement mostly) and seasonally. I thought it was allergies, but it gradually got worse. My chiro gave me a sheet on Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) (which sounds like what you have, if a doctor did the testing and found crystals) and Ménière’s disease. I had every symptom of Ménière’s, and ironically, had several friends and 1 patient dealing with it at the time. I watched one friend struggle with it, trying therapies and medication that sometimes were worse than actually dealing withthe disease. I figured I would just deal with it, as sometimes people report that it actually goes away.
My husband kept pestering me to go get checked, since he worked with a guy who had BPPV, who went now and then to get "spun around" (some kind of centrifugal thing that repositions the crystals) and he would be fine again for a while. I kept putting it off, knowing that I likely was not going to get answers, and like you said, it;s exhausting. People don't realize that "just going here and just going there" is not "just" anything for someone with this type of disorder. It's physically and mentally exhausting.
I finally agreed to go get checked. The doctor did a series of tests, including a hearing test, and determined that both sides of my vestibulae don't function at all. Basically, a broke head.
They gave me some options: drugs and balance therapy, but even stated that the drugs would likely not do much in my situation and I declined the therapy, as I have excellent balance and the therapy center is 25 miles away...again, I have to weigh the cost of my energy exhaustion versus the potential benefit. I did a lot of research and have found ways to manage, but it's still a real annoyance.
This year, they sent me to a neurologist to try to determine if I have ocular migraines associated with this. The neurologist was really good, but I didn't fit "into her box" and she really had no cut and clear solutions. We discussed drugs, but she stated that most of them have side effects that would likely make me dizzier. No thanks. When I pressed her, she did give me a list of supplements that were clinically studied and helped in some people. I haven't noticed a significant difference on the dizzy front, but I feel a little better overall.
There is a really good site that I found that has a lot of useful information and discusses the different, but similar disorders (BPPV, Ménière’s disease, Vestibular hypofunction).
https://vestibular.org/BVH
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