deliciouslaugh

wow, a dissertation in the field of vestibular disorders ...!

well, the best that I can offer in the dizziness area are two things that
helped me, in terms of Meneire's - and attacks thereof.

1. I've been having attacks on and off for about 3-4 years now. Sometimes
ain't nothing happening, which is always noticeable to me, and I'm always
grateful about. A month goes by with no attacks, and I'm saying, "Whew!"

After all these years - of having varing attacks - sometimes 2 in a month,
sometimes 1 a month, sometimes none - and having had the last episode in
October be particularly nasty and severe - and taking into account that there
are plenty of theories, but no real answers (except if it's serious enough,
there is surgery) ... I can say for myself that what has helped me is my
attention to my water intake.

I now drink a whole lot water now than ever. I feel there is a link to
hydration and Meneire's - as far as my own body is concerned.

I too suffered severe migraine up until about a year ago, when the levoxyl
kicked in for the hashimoto's. I very rarely now have insomnia. However, my
hair continues to thin out.

But I diverge ...

I was having an onset attack of Meneire's and tried the very specific exercises
given somewhere on the internet (sorry, I forgot where) - the exercises at that
time, helped stop the oncoming dizziness ... but I still felt out of sorts all
day.

The exercises were not easy to do, considering that I was feeling a bit dizzy
already, and the exercises cause a bit more dizziness at first - kind of going
into the eye of the hurricane and coming out more balanced. Moving the head
and body in such a way, did something to "reset" the onset of the dizzines, is
the best way that I can explain it in layman's terms.

OK, so now i hae to go search for the exercises and post them here! I went
this far!!

http://www.pccdocs.com/patientresources/patient_pamphlets/vertigo_exercise.htm

sometimes they have helped, sometimes not. I have found that doing these
exercises at the time when you first feel a Meneire's attack coming on, will
stop the attack. Just not always. I was very resistant to doing these at the
time I was dizzy, but a friend worked with me on them, and I pulled through.
It's very uncomfortable.

If anyone suffers from dizziness ... may I suggest that if nothing helps, to
print the instructions out and remember them. It did help me a few times - but
not always.

I recently was prescribed a medication for the vertigo, but if I feel an attack
coming on, I will be trying these very same exercises first.
Regards,
Deva

scott seidman

Not quite on disorders, but definately the vestibular system.


Yes, there is surgery, but make damn well sure that you can verify that
the disorder is peripheral (inner ear, as opposed to brain), and you know
which side is responsible for the dizzyness. I'd recommend definately
seeing one of the handful of docs that specialize in dizzyness before
opting for surgery. This type of surgery has some pretty serious manifestations.


Hydration, as well as salt balance. Low-salt diets are often recommended
for Meniere's, and it seems to help.

I'd treat this as independent from the thyroid. The migraine history
should push your doc toward treating the vertigo as a migraine, or at
least to try it. There really is no other good way to rule out migraine
as the cause of your dizzyness. Treatment of migraine can be easy and
inexpensive, so why not give it a go?

I'm not familiar with these types of exercises. I do know that there are
occupational therapists that specialize in balance and dizzyness
disorders, but I know little of their actual treatment courses. The
therapists have demonstrably helped people, and the exercises you point
to certainly couldn't hurt. Like most things, though, Meniere's episodes
pass, and tightly linking feeling better to the exercises can be tough.

One important thing to look out for, is if the episodes are usually
triggered by a head movement. This often suggests a different type of
vertigo that can actually be readily treated. If you want to self-test
for this type of disorder, try doing a search on "Hallpike maneuver" and
"benign postural positional vertigo", or "benign paroxysmal positional vertigo".


The best advice I can offer to someone who suffers from dizzyness,
especially a young person, is to work on your doctor to get referred to
one of the specialists in such disorders, especially if you feel the
disorder is interfering with your life. You might have to get a referral
to a general neurologist or ENT to start, and they can refer you from
there if needed.

If you were the person who earlier described a severe attack with lots of
motion sickness, you should probably have a prescription for Valium for
during the attacks. All the anti-motion sickness drugs are essentially
tranqs to some extent, and for a major attack like that, a major tranq is
called for.

Scott

steve

It's certainly worth a try, but few doctors will approach the migraine
from the endocrine angle even though, at least for some of us, the
cause of the migraine is a hormone imbalance.

For my MAV, I've tried all the classes of migraine meds and therapies
recommended by ENTs and neurologsists, but none abate the symptoms as
well as thryoid and adrenal hormones do.

scott seidman

We're a half step off. Noone is suggesting abandoning thyroid replacement,
if that's what you need. If you've been correctly titrated on the
replacement of your choice, and still have migraines, that's when you would
treat the migraine.

Scott