Constant dizziness for years

New here, let me introduce myself šŸ¤
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Hi, firstly nice to meet you, Iā€™m new here!
I was wondering if anyone can help shed some light, hereā€™s my story.

Iā€™m 44 yrs old, and when I was 17 I went out drinking with some friends, and I drank too much and vomited in my sleep. The following day, I felt drunk/hungover, and have basically felt the same ever since. Iā€™ve felt slightly drunk, with a dull headache, all day, every day since then.

24/7, 365 days a year.
Nothing triggers it, itā€™s constant.

I went to see a neurologist at the time, he didnā€™t see anything unusual and told me it would go. I put it to the back of my mind and got on with life. Occasionally it would come to the forefront of my mind, and Iā€™d get upset about it and start noticing it more, convincing myself that it had got worse.

My headache is contstant, not painful, but dull and uncomfortable. Itā€™s behind my nose, around the top of my teeth at the back.

The dizziness just feels like Iā€™ve had a glass of beer, all the time. No swaying, unsteadiness, nausea, passing out, itā€™s very mild but very annoying.

Many thanks in anticipation, I can see thereā€™s some very helpful people on here with a lot of knowledge, and I would certainly appreciate any input.

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Welcome to the forum @barry123.

Two thoughts came into my mind when I read your post:

  1. If I was you, I would make another appointment with a neurologist. 27 years is a long time to live with your problem. And neurologists have evolved over time, so maybe a consultation could give you some better insight nowadays.

  2. Have you considered that your dull headache and background dizziness might be related to a food allergy? If you think that this could be the case, it might be worthwhile to do an elimination diet and see whether this makes a difference.

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Thanks @Katharina for your thoughts. I saw another neurologist about 5 years back, he said it was ā€˜psycogenic vertigoā€™ aka functional vertigo. He didnā€™t convince me at the time, however Iā€™ve read more recently and it sounds possible. However, I canā€™t understand how this could have come on following a hangover, and stayed the same ever since.

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I think when symptoms are manageable I think you can easily try meds and get to a place where you can ignore this nonsense. You shld see a doc and start the long and arduous procrss for finding a med which leaves you better than where you started. Donā€™t settle ! The way I see it I will cautiously experient all my life untill VM is a non-issue

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@barry123 My dizziness journey/nightmare started very similar to yours. Went out drinking one evening (March 2016 to be exact). Woke up the next morning still feeling drunk and the world spinning for me. Since then I have been diagnosed with migraine associated vertigo. I have tried just about everything there is with the exceptions of a few of the ā€œnewerā€ medications. At the moment Iā€™m just able to manage the symptoms (with the help of medications) well enough to function on a day to day basis. Now I rarely drink alcohol anymore. Some times Iā€™ll go a year without touching the stuff to sometimes just being 3-6 months of not drinking. The one thing I do find odd is that you would think my alcohol tolerance would be very low being I rarely do drink. However, as of like a month ago, I drank maybe 7-8 light beers and did not feel even a slight buzzed. Which I thought I would have felt a little something. Maybe itā€™s because Iā€™m used to ā€œfeeling drunkā€ 24/7 that I just didnā€™t notice it. :man_shrugging: