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Effective relief from chronic dizziness.

Posted , 4 users are following.

brian40174
brian40174

I've been suffering with constant vertigo, frequent head and neck ache and nausea for just over a year. Until recently my symptoms have been completely debilitating and have forced me to put my life on hold. No diagnosis as yet but it's almost certainly a vestibular problem of some sort.

A while ago I noticed that the symptoms were pretty much absent while I was eating. So I started chewing gum, which miraculously gave almost instant relief. Unfortunately my dizziness returns within 30 seconds of stopping chewing, but at least it's given me a means of functioning during the day, and it's far cheaper, safer and infinitely more effective than taking medication.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone who's either tried the chewing thing with any success, or is willing to give it a go.  

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • DizzyLizzy68
    DizzyLizzy68 brian40174

    Posted

    I have never experienced this myself, but two things come to mind.

    First, chewing gum is known to equalize the pressure in the middle ear via the eustachian tube. So I suppose it is possible that there could be some Eustachian Tube Dysfunction going on.

    Secondly, chewing involves the jaw complex. Tempromandibular joint dysfunction (TMD) can cause dizziness, neck and head pain. I have this condition. I was made a specialized bite guard and went to physical therapy. I was very skeptical that it would help dizziness, but it did.

    So maybe get checked out for Eustachian tube dysfunction by an ENT. And get a trusted referral to a dentist specializing in TMD. Be careful not to just pick a dentist randomly who claims to treat this. There are a lot of them out there who are not very good. Also be very skeptical if the say u need jaw surgery. These last 2 bits of advice came from my neurologist.

    Hopefully someone else will come along here with some additional possibilities for you.

    • brian40174
      brian40174 DizzyLizzy68

      Posted

      Hi DizzyLizzy, 

      Thanks for responding. I think there's definitely a good chance of one or other of my Eustachian tubes being involved as you say, but really interested to hear that you have a TMD problem which gave you symptoms of dizziness. I researched TMD last week and from what I could ascertain, the incidence of dizziness with TMD is very low - around 0.7% according to a study I dug up involving around 1300 people  - so I'd discounted it, but maybe I shouldn't have. It would be great if you could describe the dizziness you experienced with your TMD in some detail; I've read that dizziness experienced by sufferers can be quite unique to the condition. Many thanks in anticipation.

  • DizzyLizzy68
    DizzyLizzy68 brian40174

    Posted

    Brian, I had a diagnosis of vestibular migraine which I agree with. I was treated with medication and got better (also did migraine diet). Historically, all of my regular migraines have been on the left side. I also have what are called trigeminal symptoms on the left (left nasal congestion, left eye watering). Also pressure on left. My tinnitus is on left as well. Base of skull pain on left increased, and left facial pain increased, both to the point that I thought I was going into chronic migraine, and might become disabled. The dizziness was not true vertigo, but more like on a boat, and imbalance. I also felt like my head was slow pulling in a slow spin, and I'd have to grab onto something. Again, I thought it was chronic migraine so went back to Neuro. Neuro listened to my symptoms and said could be TMJ. Sent me off to physical therapy for jaw. I was TOTALLY skeptical and thought I was being blown off. I was amazed to see marked improvement after one session. This therapist specialized in this. She explained that where the nerves come in near the jaw, if there's degeneration or muscle spasm, the messages from the nerves get crossed and confused. I also had low level ear and throat pain that I didn't realize were part of the jaw issue. She was also treating my neck and said I had a bad neck. I didn't think anything about that statement at the time. But I recently had cervical spine MRI, and I have terrible facet arthritis and herniated disc/pinched nerve all on the left! So for me, the Neuro thinks it's all connected. I am looking at an epidural to the c-spine and more phys therapy to avoid surgery.

  • biliarydyskines
    biliarydyskines brian40174

    Posted

    i have  all the symptoms you have . But i also have a gallstones  and non working gallbladder. Dizziness varies drastically depending on my digestion. Do you have any issues with digestion or gallstones or non working gallbladder?
    • brian40174
      brian40174 biliarydyskines

      Posted

      Nope, digestion seems to be working as it should, so in my case I can't link symptoms with gallbladder etc. 

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