Is it even worth trying Propranlol now?

It transpired I was sent for tests and possible treatment for BPPV. This is after I had specifically stated in the consultation that I knew it wasn't this condition as the sense of spinning I have is constant - it is not dependant on any particular head postion. I am sure I have had viral neuritis in January as I have had it previously and recognise the symptoms.

What I did find out from talking to the hospital technicians is that another nearby hospital (but outside my health authority) is a centre of excellence for balance problems. It has a suite of modern equiptment and balance physios.

Please remember that the NHS can be very basic indeed - I would bet that most GPs and many ENT specialist cannot even name one neuro-otologist.

I would suggest you try to acertain if there is any centre of excellence for balance near you and specifically request a referal. It sounds like your November appointment might be helpful but if it is a one man outfit in a small hospital that consultant might not have the back up of testing equiptment and reabilitation staff.

I would be very reluctant to take any medication without a diagnosis. It could be both helpful (and a little cunning) to enquire of your GP precisely how Propanolol would work, and if it is licened for your specific (undiagnosed) condition. If you do not get a clear answer I would not take it - unless you do not object to the human guinepig approach of lets just take it and see what happens.

My own theory is there has been a particular viral strain this winter that has effected balance in some people. I have spoken to at 3 people who have had, or know someone, who has had bad vertigo for the first time in their lives this winter. As I have had it before (in 1998) and it left me with some residual balance issues and ocassional flair-ups, this time I think I am taking longer to recover. Viral geographical outbreaks have been reported occassionally in the medical scientific literature for decades. I have also noted some studies where it has been observed that the affects can last in some people for months or even years, some feel neaqrly fully recovered but testing seems to show long lasting deficits. I think it makes sense that if an area of the body is damaged once, the 2nd attack might take longer to recover from, or at least learn to compensate for the damage.

I think you can pick up from the medical literature that there is an assumption that you get over it in a couple of weeks (some GPs also assume the same). After that then questions about mental issues (caused by anxiety etc). However, more detailed testing longterm testing by specialist teams has shown long term effects.

It could be that Amytriptiline (an antidepressant) was prescribed for a suspected mental health issue. It is also prescribed, at lower doses for prifiral nerve damage (as a pain killer). I have taken it for the latter (for an unrelated issue to balance) and I could not even function on it. I was in total daze. I think this is very unhelpful if you balance is already out of kilter. So, as I say, you do not have to put up with been treated as guinepig from medical guesswork.

All respect to those professionals that fully admit they do not have any answers but are willing to try something - but lets not pretend that this is scientific.

One day at a time hey!

P.S. My concentration also quite impaired and initally couldn't string a sentence together. See my previous thread for other details as there are a number of similarities.       

I have pretty much what you have described, inlcuding the concetration issues which makes it very difficult to socilaize (not that is much of an option at presnt) and occasional speech issues (this normally happens if I have tried to do too much or been in the company of others for too long).  The dizziness, which is like being on board a boat, is 24/7 but does vary in severity from day to day.  I am not sure how this started although I did have an ulcer on the cornea (like a cold sore on the lip) in November 2014 and then the massive vertigo attack happened December 2014.

Although I am on a company health insurance scheme I am 6 months into the illness, without any improvement (in fact the condition worsened from around April 2015) and still going for tests (I hyave had 2 x MRI and an MRA scan also).  I have to attend the London Road clinic in Leicetser today (a centre of excellence for this type of illbness) for over 2 hours of balance tests and will be seeing a top Otologist later on.  I am really hoping that they will be able to give some positive news and prescribe a course of action that will work!.

Like many others on the forum I have been told that anxiety is playing a large part in my recovery but I have been diagnosed with acute VN. At the start I carried out the Cawthorne Cooksey excersises but was not told how long to keep this up, as I could feel no improvement I stopped.

I was able to work for the first month but soon had to stop and have now been off for 5 months.  My company are now getting fidgety about this as i can't predict when I am likely to get better.

I certainly sympathise with all thopse on the forum going through this, in this day and age you would think that sosmoeone would have come up with a drug that could successfully resolve this type of issue.

Anyway, I do hope you start to feel some inmprovment, although they say that time is the great healer.

Best wishes

Laurence