I have had vertigo (room spinning) problem for Years and have been to all kinds
of specialists for it, but none of them asked about migraines which I have had for
Years but rarely during the vertigo attacks.
I’ve had lots of tests and the drs seemed perplexed and did not really offer any
difinitive diagnosis.
How can one get treatment for a problem that the dr cannot diagnose? Ugh!
i’ve had some good suggestions here on how to approach this problem, but
just thought I’d share again this dilemna.
Any ideas on what might be a good first med for prevention or control? I already take 10mg of atenolol> Should I suggest switching to perhaps propranolol?
To me it was worth it to go to a very reputable ENT balance clinic that I knew was very experienced in diagnosing the various vestibular disorders. This clinic was experienced in diagnosing and treating patients with MAV. Ask when you make an appt. if they have treated patients with MAV. If they haven’t, then don’t go there.
I’ve had lots of tests and the drs seemed perplexed and did not really offer any difinitive diagnosis.
This happened to me too and was extremely frustrating for me to not really know and have the tests be negative. That’s why I decided it was worth traveling to go to a top balance clinic.
It is common in MAV for a lot of the tests to be neg, incl the ENG. Many times the Rotary chair test shows the damage to the vestibular system when the other tests are neg. What tests have you had done?
The first clinic I went to appeared to have the expertise in diagnosing balance disorders based on their web site and I even saw the same doctor I’d seen when I was 14 yrs and 30 yrs. old. Unfortunately this doc was not up on current research and was no help (he retired the day after my last appt), even though the web site was a good selling tool. Maybe one of the other docs in the practice would have been better informed about current research, but I didn’t give them a chance since they didn’t have a rotary chair test to help figure out why I was dizzy anyway. I also went to a very reputable neurologist that I thought would know about MAV, but he didn’t either. Sometimes you can’t always find out when calling to make an appt.
How can one get treatment for a problem that the dr cannot diagnose? Ugh!
I attempted to get my GP doc to try treating me for MAV before I got diagnosed and he absolutely refused to even consider it because he knew nothing about it and couldn’t treat something he knew nothing about. He definitely was not interested in reading anything about it from the internet either. After I got a dx he is fine treating it as follow up from another doctor’s dx. Sooo it might be hard to get a doctor that is not familiar with MAV to even treat it without a dx, but since you get migraine headaches you might be able to get migraine preventative treatment going that route.
Any ideas on what might be a good first med for prevention or control?
Doctors have different reasons for the meds they try. If there are other health issues they try to combine and treat symptoms together. I’m newly diagnosed and wasn’t on any other meds other than Nexium for acid reflux. I was started on Topamax. A friend of mine who is also on a first time migraine preventative for headaches and not dizziness was also started on Topamax. My max dose is 100mg and my friend is 50mg and she gets severe migraine pain and has had daily headaches for almost a year now.
btw I don’t know anything about the current meds you are taking
Hope this helps.
Good luck. Hope you get some answers and eventually a dx.
Keep searching until you find the right doctor.
I could not take this med, made me very tired and depressed. My Dr said its got more side effects because it crosses the blood brain barrier. My girlfriend had to switch from it because of the bad dreams and she was seeing things. I was told Atenol had less side effects, so keep that in mind if your thinking of switching. You may not suffer those effects as we are all different but propranolol is less tolerated in general over atenol.
Raven