Medicine = Changing Symptoms?

Medication 💊 Other Prescribed Medicines
1

Hello fellow “movers” (aren’t we always experiencing extra motion???),

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It is possible that I have MAV, still going through the process of getting more than a probable dx…

Anyway, I also recently - in the last week - found out that I have a heart problem with tachycardia. Minor surgery is an option, but until doctors can get into my heart to see what is happening, I am on a calcium channel blocker (cardizem LA) and a beta blocker (metoprolol). Both doses are very low since I have only been on them 5 days and will get to see another cardiologist/surgeon right after Christmas.

Even though I am not taking the “typical” preventative meds, I know that calcium channel blockers and beta blockers are often used to prevent migraines and our motion.

In your experiences, have you noticed a CHANGE in your symptoms when taking a medication that could possibly help? Sometimes I feel that I am hardly moving (a nice change!) and other times it is much worse than “usual.” I do not have rotational vertigo with the exception of a BPPV attack earlier in the year, but today I have spun for a few seconds several times - unusual and scary!

I know that both of my new drugs can cause dizziness, but I was told that that would be similar to lightheadedness if I got up too fast. What I am experiencing on the meds is NOT lightheadedness.

And if a medicine did NOT work for you, did it ever make you worse in regards to vertigo?

Just wondering if this could be a good thing or a bad thing… and if it is a bad thing, this change in symptoms SHOULD go away when I get off the med, right??

Thanks!

DJ

2

Hi DJ

Both those drugs can be very effective for MAV. What doses are you taking and at what intervals?

Just wondering if perhaps low dosages combined with decreasing blood levels of the drugs (due to a long gap between doses) could be a possibility as to why you are having clear periods followed by crashing again?

Adam

3

adam,

cardizem LA 120mg at bedtime and metoprolol ER 25mg in the morning. just started wednesday night, so 5 doses of each.

i have a maybe a few seconds or a minute or two NOT moving, but not really a break or period of relief. but mainly i feel worse worse worse.

if i end up having the heart procedure done and there is a pathway problem in my heart, they will fix it and then i would assume i would be taken off both drugs even though one of my cardiologists said we could try the beta blocker for migraine relief.

i have read in the articles posted on this wonderful forum and ones online that usually inderal is the beta blocker of choice, then metoprolol which i am on. and then verapamil is the calcium channel blocker of choice, not the one i am on. and usually the short release of the medicine vs. the extended release which i am on is used, especially at the beginning. so i am close to the right path but not on it just yet!!!