I’m getting a bit desperate to finding a solution to stop the visual vertigo when travelling as a passenger in our car. I’m fine when actually driving but on long journeys I get too tired to do the whole trip. We need to travel about 200km round-trip (mostly on winding country roads) about once a fortnight/month.
I’ve been hoping the Topamax I’m now taking would have helped (it’s definitely helping in other visual vertigo areas) but on Wednesday when we got home I couldn’t walk & was literally falling over to the right. Was OK by next morning. I’ve been taking Ativan (.5) to ‘get through’ but even that is letting me down so maybe I should take a larger dose!
Has anyone else had this particular problem - either with the visual vertigo or just the sideways falling over & whether any of the meds helped?
Barb
I was just a passenger on a 6 hour drive and feel pretty bad now. The motion isn’t a problem as such but when I stop moving my head feels all swimmy and now I am home it is really heavy and my eyes are stinging and watering and I have a slight headache and pressure in my head. Ugh! I was never very good travelling long distances but it really doesn’t help when you have MAV! x
Hi Barb,
I have the same problem with visual vertigo while travelling in a car as a passenger and as a driver. I am no longer able to drive at this stage.
I am also on Topamax 62.5mg (titrating to 100mg) and Xanax .5mg as required.
Before travelling any distance in the car I take .5mg Xanax but if the drive is over an hour I often take another .5mg during the trip which I find
helps while travelling. However once I reach my destination and am out of the car, I usually have awful brain fog, visual vertigo and I also the sideways
falling. I was really hoping the Topamax may have helped with all this but so far it hasn’t.
I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help Barb but I thought it maybe a little reassuring to let you know you’re not alone with the travelling and Topamax.
Take care.
Annie x
Jem
Thanks for reply & sorry to hear your symptoms are still bad - I get the foggy brain too after driving for a while. You are still on a fairly low dose of Nort - any plans to up that or add something to help with the travelling?
Annie
Gosh - that’s awful not being able to drive at all. I couldn’t drive for about eight months after MAV hit & I felt so isolated as we weren’t within walking distance of shops, etc.
I think I will take more advantage of the Ativan when travelling - it seems silly not to if it can help with the visual vertigo & make the journey a bit easier. Not giving up on the Topamax yet - I need to get to 100mg & then give it a few months to work its magic properly.
It was such a relief to read that you have a similar problem with falling sideways - I was beginning to think I was the only one on the forum with this particular symptom as I haven’t come across anyone else mentioning it before! Not that I’d want anyone else have it but, as you say, it is reassuring to know that I’m not alone!
Barb
Hi Barb,
I do sympathise, as I’ve had this too and I know how horrible it is. I’m much better these days, and don’t get it as badly, but still get a milder version.
When I go on long journeys I take the travel sickness tablet Stugeron. I think the active ingredient is cinnarazine (or something like that). It helps damp things down quite a bit. But it needs to be taken quite a bit in advance of getting in the car, about 2 hours, to be effective.
Barb, I didn’t really mention travelling as an issue to Dr S as most short journeys are fine and don’t cause me any problems. It is only much longer journeys where I start to feel bad. I have always suffered when doing long journeys but with VM it is obviously worse but fortunately I don’t have to do many longer trips. I am due to add Gabapentin soon just to help generally so will have to see how that goes x