I’ve lately been wondering if the migraine preventative meds can treat some symptoms but not others? I’m on 25 mg ami for 3 weeks now and just after upping my dose I’ve noticed decreased headache pain although it’s still there mildly. It has also helped my brain fog and I am thinking more clearly since on it. My other symptoms (episodic dizziness and vertigo, 24/7 derealisation, significantly disturbed vision, tinnitus) has not been touched. I know that these are migraine preventatives, so how can they make some symptoms better without actually treating the migraine as a whole?
I have been a little paranoid about having gotten the wrong diagnosis today. I feel like the headache is what really grounds me and reminds me that this IS a migraine. Without it I just feel like a nut job and if I had never had the headache I would have just thought I was going mad and may have never been diagnosed with MAV. This is similar with the ringing in my ears - it reminds me that i’m not bonkers like everyone thinks I am and that this is a physiological and neurological problem. While I would obviously rather not be in pain, I get anxious that the head pain improves while nothing else does. Some advice from some seasoned MAVers would be great!
Hi !
I would ask your treating physician.
Have you had testing to rule out possible other causes for your dizziness and other symptoms besides headache. Migraine and headaches can be seen with other vestibular disorders besides MAV as well. Perhaps this is why your headaches are better but other symptoms continue?
Hope you get answers!
Hey!
I’ve seen a neurologist and neuro-otologist and both diagnosed me with VM right off the bat. I did have some vestibular function testing done and it all came out normal, just waiting on the caloric and hearing test. Did you find that when you tried drugs they worked on every symptom or not at all? Is it that black and white?
Sure, for me the drugs don’t resolve every symptom. The migraines, nausea, motion intolerance can be brought largely under control with the drugs.
What I’m left with is fluctuating imbalance (almost normal to occasionally uncomfortably bad but generally much better on the meds) , fluctuating tinnitus (buzz or hiss, sometimes pulses), phases of anxiety, and the very odd vertigo attack.
I’m almost certain I injured my ear ( in a bizarre and hugely unlucky accident. ) so I’m personally pretty confident my MAV is not central, it’s due to inner ear trauma.
My Neuro-otoligist insists it is Migraineous Vertigo. In as much as I have migraines and vertigo that’s true. But its not the whole story imho.
Does ear injury reflect in in the testing that they do on us? Have any of yours come back abnormal?
A lot of the time my ears hurt or feel full and even pop with my MAV. This part confuses me as I can’t imagine how that could be a neurological symptom as much as it would be an actual ear problem. Do you have a similar situation?
Thank you for teaching me to never clean my ear with the shower head!
Yes I have some high frequency hearing loss and it’s clear I have persistent if fluctuating tinnitus in that ear, though it has been showing a decrease of late. I believe I have elevated pressure in that ear. I don’t know if either is reversible were the pressure to drop.
Where it’s weird is that I fully recovered initially and never had any hearing symptoms. Then 5 months later it hit me again but this time arguably worse and started to involve my hearing. That’s why I think I have secondary hydrops and BPPV.