I believe I have VM. I was diagnosed with classic migraine when I was 9-years old.
About 12 years ago, I began experiencing dizzy spells. It started with dizziness and feeling “heady.” After a few months, I got to where just looking up (to get something off a high shelf in the cabinet) or bending over made me dizzy. Then I got to where I constantly felt like I was on a boat, was walking on marshmallows; being in stores in certain lights set me off. Riding in cars became troublesome. If the car ride was long enough, when the trip was over and I got out, I still felt like I was in a moving vehicle. I would occasionally experience numbness, tingling, or some other neuropathy type symptom in my legs, hands, lips, tongue, and face. I would get what I call turns where I’m standing or sitting, and then all of a sudden it is like I’m going one way and the rest of the planet is going the opposite. Another (disturbing) symptom I get is feeling like what I call a glitch in the matrix - like, when there is a storm and the power in the house flickers but comes back on? It’s like that - in my head. (I sound crazy, don’t I?)
My migraine headaches changed too. I would get auras, but no headache would follow. I have seen ENT multiple times and have been cleared. I’ve had I don’t know how many doctors tell me that my dizziness is all anxiety related and then refer me to a psychiatrist.
I am very sensitive to medicine now. Things that I used to be able to take with no problem, now, either a little goes a long way, or I cannot tolerate at all. This has developed a fear of medication to where I won’t even take a Tylenol for fear of a reaction.
I go through what I call cycles of VM. I have a baseline dizziness that never leaves, but is exacerbated with work on the computer, weather, stress, or illness. Then I have cycles that happen 2-4 times a year where, I get aura with dizziness and vertigo, and this happens daily for 1-2 months. Sometimes the aura gives way to an actual migraine headache, other times, I get all the symptoms EXCEPT the headache.
Sometimes the dizziness is so bad I feel like I’m on a tilt-a-whirl even when lying in bed and have to sleep in the middle of the bed because I am afraid I am going to fall off.
I am terrified of driving because most days I cannot handle driving because I get so dizzy. The hillier, the twistier the road, the worse. The brighter the sun is worse. I have not been to work in nearly 3 years because I cannot drive or do not feel safe to drive, and even if I could get to and from work, some days the dizziness is so bad I cannot function.
Am I crazy?