Information for my ENT

Hi! I am about to go back to my ENT.
I would like to ask you the following questions regarding VM.

  • do you feel unsteady all the time, even if youā€™re having no headache?
  • do you feel a sort of G-Force swirling in your head?
    if I just stand still and focus on not swaying back and forth the G-force comes on full force.
  • did you get unsteady without any vertigo attack at all?
  • do you just get the unsteady feeling and not a spinning vertigo?
  • does your unsteadiness come and go without any particular trigger?
  • do you have a heavy head feeling like you have to old your head when sitting on a chair or couch?
  • do you get a stiff neck and back of head? like someone hit you with a bat at the back of your head?
  • do you drive? When I drive I have no unsteady feeling.
  • do you sometimes see objects moving? When I see a scrolling banner which stops and the end to me it looks as if the text is still scrolling.
  • Do you a feel light tremor at the back of your head? Maybe more an internal vibrating feeling. Hard to explain.

I am especially interested in cases which had no particular onset (panic attack, vertigo attacks) because I donā€™t think I have had any.
I read a lot of you get nauseous, I donā€™t have that. Any people out there who donā€™t get nauseous as well? Same goes for auraā€™s? I donā€™t get auraā€™s.
I donā€™t any of that except for a clamp-like pressure on several places of my head which moves around.
So, sometimes itā€™s on the rightside, sometimes on top.

Sure. Most MAVers have long phases where they are unsteady all of the time and this is standard and not brought on by any attack. Attacks tend to make it worse or alter it in some way (Iā€™ve had periods of ā€œheavy legā€)

The vestibular and visual symptoms can be really varied. Iā€™ve had periods of ā€œlong legā€ where one leg feels longer than the other. Other times I had the whole world slanted or swinging from side to side.

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Not quite sure of your reasons for needing to know or how much hurry so here goes, quickly in case,

I do have a Vestibular Migraine diagnosis.

I can answer ā€˜Yesā€™ to most questions so Iā€™ll just list those that donā€™t affect me.

I have no G Force feeling. I have no light tremor in the back of my head. Tingling, like ants crawling under the skin, in back of neck sometimes but not in head. I have experienced true vertigo many times but not always with strong links to your listed symptoms. Itā€™s possible to have a lot of constant unsteadiness with no accompanying vertigo or dizziness or headaches. I went many years without True migraine headaches. Had first one in October.

I donā€™t drive since chronic MAV so cannot comment on that one.

Yes to the clamped head feeling. Yes to feeling and being nauseous. My nausea was closely linked to true room spinning vertigo. No to auras for many many years, more than a decade. Recently I have had a couple. I presume you mean visual auras? I do. Many people will say your entire symptom list are ā€˜auraā€™.

My vestibular attacks appeared to start with no obvious cause. Most particularly the very first one.

Everyone is so different Iā€™m not sure how much my experience helps you there but thereā€™s your answers for what they are worth.

Unsure what you mean. Its common to have ongoing constant unsteady feeling without experiencing vertigo at the same time or ever. I have had vertigo in the past. Thatā€™s an important question the ENT will ask you. Many diagnose on absence/previous experience of vertigo. To others itā€™s inconclusive.

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Dominic did you read Symptoms common to MAV & VM?

Good luck with your appointment and let us know how you got on.

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I can say yes to almost all of these except for the tremor in the back of my head. But when my dizziness is bad I have what my doctor called and ā€œexternal tremorā€ where my muscles feels jumpy and my hands shake.

I get that in my muscles too. Itā€™s called benign fasciculation syndrome. Scary at first but doesnā€™t bother me anymore.