Large vehicle driver has dizziness and vertigo.
Posted , 5 users are following.
Large vehicle driver has dizziness and vertigo.
Hello I need advice as I have been feeling very unwell and I have never felt like this before. It started about 2 weeks ago. I have recently started a job as a bus driver and one day I was feeling very dizzy I managed to get through the day but when I stepped off the bus and started to walk I could not walk in a straight line. I started walking off to the right into the side fence and thought what is wrong with me. When I tried to hand in my takings I felt very sick and spent about 30 minutes in the toilet trying to recover and stop my self from vomiting. So the next day I called in sick but found myself not getting much support from work. I did see my doctor the next day he gave me some tablets called prochlorperazine take them 3 times a day. they did not seem to do any thing then about 3 days later had a spinning world episode that lasted for 24 hours and it was horrible.
two days later I had a blood test and my blood pressure went to 60 ish and I had to lie down to stop the spinning it was some sort of panic attack. I was given some betahistine after this the dizziness has subsided a little when I lie down it helps a lot. Its when I stand it hits me more so. I have to force myself to get up. I also feel very light headed all the time the top of my brain feels so strange this has got worse over the past 2 months but I have been trying to work with it, it feels like I have had 4 pints of larger but feel like this all the time. I feel unsteady on my feet and feel weak I also have a ringing tone in my right ear my doctor said I have some tinnitus some thing to do with my nerve. I had a MRI scan which has showed nothing wrong. When I went back to my doctor he signed me off work for another 2 weeks but I get the feeling my employer is looking to dismiss me for health. I am due to see the company doctor I do not know if I am safe to drive a bus but I need the money.
The dizzyness has largley gone away but I do feel sick and unsteady. I talked to my next door neighbour who has meniere's disease which the symptoms seem to duplicate what I was feeling I know for a grown man of 39 to be crying and in tears over this is sad but when you get this it makes you so depressed. I am also worried about work and wondering would I be better off resigning given that they keep asking me to come to work to explain my self.
My doctor has refereed me to a ENT and I am waiting for that and I hope I can get some answers I do not know if I would qualify for any benefits at all so am worried how I am going to live.
Regarding my drivers license if the company doctor deems me unfit for work I loose my licence and probably will have my employment terminated. Would I be safe to drive any advice would help.
0 likes, 13 replies
tanney paul59441
Posted
Hi Paul. Whatever is causing your vertigo/unbalance makes it EXTREEMLY UNSAFE/DANGEROUS for you to drive....especially carrying passengers. Show yourself and others the respect of NOT driving until your problems are controlled. You risk liability if something happened to your vehicle and or passengers. I had to surrender my private pilots license when I started to have symptoms. That was 35 years ago. I have not flown since then. You should not even drive your own car until symptoms are controlled. That said.....
Your next step is to see the ENT who will administer an audiogram (hearing test) which will help diagnose your illness. Meniere's Disease has classic symptoms:
1. vertigo lasting at least 20 minutes and up to 24 hours after which you usually feel ok until the next attack....which often comes on unexpectedly.
2. hearing loss in low decible range....determined by hearing test
3. tinnitus in affected ear
4. ear fullness in affected ear.
You have to have the hearing loss for it to be MD.
If what you have is MD, there is life after diagnosis. I've had it for 35 years and just recently was diagnosed with it in my other ear. I'm struggling with that now but am optimistic I can beat it again.
Stay optimistic....BUT STAY OFF THE ROAD.
Let us know how more once you receive ENT diagnosis.
good luck.
daniel_43572 tanney
Posted
tanney daniel_43572
Posted
daniel_43572 tanney
Posted
i was told in 1998 I had MD got the steroid injection no hearing loss at all went years without any problems now for 3 years I been dealing with it again I had another injection and still no hearing loss whatsoever the doctor said he couldn't understand it so now I'm wondering if I was miss diagnosed
tanney daniel_43572
Posted
what are you currently "dealing with".....vertigo? If you have had hearing tests showing no hearing loss you have something other than MD. It could be allergies or non-allergic rhinitus that are causing inflamtion/fluid in inner ear...especially since steroid was effective in 1998. Has ENT tried Prednisone? As long as it is not an infection, 20mg twice a day for 6 days might be effective....and you can avoid another injection. Keep us updated. good luck.
daniel_43572 tanney
Posted
No vertigo but off balance most days and lots of pressure in my head most days haven't been able to work in 3 years lost my CDLs when I get a bad spell I just have to sit or lay down and a lot of times I feel very faint have not ever fainted but have come close. I have dizziness that last all day some days and racing heat sometimes I done got to where I don't leave the house. I got to go next week to be checked for vestibular migrans. I do have bad allergies this time of year. But the weird thing is I can go for two three weeks and it bothers me every day then I might go two weeks normal as anyone. I just don't know anymore but my hearing as stayed perfectly fine no change at all it's perfect at every test I have had done and it's been a lot.
daniel_43572 tanney
Posted
I had ringing and lots of fullness in my ear a few months ago and sometimes when I'm talking to people it stops up and I can hear my voice echo in it and I can't get it to pop out
tanney daniel_43572
Posted
daniel_43572 tanney
Posted
eleftherio33095 paul59441
Posted
The sudden vertigo, and with a tendency to shift to the right, and tinnitus in the right ear, is suggestive of a right vestibular neuritis. It is good that the MRI is normal. It is unlikely to be Meniere's disease as this will not cause you to shift to the side of the tinnitus. It is not uncommon for a vestibular neuritis, although a vestibular problem, to be associated with tinnitus which is a hearing/cochlear symptom. Let me know what ENT finds. It does sound like a temporary issue,
and you will back to work soon.
Eleftherios S. Papathanasiou, PhD, FEAN
Clinical Neurophysiologist
Fellow of the European Academy of Neurology
paul59441
Posted
What I have been experiencing is a feeling of light headedness and a buzzing noise in my right ear. I still can here and the buzzing sound some times comes and goes. before I got this dizzy spell. In 2002 I complained to my doctor of feeling light headed it was like having a few pints of larger but he said could not see any thing wrong. However over the past 2 or 3 months became very light headed like I am in a state of drunkenness like I have had 4 pints and I was managing with it. I also struggle to fall asleep. Basically my forehead cheeks and eye socket feel very numb. Since getting the dizzy attack my whole head feels strange like my brain under part behind my neck feels all strange.
My employer is putting a lot of pressure on me to come back to work basically they will terminate me, If the company doctor says I am unfit for work. They did the same thing when I got sick other body part 4 months ago One other thing I have noticed I am freezing cold at night and or during the day it is getting close to summer here in the uk and to be honest it is warm outside.I have been on sick about 2 weeks to be honest I don't even drive my car just feel very unsure of myself. It took all my energy just to cut the grass one day. I feel sick a lot of the time. In fact when I had a blood test the room started to spin I had to lie down. I just dont know what is going on. Basically it will take months for me to see the ent. So on monday I get to see if I keep my job or not. The mri showed nothing so very worried.
paul59441
Posted
paul59441
Posted