Autoimmune disease: prednisone stopped my chronic dizziness

Hi All,

Was diagnosed with MAV/VM by Dr Furman, University of Pittsburgh in October 2016. At the time, I had been suffering with dizziness/vertigo, BPPV, imbalance, photophobia, tinnitus, etc. for a couple of years (more, really), and continued to suffer for 1.5 more years. UNTIL! My eye doctor, who was treating me for chronic dry eyes and frequent corneal abrasions, referred me to a Rheumatologist— that was July 2016. After lots and lots (and LOTS) of testing (blood work, scans, MRIs…) I was diagnosed with autoimmune disease (still undetermined exactly which one— but the labs don’t lie). So I was started on low dose prednisone, and miraculously, my dizziness of 3+ years has significantly decreased— if not completely disappeared! Prior to that, I had tried, seemingly, every drug for migraine available. My neurologist was amazed and thrilled.

Anywho, just thought I’d share my experience, in the hopes that it might help someone out there. Having autoimmune disease is NOT a bonus, but being rid of the chronic daily battle of vertigo is. :+1:

That’s great you got a diagnosis! I am going to insist on a workup for autoimmune at next appt. I have a history of positive speckled ANA, but no other test met criteria. That was in my early 20s, now I’m 50. I was told fibromyalgia. But I’m now concerned abt Sjogrens due to my dry eyes, slightly swollen/painful salivary glands, sudden hearing loss and horrible aching and nerve pain. If my ANA and sed rate are positive, I’m off to rheumatologist. Prednisone, which I was given for sudden hearing loss and again for vertigo, helped both times with those conditions, and took away my aching. I suppose the problem is that you cannot stay on prednisone long times. It does a lot of damage. Most try to switch to plaquenil or other biologic drugs.

Hi all,

I am newly diagnosed with VM and have both RA and hypothyroidism. I am convinced that it is connected in someway and would be interested to hear anything you have learned. I used to have horrible dry eyes but never diagnosed with Sjogrens. I went thru the drug trials with plaquenil and methotrexate then finally switched to enbrel. My dry eyes are gone. I also went gluten free. Now dealing with the VM, but maybe had it all along and its just gotten worse.