I probably should have gone to see the Neurotologist again, but opted to call my GP. Not that she isn’t competent, but she doesn’t make me feel confident in her ability to treat my problem. Granted, the issues I’m having indicate a problem that isn’t easily tested for but nonetheless.
She did tell me that the preliminary diagnosis from the Neuro (who did my ENG testing) is for vestibular neuritis. She’s fairly confident that is still the case. In my research and reading (dizziness-and-balance.com/di … eurit.html) that can cause/be linked to MAV especially in recurrent cases (mine).
She asked about vestibular rehabilitation exercises and I seriously tried them in Dec/Jan, but they made me so ill that I couldn’t continue them. I felt so much worse than I do now that it simply wasn’t worth it to be so useless!
We’re trying me on 6 weeks of 25 mg of Elavil (Amitriptylin) and see if that helps mitigate the symptoms (nausea, dizziness, lightheaded, etc).
Dr also said I could obviously go back to the neuro, but that he might not have a different suggestion. So we’ll stick with this and see how it goes. I’m certainly hoping for the best.
Hi Piper, don’t know if you’ve read the dialogue between me and Adam in the problem of constancy topic…I raised the issue of Vestibular neuritis and MAV being mixed up…I too have a family history of migraine, but unlike you I was told i had MAV and ended up with vestibular neuritis- the mix up having been detrimental to my recovery. I’m currently doing VRT and seeing slow improvement from it.
Having read your case, I definitely wouldn’t rule V-N out as I recognise all of what you describe except the aural fullness (which may explain the menieres diagnosis), even the symptoms heightening during the menstrual cycle is reported by female sufferers of uncompensated labs/VN.
VRT is supposed to initially heighten your symptoms…the exercises are supposed to force the brain to recognise the inner ear problem and it can take time for the brain to sort out what’s going on.
Having said that it could be MAV, as it incorporates a broad field of symptoms (including more or less all the symptoms associated with V.N) and you have the family history.
I’ll have to read the thread later today. The problem I had with the VRT is that it made it impossible for me to function. With two small kids and a part-time job that my family relies on, I really can’t be out of commission for very long. The symptoms of whatever ails me are bad enough to cope with.
Do you know how long it might take for the VRT to take affect, i.e. the exercises don’t make me feel horribly sick to my stomch, have issues with gait and be so incredibly dizzy? I guess I should just do the exercises and power through them but it is so hard knowing how awful they make me feel and how much that impacts my family’s life.
I do think VN and MAV are likely related or at least hard to distinguish where one begins and the other ends. On the Hain website he indicates in the section on VN there is brief talk about how some drs feel that recurrent problems with VN might be related to Menieres and/or MAV.
Don’t know if it is the Elavil or the leftovers from last weeks’ vertigo or a combo but I feel totally out of it today - I apologize if my post isn’t very coherent.
Piper, the problem I’ve found is if you have uncompensated V-N and don’t address it with VRT your body can soak up the balance deficit by causing you fatigue and tension in the muscles and extreme eye strain. This is what happened to me, and I functioned like this over two years- avoiding certain activities and living in a pattern that my body could cope with. I had a stressful period in my life- career changes and a lot on etc and the V-N came to the surface a lot worse than before, I developed Eye dominated balance and I’ve been told the recovery time for me has probably tripled or even quadrupled because of this. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this is the heart of the decompensation problem, and the linkages with MAV- because if you have an inner ear balance deficit you carry your posture differently, operate under strain which increases the likelihood of headaches etc. Leaving V-N alone seems to me to be a big gamble…and in some respects you’re lucky that the VRT is making you so bad- it means your balance system is receptive to it.
It’s definitely worth you having look at this condition and the case histories via some of the links in the problem of constancy post
It would seem in many individuals, it is almost impossible to distinguish between the two conditions, or determine what is really going on.
Despite a lot of guesswork, the only thing you can really do is try the treatments and see how it goes. Minimising the symptoms to the point where you can get on with life with minimal suffering seems to be the balance to find.