Went to the GP for a consultation. He prescribed me betaserc, and advised me to monitor my condition to see if there are any changes. He suspected it had something to do with my eyes because it seems like i do not have any ear / brain issues. He was surprised that someone my age was suffering from vertigo. I shrugged my shoulders as well. Booked an appointment for an eye checkup next week, just to see if thereās anything wrong with my eyes and also get an up to date prescription glasses.
Been wearing my contact lenses the past two days, seems significantly better in terms of dizziness, no apparent rocking feeling, eye sight seems much better compared to when with glasses. Migraines still occur when exposed to different lights etcā¦ especially during the consultation, there were REALLY bright fluorescent lights in the room, triggering an instant migraine while I was waiting for the virutal appointment. Felt a little uneasy but thankfully there was no dizziness. Due to the fact that i stop getting the rocky feeling when the migraine strikes while wearing my contacts, I presume that my eyesight is probably one of or the main factor in triggering the dizziness. However regardless of contacts or glasses, the computer screen still never fails to trigger the rocking feeling in my head. Also, looking down and moving my head / body tends to trigger the push pull feeling around my head as well (e.g washing the dishes).
Will now wait for my eye tests and new glasses and at the same time monitor my condition. If it entirely goes away when I get my new prescription I can finally close the case, if not I will go to the GP once more for a further consultation / referral.
Hi @sssoze, the quote above is very familiar sounding to me and maybe to many of us unfortunately.
My GP said nearly the same thing verbatim. My eyes were indeed an issue but not THE issue, the issue is vestibular migraine which affected all of my senses including my eyes.
Ive read the thread and may have missed itā¦ have you been diagnosed with vestibular migraine? Have you talked with your GP about VM? Most general practitioners donāt know about it unfortunately, or very little about it; so we have to lead them down the path of discovery unless your fortunate enough to have a specialist such as a Otolaryngologist.
I told him I suspected it was a migraine but he seemed to dismiss that idea and kept saying that usually migraines affect one side of the head etc etcā¦ so i think he didnāt really think it was a migraine related issue. Also he mentioned he was an ENT once, and also said I could get a referral to a specialist if that was what i was asking for, however told him i have no budget to see a specialist hence he prescribed me betaserc for now to see how it goes.
If that drug doesnāt work out try low dose Amitriptyline. Iām sure he can prescribe that. Betaserc seems to have got more popular for this in recent months but Ami, Prop and Venlafaxine are the major drugs.
I agree with @Naejohn that the reason you feel your eyes are involved is because they are inherently part of your integrated vestibular system. They may not be at fault at all but your symptoms may seem related because of all the interlinking.
Well I will be very very interested to hear how you get on next. I had a very similar journey. After many years undiagnosed about the time I started getting breakthrough symptoms between what had always been self contained distinct vestibular attacks I wondered āeyesā and a specialist optician very kindly became involved convinced it was and I saw virtually every kind of eye specialist on the circuit. All to no avail. Much later on again even one ENT Said the same. Eventually A neuro-otologist diagnosed me with probable migraine associated vertigo in a spare five minutes at the very end of a consultation for a totally different condition. That said wearing an incorrect eye prescription can certainly produce similar symptoms. Been there and done that one too, several times. However timings and previous incidents wouldnāt that give you the best possible indication of which cause you should attribute your current problems to?? Of course it could just be that increased sensitivity from the balance disorder is making your brain hyper to the new prescription. MAV brains dislike change.
I have noticed this too. I am wondering by the timing mostly whether itās now being prescribed for MAV vertigo since use of Prochlorperazine has been downgraded from for treating dizziness/vertigo to being used elusively to control dizziness as result of same something a doctor at my own surgery told me was about to happen several years ago. A thought re-enforced recently because I stumbled online on a Betaserc PIL which stated for use for āVestibular Vertigoā. I wonder whether the PIL has always said that or could this be a recent update? Sure somebody on here knows the answer to that one. I remember being told years ago it could only be used in confirmed Menieres. Whatās changed?
Its been awhile, just an update. Got new glasses and everything, been feeling much much better as of late. No more dizziness whatsoever on a daily basis, however I think Iām stuck with anxiety. I feel very floaty and ālightā in the sense that I might just spiral into an anxiety attack at any given time given the right circumstances (i.e when iām out in public, lighting conditions). Just came back from the supermarket and spent about 30+ mins in there. Initially I felt optimistic because my heart rate didnāt elevate immediately and the past few times I went to the supermarket it was fine, bearing in mind they were short trips. However i spent more time in today and noticeably felt uncomfortable at certain periods of time, up to the point where I started becoming a little panicky. I removed my glasses because i felt like they were making me feel ālaggyā and disassociated and had a small relief from the symptoms. However after awhile the symptoms crept back in. I just couldnāt wait to pay and get out of there quickly.
Felt zoned out the entire evening because i thought i had all these under control and was on a road to recovery. Seems not. Might go back to the optician to check if my prescription is off or something because I was confident i had astigmatism in my previous lenses but the new ones didnāt account for it. Perhaps that could be a cause? Also I found it really odd that I canāt seem to find out whatās wrong with the pair of glasses that I made recently that started this whole episode of VM. The optician checked it and said they were fine. Either way Iām quite disappointed about the whole situation and am desperately trying to find a way to tackle this. 3 months ago I never had any light sensitivity / VM but now Iām seemingly plagued with it.
If your prescriber has left out a correction for astigmatism that you had previously it could cause you symptoms. I have actually had one removed from a pair of mine last year for the same reason. In my case it was a new introduction my brain just didnāt seem to be able to adjust to. Not sure what you mean about the other pair that you think caused the current VM episode. What do you think āwrongā with them? What does the optician mean by them being āfineā? The prescribed prescription.? Lens not loose in the frame. In what way could they be āwrongā? If you donāt mind me saying you donāt seem to have any belief in your opticians abilities. Do you have to keep with them? Worth changing maybe? Nobody is infallible but they are usually pretty careful. The trip to the supermarket and the current light sensitivity sounds typical MAV to me. Not sure about the elevated heart rate and spiralling towards a panic attack. I presume thatās anxiety but personally I wouldnāt blame the supermarket experience on your eyes.
The other pair meaning my alternate pair of glasses which i changed the lenses for, retaining the exact same prescription caused me my dizziness for god knows what reason. Whenever i donned those on my vision goes rocky from side to side in front of the computer or under lights. Iām wearing a new pair of prescriptions which somehow eliminated the rocky feeling but the migraines? is still here to stay. The optician checked the lenses and said they didnāt seem to have any defects and the lenses were fine.
Anyway after my recent eye check with the opticians they said my eyes were healthy albeit a bit dry. I guess I would be seeing the GP soon to get a diagnosis on the migraines and possibly get some meds that can help alleviate the anxiety such as benzos or maybe betahistine etc.
Optician should know. Either they arenāt correctly aligned to your eyes. Different frame design from their alternative pair? Could be. Or lens construction from a different material than the pair that does suit. I have known several people had trouble because of the latter myself included. Or as they give you problems on computer and under artificial lights could they either have a protective coating you arenāt familiar with or lack onethat you would be. I do so hope you have better luck with the doctor! I expect you will.
Would just like to give an update on my situation, been prescribed Paroxetine ( Paxil ) 10 mg everyday and have been on it for the past 12 days. My condition has improved significantly, anxiety is gone, dizziness gradually subsiding, almost close to none but still subtly present. Still get head pressure when exposed to lights but hoping it will disappear the longer I continue the medication. Very optimistic now.
Another update, symptoms resurfaced for the past few days, split second push pull feeling, anxiety under lights at supermarkets. Abit worried that paxil is losing its effectiveness. Not sure if because theres a change in routine of the time i take it daily, used to be 11am for a month at the start now iām taking it at 7am for the past few weeks but only feeling these differences now. Feels like the same way when i just started the medication, i feel like i have a very slight shortness of breath and lethargy at times. Thinking if i should up my dose to 20mgā¦
Just maybe current Covid situation is subconsciously affecting you and thatās lowered your tolerance levels a tad resulting in slightly increased hypersensitivity. Besides medication isnāt at all guaranteed to keep all the symptoms away all the time. Bound to be little breakthroughs on and off as your sensory system is exposed to various stimuli. Kind of makes you jump sometimes the surprise I know but I wouldnāt panic just yet. Few deep breaths maybe.
Possibly. I have been going to the groceries once/twice a week to keep myself āactiveā. Weird that it just cropped up all of a suddenā¦
Also does anyone have any experience with cervical dizziness? I found that looking downwards exacerbated my rocky vision, was thinking the dizziness could have something to do with my neck as well since I do wake up with stiffness and aches some times.
All possibilities are certainly worth investigation however Cervical dizziness is a separate condition. Use the siteās Search facility and you will find many theories as to why you have a stiff neck. Your symptoms sound typical MAV, symptoms on head movement. Unless you have had some trauma to your neck Iād say itās much more likely MAV.