This is a question for all those of us who are lucky enough to be able to lead a comparatively normal life alongside our dizzinesses…
If there are different degrees of MAV suffering (from those who get the occasional short attack of migraine, to those who are constantly affected), is it at all possible to get better from comparatively minor MAV without meds? Or does MAV always require some form of intervention?
I’ve posted on here before but have still not got a steady diagnosis of MAV - i was diagnosed by a top neuro-otologist as having a “classic” case of VN last year (after all the tests and chat) and while i feel i have definitely seen some major improvements since then, i am still not 100%, 100% of the time and the seemingly episodic nature of my symptoms has always made me wonder whether MAV has its part to play…
My symptoms began with a major virus and constant floor-rocking and swaying and general dizziness in my head, but are now more like huge tiredness, eyes hard to focus and a kind of visual overload in busy environments. Sometimes when i’m very still i can feel a very slight rocking motion but mostly i just feel ‘not quite right’ - like being a bit hungover, but all the time! Having said that, i can go for long periods, weeks even months now with no symptoms or only the tiniest subtlest of symptoms, which mostly just threaten, rather than take hold in the way they used to - and only when i’ve really overdone it or am suffering major lack of sleep. In the past i would get breaks from the symptoms but they were far more there than not - out a period of 3 months i might get 2 weeks of feeling ok - now it’s the other way round.
I lead a really busy active life - i’m 25, and doing my PhD and i also play in a band which gigs pretty frequently all over the country - and i socialise and travel abroad and do all kinds of things - there’s nothing i don’t do.
This is all med free - i was never offered any meds - just VRT which i did for a bit but eventually gave up on - and i feel that the most significant things that i have done to improve my situation so far have been to keep busy and distracted from the symptoms (this is a biggie for me!) and to catch up on sleep if things get too much, usually related as it is now to burning the candle at both ends - and just time - plenty of it, it feels. The thing is I was told that VN can take a very long time to completely go away and my neuro-otologist said that I should expect a full recovery, but i get frustrated when i start to feel bad again that i’m not doing anything - you know, that i just have to grin and bear it for as long as it decides to hang around and just hope for the best! Just now i’m in one of these bad periods - just feeling pretty grim for a few weeks now - and it brings back all the old anxieties and depressions - and questions about what i’m really dealing with when i had just got used to the idea that the VN was finally compensated-out!
I suppose my question is, if i feel like things have been improving gradually, but with these occasional, but irritatingly long lasting yucky blips, is it worth looking into a daily med? Does MAV ever just get better with time? and if i am slowly improving without any sort of meds or lifestyle changes, does this mean it’s probably not really MAV?
Lots of question there :oops:
Thanks,
Lucy xx
