Hi Adam and all,
I haven’t been in here for a while. Got ill four and a half years ago and have had a pretty fantastic year symptom wise - some breakthrough symptoms for up to 2 weeks at a time, but otherwise dizzy free thanks to propranonol. Have been working like crazy to make up for all the time I took off ill with this when I first got dizzy, so have been mostly off the boards apart from the odd fleeting lurk around. I know I can end up spending hours ‘chatting’ and avoiding my work.
Anyway, some big stress/anxiety (now resolved) combined with my period has taken me down in to the dizzy pit again. Happened 3 weeks ago. The symptoms are more severe than a ten week relapse I had the X Mas before last. I get fairly punishing photosensitivity 24/7 - sunlight slays me and intensifies my symptoms. I am having vertigo mostly at night although some in the day and the lightheadedness has got so bad I feel like I’m on a drug trip for portions of the day. The difficulty is this impacts heavily on my cognition and ability to work - I am in the middle of a very intense deadline so things have been rough. Work don’t know I am ill - they would panic.
I saw the neurotologist and have done what I probably should have done months back, upping my tiny dose of propranonol from 20mg a day to 40mg. I am very sensitive to drugs, on the up side this means small amounts can work, on the down side I can suffer heavily from SE’s which is why I didn’t go up previously. I am seeing a v. slow improvement, although things seem to have slid backwards today, which is disheartening.
Adam or anyone else, I was wondering, do you know the amount of time it is likely to take for a titration up to have an impact on symptoms with a beta blocker? I know it took about 2 and half weeks when I first started it about a year ago to get the symptoms under control. I don’t know the cited time frame for propranonol to take effect as a preventative and can’t find the info on the net. I realise this might be a how long is a piece of string question, but I’m guessing there is ofen a cited time frame.
How are you Adam? I chat to Scott and he updates me on how you’re doing from time to time, but was wondering how you are now.
best,
Hannah