Migraines being *caused* by bouncy feelings?

My problem started with a migraine aura - no headache- and I have only had a few of these, very intermitnetly, through my life.  I then woke up seven days later and saw double for a second or two.  I lost my balance and my eyes felt stiff and strained.  I have been having physiotherapy ever since, both gaze stabilisation and physical exerciese based on tai chi.  My balance improved, I was nearly ok then it came back.

I have never felt sick or a spinning sensation, but i get dizzy if i look down.  I have now got the bouncy head and wobbly legs, though it is improving, if only temporarily.  I take anti anxiety medication which I think helps but nothing else does.  I am trying a gluten free, alcohol free, chocolate free diet and hoping for results but I am not holding my breath. Meditation and relaxation does help, though.

Hi. I am on month 18! Yikes. I cannot even remember NOT having the bouncing vision. At first I thought it was anxiety (everyone told me that) until I went to the ENT and I had a calorics test which showed I have barely any vestibular-eye coordination (72% deficit, both ears). Google "retinal slip" and that will explain it. My actual vertigo started about a month before that, with BPPV, which finally, after the right person did an Epley maneuver correctly, went away. I read that an inner ear "assault" such as BPPV. Meniere's, or neuritis can bring upon MAV, especially if you've had migraines in the past. The current theory is that your brain stem (V5 nerve?) gets overexcited, which causes frequesnt migraines, and the excitement confuses the vestibular system, and your eyes get weird interpretations of those signals. Best thing is to prevent the migraines, and the dizziness and eye symptoms should go away.

Vestibular rehab exercises and Tai Chi! are supposed to help with the symptoms, but they haven't done much for me yet. Do you have after-images (palinopsia) and oscillopsia (bouncing vision)? Those are my major things that are making me lose my balance. In fact, when I close my eyes and do the sitting, gaze exercises (moving hed up and down and side to side while focusing on an obect in the room), I am not dizzy or off-balance at all. But in everyday life, I have this 24/7, for 18 months now. I just read last night a good description of it (you can google the authors and keyword oscillopsia):

"For those who experience this symptom, we know that when we try and fixate on an object, it won't stay still and our gaze is unstable. Its hard to focus on something that is at a distance. Carefully reading the following two journal articles, it appears that this is a symptom of hyper-excitability of the visual cortex area V5 in the brain.

The article by Suzuki et al. (2004) measures the differences in brain blood flow/activity between a patient experiencing the oscillopsia without nystagmus compared to 6 other healthy individuals. The area of the brain in the Visual Cortex 'V5' for visual motion processing appears to light up for the patient when watching stationary dots, however did not for the other healthy individuals. Both the patient and healthy participants had both light up when watching moving dots. This demonstrates that this V5 area is "hyper-excited" due to being triggered by a migraine or dysfunction in the brain."

The second article by Jacome (2013) suggests that this oscillopsia is from a persistent migraine aura and the patient was treated successfully through Topiramate 50MG twice daily, which has proven to suppress excitability in other various studies. The patient unfortunately didn't undergo any further tests like TMS or MRI to verify persistent migraine aura's typical hyperactivity, however it seems that this is the likely cause of it due to the evidence of V5 hyperactivity found by Suzuki (2004).

Have you tried preventatives like Nortrptaline or Effexor(sp?). I am in upstate NW, so sorry, I cannot recommend anyone downstate. I think once the migraines are under control, you won't have the light-headedness anymore. Best doctor to see is a neuro-ophtahalmologist. There are many around NYC and Long Isalnd, google to find one near you. Good luck!

I was just thinking outloud and wanted to get some ideas. I've had migraines for year, then they stopped, then the dizziness (not vertigo) started up in Nov 2014. My neuro-op says there is no reason for the dizziness, so thought maybe the dizziness was causing the migraines (some pain, always auras). He doesn't think it's MAV, but I do.

I would get a second opinion. Of course there's a reason for the vertigo, whether or not it is migraine (though it certainly sounds like it, especially since you get auras)!

Yes, it is frustrating. He meant no obvious reason, like being hit on the head, having had an infection in my inner ears, having taken "mycin" vestibular-toxic drugs, or LSD. He said my palinopsia is usually seen for those reasons. The fact that I have low VOR, palinopsia, and oscillopsia tell us it's brain-related. He tells me it could be from diabetes (neuropathy of the vestibular nerve) but he's mot convinced and I think that's a stretch. My diabetes is under control and this came on so suddenly, when the migraines resurfaced after years of having been gone (no prior dizziness then). Thanks . He did give me MgO, so maybe he thinks migrains are a possibility (but then I ordered some chelated Mg instead!).

That's good, I guess. It's easily fixed if that's the problem!