Strange Worsening Dizziness

[jingles1987]

Hello All,

I had a weird experience recently. Like something I've never felt before and was wondering if anyone has experienced this or maybe I should see someone about this.

So, on may 19th, my wife and I had our house robbed. We lost a few things, but ultimately no one was harmed and aside from a lack of sleep it seemed like I was doing okay with everything. My in-laws had come down for support and for some friendly faces. On satuday, I had something very strange happen where I was doing some neck stretches since I had a headache then all of a sudden I started to feel dizzy. I got up to walk around and the dizziness kept getting worse and worse. Then, within about 30min I ended up vomiting and had vertigo/dizziness like I've never felt before (and I've had pots for 7 years).

Since then the dizziness has been extremely bad. Worse then what it used to be. It just worries me because everyone just goes "oh it's anxiety"... when I've had anxiety/panic attacks/etc. so I'm not unfamilir with anxiety and how it effects me but it has NEVER done this.

It's the only symptom that has gotten worse over the years. I was managing for so long (good days and bad), but for the most part I felt good. Now, I always feel like I'm going fall over.

Any thoughts on what it could be? What helps your dizziness?

[jingles1987]

I also forgot to mention that I've been having pain in my left ear... not sure if it's related.

[m@t]

Could it be BPPV as you were moving your head about at the time?

http://patient.info/health/benign-paroxysmal-positional-vertigo-leaflet

[Nymph]

It sounds like it may be related to your ear. Hope that it either resolves or you find answers soon!

[shathaway0811]

Definitely could be related to your ear. When you were doing the neck stretches you could have easily triggered vertigo by doing something to your inner ear. Good news is, nothing really to worry about if that's what it is. I would just see your primary care person and they'll tell you if you need to see an ENT What you're describing sounds like vertigo, exactly.

[DizzyGirls]

When my daughter gets stressed, I mean good things and bad stress, her vertigo goes haywire. Both of my daughters have had vertigo for about 7 years. We are just now linking it to their POTS. Your maneuvers with your neck could have possibly triggered it, but my gut says that I'll bet the stress of the robbery has triggered it. It's a very traumatic thing to have someone break into your house. I know that my one daughter also has TMJ and that also goes along with ear pain and worsens her vertigo. They take meclizine to help it. You may want to try 25 mg. Also, phenergan will help with the nausea. I don't think I would take those both together, as they are both a type of antihistamine. Best wishes to you!

[outofadream]

Hi jingles, sounds like you've been having a rough month so far…so sorry to hear about your house and the dizziness both :/

Sounds like it could well be worth talking to someone about the dizziness, if only to get a better idea of what might be going on and possibly some relief? It sounds like it's been a pretty miserable experience so far. It's frustrating too when you get the sense that what's going on isn't anxiety, but you don't know for sure what the heck IS going on.

I'd be curious to know, do you get the dizziness when you're still, or only when you move your head or body? Does it get worse when you change levels, like sitting to standing? Does anything seem to make it better or worse? Sometimes seems like the answers to those questions can help narrow down the list of possibilities.

For what it's worth, I've found this site to be enormously helpful in trying to track down causes of dizziness: http://vestibular.org/understanding-vestibular-disorder/types-vestibular-disorders. They have a pretty extensive list of possible causes, and what specific symptoms go along with each. There are some possibilities that could be connected with the ear pain you've been having, and some that could potentially be triggered by neck or head movements as well.

I really hope you start to feel better soon. Having dealt with dizziness (both related to POTS and bad environmental allergies), I know it can get pretty disheartening and unsettling feeling off balance all the time like that. Hang in there, and hope everything stabilizes soon!

[jingles1987]

So, a sort of good news/bad news is that I figured out what was causing this crazy sudden onset and it turns out I ended up getting Labyrinthitis. I had some trouble with me ears prior to this episode but it's allergy season and I am allergic to everything under the sun so I thought it would just go away AND I've had ear infections before that just usually clear up on their own.

It seems like though with the stress of what happened with the break-in that it lowered my immune system enough to where the infection could go crazy. It eventually turned into a sinus infection as well. So, the good news is that I was able to figure out what went wrong before going too in-depth with prescriptions and everything else.

The bad news, is I already started on Benzo's AND there's a slight possibility that something could have gotten damaged with my ears. Also, there's not a lot anyone can do to heal this other then maybe help with some of the symptoms. Thankfully this actually did turn into a sinus infection as well so I am on antibiotics so if it was caused by an infection then this should help clear that up, but there's no garuantee.

So, it won't be fun getting off the benzo's and there might be some residual, but all in all I am very greatful that this didn't turn into anything worse. Hopefully other people will find this experience helpful if (God forbid) you go through this. The most frustrating part was that everyone wanted to jump on the anxiety band-wagon. I've had POTS for over 6 years. I know ALLLLL about anxiety. I've had my share of panic attacks, anxiety, agoraphobia, social anxiety... you name it, but I've learned to know what triggers things so I can avoid things.

It's tiring having to be my own doctor which has been the case for the past 6+ years, so for those that are or have been frustrated with their doctors. I am right there with you. There are times that I wonder why I even bother going to the doctor (unless it's for antibiotics or allergy related stuff). Half the time I feel like I need to limit what I tell them because if I tell them everything they'll focus in on the simple answer and stop listening.

Okay, enough ranting. Thank you to those who responded, especially about inner ear problems. It lead me to get on the right track and figure out what was actually going on.

[Nymph]

I'm glad that you found answers and hopeful that this will clear up completely with no permanent damage!

[outofadream]

Hi again jingles, I hear you on the rant. It's insanely frustrating when you KNOW how anxiety feels, and you get the sense that what's going on isn't that….but those around you keep saying or hinting maybe it is anyway. Very aggravating, so glad you found the real culprit.
Hope you're doing OK, I've heard labyrinthitis can be pretty rough. Hope the antibiotics are at least clearing up the infections, and that the benzo withdrawal is going without too many hitches too. Sounds like a heck of a month, I can imagine you're very ready for something to be getting better!