Hello, after almost a year of vertigo attacks , daily dizziness and nausea an balance problems, a new specialist i saw suggests i have this. Not Menieres disease because i dont have significant hearing loss and my symptoms are not coming from one ear. I recently tried ELAVIL 10mg. It has made my dizziness worse. Has anyone had this hapen??
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Hi i have been dealing with chronic dizzyness , vertigo attacks and imbalnce for 11 years , ruined my life , after about 4 or 5 years i found i think a 6 th neuro who said well try botox and valuim being everything else failed and i was housebound , so i tried it and it slowly got me back to being semi functional which was a blessing i could drive again and go into stores although it was tough i was able to shop then after years this past november i suddenly got struck while standing in line with horrible dizzyness but this time short of breath , chest pain and really felt like i was about to faint , i ran out and sat on the curb and felt better , since then it has gotten worse , i have to use a chair to shower and i now get horrible dizzy while standing im fully housebound again but now with even worse standing faintness chest pains and short of breath i had cardio tests all normal except high bp , i dont know what to do , at times it feels like im walking on marshmellows or sinking into the floor , anyone going threw this???
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Hello @sammy1111 welcome back to mvertigo. Sorry you didnāt get a response the prior time. There are still a few regulars here so hopefully we can help you out a bit more!
Sorry you are still suffering. Those symptoms are familiar to a lot of us. Have you tried the diet, good sleep hygiene and perhaps even some counselling to help control anxiety?
Sammy 1111, welcome back to our forums. This is where we keep each other sane! Iām on Nortriptyline- it is a TCA same as Amitriptyline. I recently started it again. Reassuring to know all your tests are normal- Are you taking any Magnesium supplement? That could help a lot with the High blood pressure. Ami could have increased it. Did you check back with the neuro? I hope this scary episode calms down for you.
Dealing with this since 2019, Iām on my 4th neuro.
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Hi everyone,
Apologies for have been disappeared. I had a very rough time during the last months when I started Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq). It did not help my PPPD but made it even worse with panic attacks that I did not have before. I started also Emgality (2mo in and no improvement).
I had consultation with my Neuro, we are running out of options and he proposed to increase Amitriptyline from 10mg to 25mg (something that @turnitaround suggested to me in the past!). Could you believe that I am scared? I am very sensitive to feel worse, more dizzy, etc. May I kindly ask you to share your experience if you went through the same? I know that everyone is different but would like to know what could be normal and what not. Thanks for being here 
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I think I was up to 20mg, 10mg was OK but I definitely felt better on 20mg (except for side effects like slow bowels). I felt very sensitive to medications, I totally understand how you feel in this regard. I had severe anxiety as well, most of us do. But I realized eventually that I had to try new meds anyways to get betterā¦ Running out of options is impossible, there are always more options - an infinite amount of combinations of meds and dosages. Iām almost 10 years into it and mostly recovered (flare ups of migraines here and there but no dizziness) and Iām still tweaking medications at this point. Iāve been through 3 beta blockers, and the third one Iām on now has been working with the fewest side effects, so I basically plan to stay on it for life. Keep going Poppy, you will get better!
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Dear Ander,
Thanks for your kindness and support! You really made my day.
The thing is that I feel that 10mg did absolutely nothing to me regarding my 24/7 dizziness. I think that all success stories I read from people who responded to Ami, they at least noticed any benefit from 10mg. This is why I feel little hopeless. It seems to me that I am taking A LOT of meds and that each one is horrible to withdraw so itās like being in a dark hole that I am not sure of I will be able to leave.
I had to quit my job due to symptoms (5mo now) so this and the lack of any certain of improvement also contributes to my anxiety. 3y living this hell!
Also, since I started Emgality, migraine pain returned (something that doesnāt make any sense!!?), so I am completely a messā¦
Thanks again for your kind words, I really appreciate them.
I also quit my job for about 6 months, thinking Iād relax and maybe improve a bit. But no, I had no improvement and lots of anxiety trying to figure out my next job. A year into it I became very depressed, as I had zero improvement despite lots of ātryingā to get better. It consumes your entire mind trying to figure out the puzzle! Its very hard, I wouldnāt wish it on my worst enemy. But if you keep trying treatment options over time you will eventually figure out things that work. Just do your best and keep connected with people (us and your family / friends). Even at my worst, having a good conversation with someone was a nice distraction and sometimes that all you can do with this condition is to distract yourself until you feel better.
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Thank u Erik 
. I am feeling so bad today, not sure if it is due to the Ami dose increase or what.
I disappeared and cut any contact with friends. Itās difficult to explain but I felt very embarrassed explaining them every time they asked how bad I feel with no improvement. I am very depressed and feeling lonely but I got tired of listening myself explaining people how sick I am. Not sure if this makes sense at all.
I strongly urge you not to do this. Social contact is critical for your mental health. The good friends will understand when you cannot meet when you are feeling particularly unwell but at other times try to break through the discomfort and meet others as itās definitely part of any good recovery journey.
Social contact can be a fantastic distraction from symptoms.
Your good friends will have to prove themselves by being tolerant.
You have to accept not being perfect for the time being but also not let it stop you leading a reasonably normal life.
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Yes, it makes sense. I belonged to a local ādizzinessā group where I could meet other people that were suffering with similar problems. If you can find something like that, or maybe chronic pain meetup groups near you, that might help. But honestly a good friend will accept your condition āas isā, so I would try again to reach out to your old friends or make new ones. Humans are not meant to live in social isolation like that.
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Thank u James and @ander454 One of my biggest issues is that I am feeling so so badly that I canāt barely leave my house. Dizziness, nausea, panic, fatigueā¦itās crazy.
I lost contact with all my friends. Itās almost 4 years after this hell started, nobody wants to hear the same misery every time they ask, and sadly, I understand that. My best friend was supporting me for a long time, but some months ago she told me āIād prefer if you contact me just when you feel betterā. Well, I have been waiting for that moment, but it didnāt happen. Itās my 3rd day on 25mg Ami (I tried 15mg and 20mg unsuccessfully) and it seems that again itās not even touching the dizziness.
Sorry for the vent, I canāt stop crying 
I would give anything for just some improvement.
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@Poppy, I am with you. I completely get what you are saying! Same situation here. Iām 6 years into this now- and it sure is hell to live with this condition. I have tried EIGHT prescriptions plus all THREE of the injectable meds- They all seem to make my condition worse instead of better. The tricyclics are the only ones that donāt give me the horrid side effects and help a wee bit. So I am back on Nortriptyline now. The sister to Elavil. Today feeling more dizzy than ever prolly because I increased the dose to 40mg: 4 pillsā¦. I am trying to titrate up to 50mg - so then it will be just one pill. For me the contact with friends have been very important but very hard to have relationships when you suffer from this horrid condition! I hear myself talking about my miserable state and feel so frustrated that I have no better conversation to make. It is really TOUGH ! None of my friends really want to hear anymore because the truth is they DO NOT UNDERSTAND ! They do not live in my body. I probably sound really āweirdā to them talking about the symptoms we haveā¦ā¦nausea, dizzy-woozy head, headacheā¦ā¦sensitivity to triggers: movement of body, sounds, lights, digital screens, stress, smells/odors. I can sense that they want to avoid talking on this topic- Frankly you and I are real troopers living with this hell- You think the friends would ever be able to tolerate this condition? One told me āThatās no life to live!ā and the other said āOh just the vertigo would do me inā. I cry, I weep, I beg God each day to heal meā¦ā¦..I totally feel you @Poppy. There have been days I canāt stop crying either. Six years into this, my mind has adjusted to just being sick multiple times a day due to sounds, lights, stores, smells, screensā¦ā¦.despite being on Nortriptyline. I pray I never get back to pre-Nortriptyline as I could not even get out of bed. This forum site has been a lifesaver for many of us.
Please know you are in my thoughts. You are not alone. You are definitely NOT alone @Poppy. Iām there with you on this friend thing. But hang in there, the people who truly care about you will hang in there with you. Itās us that have to tolerate their remarksā¦ā¦.We are the ones who have to have the big hearts to forgive and forget whatever comment they made. For imagine if they were in our shoes?
XXXOOO A big hug your way
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