Vertigo and Stress

[Braveheart]

I spent two "lovely" days in the hospital this week. Now, as some of you know, I am going to Cleveland for an AVR, which is tentatively scheduled for July 1st.

Last Wednesday, I awoke, in the middle of the night, with severe vertigo. I took a couple of drammamine and a valium, and went back to sleep. When I awoke, the vertigo was gone, but I was sweating profusely and in a state of weakness and disequalibrium. I thought that I was having a stroke, or at least a T.I.A. I literally had to hold onto the wall to keep from falling.

At the hospital they took a scan, and I saw a neurologist. Zip, nada, nothing.
They sent me home Friday afternoon, and I was still feeling a bit clumsy. Since then, I have improved to a great extent.

I am going to see my neurologist on Monday, just to make sure, but I had a thought. I am wondering as to whether this whole thing was psychosomatic, some sort of overblown anxiety attack.

Have any of you had anything similar during those stressful few weeks before your operation?

 

[Superbob]

I spent two "lovely" days in the hospital this week. Now, as some of you know, I am going to Cleveland for an AVR, which is tentatively scheduled for July 1st.

Last Wednesday, I awoke, in the middle of the night, with severe vertigo. I took a couple of drammamine and a valium, and went back to sleep. When I awoke, the vertigo was gone, but I was sweating profusely and in a state of weakness and disequalibrium. I thought that I was having a stroke, or at least a T.I.A. I literally had to hold onto the wall to keep from falling.

At the hospital they took a scan, and I saw a neurologist. Zip, nada, nothing.
They sent me home Friday afternoon, and I was still feeling a bit clumsy. Since then, I have improved to a great extent.

I am going to see my neurologist on Monday, just to make sure, but I had a thought. I am wondering as to whether this whole thing was psychosomatic, some sort of overblown anxiety attack.

Have any of you had anything similar during those stressful few weeks before your operation?

I had something very much like that a few months before my surgery. One morning I was dressing and suddenly I was so dizzy I couldn't stand up! Wife called emergency crew and they took me to the ER. Did all sorts of tests and found nothing. The ER doctor figured it was an attack of an old inner-ear balance problem. Maybe so, but I think my anxiousness about the pending surgery played a part and compounded the dizziness. Glad you're planning to go back to get the docs to check further. Good luck with this and your prep for the surgery.

 

[Braveheart]

Superbob- How long did your attack last? I have had similar symptoms in the past (w/o the vertigo), but they would hang around for no more than a few hours, and were nowhere as severe.

 

[Superbob]

Superbob- How long did your attack last? I have had similar symptoms in the past (w/o the vertigo), but they would hang around for no more than a few hours, and were nowhere as severe.

As I recall, was dressing early in morning, then taken to hospital, and was feeling considerably better by noon. Was embarrassing to have been taken there by ambulance, but since I couldn't even stand up, we didn't know what else to do. I am pretty sure now that in my case, panic made the problem worse.

 

[Nancy]

One of my daughters has been battling this kind of thing for a while (she doesn't have heart problems), vertigo, falling, nausea, the whole nine yards. She has been under severe stress for the same amount of time.

She had a complete workup and it is vestibular migraines which manifest this way.

She has been given Xanax which helps plus some other medication, can't remember which one.

She found these attacks very scary, so I am sorry to hear that you are having something similar. It might not be what you have, but just wanted to let you know that others are in your same boat.

Hope it goes away soon.

 

[Ann]

Braveheart

I started having dizzy spells 15+ years ago – they started when I tried to start walking at lunch and were also aggravated by mold – in the potting soil of house plants or the damp leaves in the fall. I would sit down and drink fluids and within an hour they would go away. I ended up on allergy meds all year long and if I would have a spell would take an allergy sinus otc med. like Tylenol. I was lucky they always started with white noise just in my left ear, that way I could land before going to total vertigo. They did an MRI of my head and everything and found nothing.

When I first visited my cardio they were amazed with the severity of my aortic stenosis that I had not been passing out or falling over. So I wonder if the activity or an allergic reaction caused my stenosis to worsen – and the allergy med simply raised my BP to compensate.

All of this is important to report to your doctor. Since you are still pre-op I think it may be very related to your current situation.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Vertigo is a common symptom for Inner Ear issues.

If you have not seen an Ear,Nose,Throat Doc, you should get an evaluation from one. The "blowing in your ear" test made my sicker than I have ever been in my life, to the point of vomiting bile. Sorry if this is TMI.

One cause is too much fluid in the inner ear.
The usual Rx for this is LOZOL (or it's Generic equivalent Indapameide(sp?))

AntiVert also helps some forms of vertigo.

Vertigo that is unresponsive to medication may be caused by particles or 'crystals' floating in the fluid within the inner canals. There are exercises involving leaning over to the Bad Ear side (at least 10 seconds), then sitting upright (10 seconds or more), then laying on the opposite side, and finally back to upright. You MAY (will?) feel dizzy doing this exercise, but it eventually helps to re-position those irritanting crystals and the dizzyness goes away. This condition is called Benign Paroxymal Positional Vertigo (BPPV). Check it out on Google or ask your Doc/ENT for a copy of his information handout.

'AL Capshaw'

 

[skeptic49]

Another possibility, probably remote, is Meniere's Syndrome, which I have. Luckily, my case is relatively mild, although the progressive hearing loss especially in one ear is now near total. But the symptoms (vertigo, dizziness, nausea, etc.) can be severe at times.

Jim

 

[sue943]

I get dizziness, vertigo, lightheadedness etc with anxiety.

When I was 30 I began to have these symptoms and was given medication by my GP. Then I got pregnant and the symptoms stopped but immediately started up once more after the baby was born.

I was put back on medication but that didn't help so I was sent to an ear, nose and throat surgeon for an opinion in case it was Meuniere's disease. When he ruled out any physical reason for the problem he asked me if I was under any particular stress as that can, in some people, cause these symptoms.

Then the penny dropped, my in-laws had announced that they were selling up in England and moving to live in the end of the large house we were having converted, I was very worried in case my mother-in-law interferred with our lives. Them arriving to live here coincided with me becoming pregnant but as our house wasn't ready at that time they lived in a rented apartment and only visited us with prior warning, and we visited them at set times. That was fine. Then when our house was ready to move into, literally days before I had my second baby, my worse fears were realised. I couldn't turn around without my mother-in-law being there, she used to walk into our section of the house whenever she wanted and even came upstairs to my bedroom when I was trying to feed the baby. She was a total nightmare.

My husband laid down rules and said if they didn't stick to them they wouldn't be welcome to continue to live in our house. It worked and the vertigo stopped.

I have since found that when I get particularly stressed I get vertigo, I can now normally help myself by either taking Bach Rescue Remedy or listening to a relaxation CD and of course by working out what it is which is stressing me out.

That is just me though, please don't accept that as being why you are suffering vertigo, find out for sure.

 

[Eva]

I only had one episode for a few seconds which was the result of anxiety and a shock. It happened after I reached home the day my cardio told me I needed surgery.

As Nancy said, I had a friend who had lots of vertigo episodes and in her case it was due to anxiety.

 

[Braveheart]

Today is the first day that I am feeling close to "normal". I am also seeing my neurologist this afternoon, so maybe I will get some answers.