Hi! I am 25 years old and wanted to share what I’ve been expericing over the past 3 years in hopes to help someone else out there. About 4 years ago I was observing a OT at a nursing home and was in a room where she was helping change a bedsore. The smell from the sore made me pass out and land on the concrete floor on my stomach. I was fine but I noticed alot of mornings I would wake up with a dull neck pain that would go away during the day. I didn’t think much of it but a year later I was driving home and got this tingling feeling in my right arm and then I felt like I could pass out. I pulled the car over a sat there a second and I felt a little better so I managed to get myself home. I laid down for a little while and ever since then I have been dizzy and lightheaded. It started out just whenever I was walking or standing but eventually became constant. I’ve also expericence weakness, fatigue, and just a constant off balance feeling. I saw 4 Md’s, 3 cardiologist, 2 neurologist, gyn, 3 ear dr’s. I’ve had numerous test on my heart, ear’s, mri, ct scan you name it, I’ve probably had it. A cardiologist thought I had neurocardiogenic syncope but that was ruled out later. I’ve tried blood pressure, anixety, and several different meds. An ear dr. thought I may have Meniere’s but since meds didn’t help told me I could have MAV. I’ve had regular migraine’s since I was in the 6th grade. They don’t come very often.I saw another neurologist who was a complete idiot and told me you can not have a migraine without a headache. He tried me on topamax but that didn’t work so I took myself off of it. Well I started having cramps in my lower back and meds weren’t helping so I was told to go see a chiropractor. I did and was telling him about my dizziness problem. I remember that fall I had 4 years ago and told him all this happened a year after that. He done some x-ray’s and found my neck had a slight outward curve instead on curving inward. For the first time in almost 3 years I felt like someone knew what I was going through and didn’t seem surprised by my symptoms!! I started getting adjustments 4 months ago and I am slowly getting better. Iam not dizzy free yet and I still can’t do a lot of the things I want but he said it will take a while since I’ve been like this for so long. So if you’re not responding to meds and the dr.'s don’t know what’s wrong try seeing a chriopractor…they just might know what’s going on with you too!!
Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope your improvement continues until you’re in full health 100% of the time and never ever have a relapse into this God awful state.
It seems as if, lately, many on this forum have been looking for alternatives to preventatives. We often wonder if the people that preventatives work for are off living their lives and simply don’t post anymore. My doctor claims to have successfully treated 10,000 migraine patients with preventatives and he’s no shady character.
But here we sit. Although I need to quality that. When I joined this forum, i was mosty bedridden and living a life which was not worth living. The motion of the environment was so violent i was afraid to open my eyes. the motion I felt when walking was so violent it felt as if the floor was whipping beneath my feet. I used the few functional hours in the morning to run my business the best I could, hanging onto the chair for dear life and looking at the monitor sideways, squinting. I still had to give up my biggest client in order to keep the rest of my business alive. I could barely tolerate the movement of my own breath while lying in the bed.
A little over a year later, I’m on 3 preventatives: Topamax, Neurontin and Pristiq and even though I’m mostly in the house (i walk about 1-1/2 hours a day) i’m very active in taking care of my home and my husband and pets, I would call my recovery so far miraculous, considering where i was just over a year ago. What keeps me from driving is still the intolerance to motion, which has always been my biggest problem. I’m fine while I’m driving, but i pay a huge price afterwards. I’ll be testing it out again this week.
Back to the alternatives, we’ve been talking about mouthguards for people who brux, in order to bring down the inflammation of the trigeminal nerve. We’ve been talking about something called the migraine program, or cure, sorry guys, i can’t remember what the actual name is. Scott is checking into the science behind the claims - Scott is a Ph.D. nutritionist. Women have been talking about hormone therapy. Marci is on a diet and posted today that she is going to start acupuncture, with or without herbal treatment. I personally tried homeopathy when I hit a brick wall M.D.-wise, but finding a good homeopath is about as hard as finding a good ENT. I got bad treatment which only made me worse. And now we have chiropractic. I’m sure I’ve left some things out, but you get the picture.
I guess the proof is in the pudding, hey? Topamax worked great for me, and for many others out there in the world, but was poison for others on this forum. Like my psychopharm teacher told me many decades ago “you do not put a med in an empty vessel. Everything must be individualized. Not just who is this person, but where are they in their lives? in their year, in their month?”
We used to have a link on this forum which polled people: what helped, what did not. People listed the meds and supplements they were using along with the results. It was interesting to see how different the reactions to the same meds were. It also scared me. The first time I took an AC i broke out in a cold sweat - it was no sweat 
okay, somebody stop me from rambling. What I’m trying to say in this long-winded way is:
***I hope we each come up with our own way to healing and go all the way with it. *** :!:
Julie
Hi Vickie-
Welcome to this board. Thanks for sharing your experience with chiropractic. I’m glad to hear that you are having success!!!
As Julie said, alternatives seem to be the thing here nowadays. Its a fantastic thing when one has good results.
I never had luck with chiropractic. I grew up with chiropractic, and it was the first thing I turned to after my crash. But unfortunately, I wouldn’t let him adjust my neck. After knowing what 24/7 dizziness was, my head and neck were off-limits. He never claimed to be able to cure me (which I appreciated), but I believe I became his worst nightmare. I quit going after a couple months, and I think he was actually glad not see me anymore. :shock:
I think anyone who suffers an injury or trauma, like it sounds like you did, may benefit from chiropractic. I’m all for it. It just wasn’t for me.
I think most of us here will agree, its all about finding what works for “you”, and its reason to celebrate when you finally find it!!! 
I hope you continue to find improvement!!!
Kim
Kim,
Now why couldn’t i have just said that, instead I had to go into my old song and dance. Guess i just felt like dancin’ :mrgreen:
thanks for backin’ me up by being clear yet comprehensive,
So Vickie, scratch what i said and just “ditto Kim”
Julie
Julie-
We LOVE your song and dance. Not only THAT, but we’re glad you’re up to feeling like dancing at all!!! So there!!! 
ps, it is kinda cool to see all the alternatives listed being pursued. Very beneficial to everyone!!!
We’re all just looking for that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. (Rainbow??? Oh gag, what rainbow would that be???)
Kim
Vickie,
Thank you so much for posting, it really is useful to hear of people who get well or see improvement - either through medication or alternative methods. I read about someone else on another forum who found that their MAV was caused by neck problems and got cured by a physio, so its definately more common than I thought.
Becky x