Hi, I’m a new participant to this forum and really need some support and feedback. I have been provisionally diagnosed with vestibular migraine. In May this year, I began feeling faint and started experiencing feeling slightly off balance for a couple months, like I was being pulled to the side but I never lost my balance. In July, I had a pulsing/throbbing headache on one side of the back of my head. A few days later, I began feeling like I was tilting and swaying/rocking. I have ringing in my ears daily off and on throughout day and at night. I continue to have daily constant equilibrium/ vertigo problems of swaying/rocking or bouncing feelings that vary in intensity, I feel like I’m bouncing, swaying, or rocking whether I’m sitting, standing, walking, or laying down and this makes my eyes feel like they are bouncing. At times, I feel like I’m being pulled to one side, like tilting, especially when walking. When crouching, it makes my equilibrium worse and feels like the ground is also swaying or bouncy around me. At night when laying down, I turn my head and I feel like my head and eyes swivel in the direction I turn. When standing up/walking and I turn, I feel like I do half spins. I have head soreness and tenderness, especially on the left side of the back of my head which is the side of my head where the throbbing/pulsing headache occurred in July this year. I feel lightheaded most days and I am afraid I’ll pass out.
My gynecologist believes that my hormones are causing these symptoms because I am perimenopausal and wants to put me on HRT but I have also been prescribed nortriptyline for VM (did not agree with me so I stopped taking it) by my neurologist. My CT scan and MRI were all normal and my ENT has ruled out an inner ear problem.
I am freaking out and highly anxious about my present state and have very little family support. Since my vertigo is not causing me to fall over and is not always obvious other than me being a little clumsy, my family thinks I’m not really experiencing all these symptoms which makes me feel more anxious. Does this sound like VM or could it be hormonal from perimenopause? (because my problems started after a horrible night sweat from perimenopause). How can I cope with my anxiety and lack of support at home? I feel overwhelmed and depressed and all I do is cry.
Any thoughts you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.