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Is this Migraine Associated Vertigo?

Posted , 4 users are following.

alisonj124
alisonj124

Hi all

Need some help.

It started last April, I was out jogging and suddenly the world started rotating at 100mph and I dropped to the floor like I was being pushed down. After about 5 minutes the spinning stopped and I managed to crawl home and went to bed feeling washed out, nauseous and my eyes sockets hurt and it hurt to move my eyes. This feeling then lasted a few days and I felt travel sick. It then happened again about a month later when I was getting changed at home, then again whilst sitting on the sofa talking to a friend on the phone and since then I can have one and then nothing for 3 weeks and then I might have two in a week. I once had 7 in a day. I can't find any pattern to when they happen or what I am doing at the time. I have had an MRI and a CT scan which showed nothing nasty. ENT specialist has put it down to migraine associated vertigo and put me on Pizotifen. They make me groggy even though I take them at night. I feel really down. Work are getting annoyed at me as I am supposed to go out on work events and greet people but as I don't know when they will happen and it would be so awful to have a drop attack in front of 50 people I am on lighter duties and I am not supposed to drive. I feel useless. Patterns make me feel odd and jump out at me, lights in shops or restaurants make me feel like I will have an attack. If I am in an anxious situation I feel more vulnerable to an attack. I just don't know what to do. I am on 1mg of Pizotifen but still have attacks, two in the last week, so doc said to increase to 1.5 then 2 if I need it but I already feel so groggy and foggy headed.

Can anyone relate to this? Does it sound like MAV? Doc has referred me to Neurology now and I am back with ENT on March 21st. At first they thought it was BPV then Menieres then Otoschlerosis and now MAV.

Thanks for reading x

1 like, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • metamorphed
    metamorphed alisonj124

    Posted

    hi alison. how old are you?  I have had migraine for about 5 years.  Some with extreme dizziness like you described.  I just stuck to over the counter meds but then in 2015 had what they called an Atypical migraine and I was kept in hospital overnight.  Could not turn my head without spinning.  I have not had one like this since, just regular migraine but not as frequent but it turns out that my hormones were out of whack and it is the answer as to why I started having them 5 years ago too.  
    • alisonj124
      alisonj124 metamorphed

      Posted

      Hi

      Thanks for your reply.

      I am 37 years old. I just dont feel like I am having a migraine, i am not having awful headaches, its just the sudden onset of rotational vertigo and then feeling awful afterwards, but theres no patten.

      I am feel drowsy on this medication.

      thanks

      alison

    • metamorphed
      metamorphed alisonj124

      Posted

      does the vertigo feeling last long,  I get fleeing dizzy spells, but I am approaching menopause now.  I just turned 40 when I first started strange symptoms, leading to the migraine later.  No change in cycles back then.  just a thought for you.
  • margaret22116
    margaret22116 alisonj124

    Posted

    Hi. Well it certainly could be that but I had a very similar pattern as I was developing an auto immune disease. I went on to develop other symptoms...gut issues then joint pain and so on. I hope that is not what is happening to you but I would advise having a full blood screen which looks at crp esr and ana.

    It is always best I think to try to establish if there is anything else underlying. Quick treatment has better long term outcome. I wasn't able to be diagnosed by a neurologist as it isn't their area of expertise. An immunologist diagnosed me in the end.

    See how it goes with the neurologist but if yhey give you the all clear and symptoms persist you need to change tac and see a different sort of specialist. They will be able to establish only if there is a neuro issue. My personal feeling is there won't be.

    • alisonj124
      alisonj124 margaret22116

      Posted

      Hi Margaret, Thanks for your reply. What is the name of your condition? What are allof your smptoms? I also get joint pain.

      Thanks

      Alison

    • margaret22116
      margaret22116 alisonj124

      Posted

      Alison...I am always so reluctant to tell people what I have because mine is so specific and it sometimes leads people down the wrong alley. There are a number of auto immune disorders with very similar symptoms and they all have the type of symptoms you describe. Things like Lupus and Sjrogren's. My disorder is Behcet's syndrome which has very similar symptoms to Lupus and Sjrogren's. In many ways Behcet's is easier to spot because it also features ulceration. It is a bit of a red light for docs when you have that.

      Having said that I struggled for years with diagnosis. Ulceration is very very infrequent for me and my major symptoms were neurological. For everyone it seems these disorders progress in different ways.

      Because symptoms were vague and neuro in nature I went round in circles trying to get a diagnosis. But joint pain was the smoking gun. I was referred to a rheumatologist. She was good she recognised there was an inflammatory process at work. She too missed Behcet's. But she referred me to an immonologist and it then took a year for diagnosis. It is a very tricky area. Bloods can be unremarkable (they often are with me). Scans show nothing. Often diagnosis is made by logging symptoms and observing disease progression...by a specialist not by me. Blood work can be indicative though often not terribly reliable.

      During this year of observation I had an episode of uveitis. Inflammation in my eyes. Never happened before. Was mild and resolved quickly with treatment. Never had it again. That was when firm diagnosis was made.

      If you have joint pain get a referral to a rheumatologist as well as the neuro you are seeing.

  • Tenter22
    Tenter22 alisonj124

    Posted

    Hi alisonj124

    you need to see a neurologist until you see one take a diAry of what you were doing food eaten during the day weather during the day & activities & of course when the odd. Feelings occurred what they were how long they lasted what medication u are on and remaining side effects if any. 

    This is is important also where we're the pains ehat part of the head and describe the pain e.g pins and needles sharp dull etc

    I hope this helps

    regards Tenter22

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