I had my first vertigo attack about five years ago now and have been to every specialist you can imagine, ENT, nuero, opthalmology, gynae. At first I was diagnosed as having BPV, but no treatment seemed to help. I was put on Serc and given exercises to do. The Serc actually made me worse, I was on it for a year and it made me anxious and depressed. I was crying every day and feeling as if I was in a deep, dark pit and the doctors were no help. My husband had to go away for work and didnāt want to leave me on my own, so my parents came to stay while he was away. I had a terrible panic attack the whole night along with the vertigo that just wasnāt easing and in the morning when my Mum asked how I was feeling, I just burst into tears and couldnāt stop. I was crying so much I could hardly breathe. My Mum rang up NHS Direct, who of course wanted to speak to me, but I couldnāt stop crying enough to answer the nurse.
My Mum managed to fill her in on the dizziness Iād be suffering for the past few years, with no end in sight and suggested I try and see the GP that day if I could. So we went to the GP, my Mum went with me and I was glad she was there as yet again, I just couldnāt stop crying once weād gone into the office. The GP put me on prochlorperazine three times a day and upped the Serc to 3 times a day as well. Big mistake, my symptoms got a lot worse, I could hardly walk I was so unbalanced and nauseated with side-effects. Sheād also prescribed antidepressants, which I didnāt take and was glad I didnāt.
My husband read about Dr. Surenthiran on the web, who was a nuero-otologist. Weād already asked to see a neuro-otologist, but the GP said there was no such thing and we were confused with neurologist. I printed off the bit on the NHS Choices website and took it to the new GP. When he asked how I was I told him. āLike every day for the past 4 years. Dizzy.ā
āOh, and what can we do for you?ā
I showed him the printout and said I wanted to be referred.
I was diagnosed with MAV last year by Dr. Surenthiran and put on 10mg of nortryptyline a day as well as an elimination diet of anything that migh trigger migraines. Dairy seems to be the main one for me. At my last appointment he wanted to up the dosage to 20mg, but Iām very wary of tablets after the debacle with Serc and prochlorperazine. He told me not to take the Serc at my first visit last year as there was nothing wrong with my inner ear at all. As soon as I stopped taking them it was like a cloud had been lifted from me. It had never occurred to any doctor that my depression and anxiety had been caused by my medication, which it had.
Which brings me back to today. Iāve been taking the nortrip. tablets, avoiding the foods that might trigger me but I am still very dizzy when I lie down and itās very difficult getting to sleep. I have an adjustable bed and four pillows, but no matter what angle my head is at, I am still dizzy. Iām not dizzy if I sit completely upright.
Would increasing the dose of nor. help? Iām very wary of side-effects, I canāt even have ibuprofen and I had trouble with propanalol as well.