vertigo not caused from meds

[Emee]

Does anyone here ever have vertigo & off balance? I have episodes where I almost fall & can't move or walk without holding onto something. It lasts for hours & I'm very tired. My eyes won't focus & I feel if I move them I will completely lose my sight. I feel as if my optic nerves are in spasm. It's a cross between a migraine & Meniere's attack which I also have. I want to be sure it's not related to seizure activity. Thanks.

 

[pccoder]

Throughout a few months during 2011 I was suffering from something very similar to what you're describing. My doctor was mentioning it "could" be Meniere's. In the end, I was sent to a physical therapist who did a few sessions of holding my neck in different positions while I would lay on my side, my back, etc. for approximately 30 seconds in each position.

The theory was that it was related to these little "crystals" in the inner ear that can get out of whack or position. By going through this process of moving them back to where they're supposed to be (by doing what I mentioned up above), it resolved the problem. It never came back again after doing that.

I was very skeptical of the whole thing as it sounded like voodoo. Anyway, it worked. So, you certainly can't say it's because it was all in my head and I made it go away due to the placebo effect. I didn't think it was going to work at all. But evidently it did.

 

[Nakamova]

What pccoder is describing is called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. The "crystals" are calcium build-up. It's definitely a real thing -- a friend of mine also suffered from it and was helped by PT. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benign_paroxysmal_positional_vertigo

 

[pccoder]

Yep, that is correct. Thanks Nakamova.