Mine all started after a day at a theme park. I went on lots of rollercoasters and fast rides. That night when i got home i sat in front on the tv and then BANG!! My vision was all over the place and i have been dizzy ever since. This is what started by chronic migraines. I have always tolerated them kind of rides in the past!!
What started your big bang?
No freakin’ idea–and I think I’m about ready to give up figuring that out. I’ve about driven myself nuts trying to come upon an answer to that question, and at the end of the day, I think it may have come upon me slowly without my realizing it and then one day the volcano had a massive eruption instead of an oozing magma flow of ignorable symptoms.
Hi Rob,
Mine developed weirdly and slowly…I had a few dizzy spells lasting a few seconds in May/June 2012 then got hit with 2 weeks of severe pressure headaches, vomiting, dizziness in June then was fine for 8 weeks and on 13th July stood up from my desk at work and was so dizzy, thought I was gonna faint, it never went away…funny thing is at first mine was just dizziness but over the past 8/9 months I’ve had more and more fatigue, neck pain, spasming in my neck muscles, tremor, pins and needles, visual disturbances etc so mine has got progressively worse…it’s weird…I have good days where the dizziness is not so bad but 80% of the time I’m so dizzy it prevents me going out much/doing most of the things I used to…the only things I can pinpoint leading up to the BIG BANG are drinking alot of coffee, stormy weather, alot of close number work and comoputer use at work…did Dr S ever mention that the way your problems started is odd…I don’t see the connection between migraine and fairground rides…to me that would make more sense with an ear issue…it’s like the physical motion of the rides triggered it…does that fit with migraine???
Hi Lizzie
He said he has seen it before. He said some patients have also had a knock to the head that triggered it.
He said there was a build up to it. I was under a lot of stress for about 6 month leading up to it. Also migraines run in my family. He said I was living life near the edge of my threshold and it was only a matter of time before my jug over spilled. He said the fairground rides just triggered me off and pushed me over my threshold
I have considered the inner ear stuff but I have all the migraine symptoms. I had MRI as well
Wow he obvs knows best…I guess the stress and family history etc make it a clear case of migraine. x
For me the question would be “What was the big bang that catapulted you into VM?”. The answer to that is vestibular neuritis. I was acutely and massively ill for 6 weeks followed by a chronic compensation period that stretched on forever because migraine interfered continuously.
Hey Scott,
Just interested…how was ur VN diagnosed? Also, did your really bad phase consist of 24/7 dizziness? Are you no longer dizzy 24/7? Thanks, DL x
Hi DL,
The VN was diagnosed by 2 GPs, a registrar and a specialist at Royal Prince Alfred.
Whatever it was, it was very different from the beast I have been dealing with now for nearly 10 years. The symptoms I experienced at onset:
Heavy-duty continuous dizziness and unstable vision.
Visual vertigo induced by reading text and computer screens.
Riding in a car or on a motorcycle was impossible.
Lost the ability to play my guitar without feeling ultra dizzy (this problem lingers today).
Some rotational vertigo at times but more like you might feel jumping off one of those merry-go-round things in the park.
Ears burned inside for about 2 weeks.
Was running a temperature for about a week.
Completely sapped of energy to the point of not being able to climb a flight of stairs without extreme exhaustion.
Anxiety was off the charts and non-stop; my heart was pounding away at about 180 bpm for 2 weeks straight (normal for me about 65); I could cause extreme anxiety by simple shifting my eyes to the far corners of my visual field.
Nearly impossible to lie flat in bed – still have trouble lying on my right and left side.
Clinical levels of depression that came in waves when I wasn’t feeling so anxious – always a sense of doom. It was like I was recovering from hearing of a death in the family. Very heavy heart all the time.
Pins and needles in my legs and arms.
Inability to focus on complex information.
Unable to get a grip on anything really – a feeling like I had totally lost control of my faculties.
The above slowly waned after 6 weeks but bits and pieces still linger (e.g. visual vertigo, guitar, exhaustion from exercise). Migraine took over.
S
Mine was VN too. November 2009. Lasted 2mths. Went to hospital for ear/heart checks. Diagnosed Vestibular Neuritis. Then no symptoms for a year. November 2010 dizziness/migraines headaches started after VRT exercises. Diagnosed Menieres (twice) before eventual diagnosis of Migrainous Vertigo November 2011.
Barb
Wow that’s crazy Scott, sounds horrible. Glad you got a handle on it. X
mine started after getting lasik eye surgery…i dunno if it was related to the stress i was going through during the process?
after 12 yrs of not knowing, i was just diagnoised with basilar migraine. living with chronic migraine/dizzness is Hell.
I have no idea. I’d gotten off a phone call and bam-the room started spinning…and did so for a couple hours I think. My head started pounding as did my heart, and my face was flushed. I took antihistamines and went to bed (my parents have had BPPV and that’s what they always did). The next day I was so foggy and dizzy and then a couple days later the ear symptoms started. High pitch ringing and fullness off and on. Sensitive to light and sound. Voila I’m in hell. I have no idea what happened to me. ENT said it wasn’t VN.
So this begs the question…can it just hit for no reason at all? Does it have to be from an illness? I did have 2 bad cold sores on my mouth in Jan, attack was in Feb. That is what made the VRT girl think I had VN. Anyway, ENT put down MM variant. I still haven’t had vertigo (knock on wood) since the initial attack except when the VRT girl did the Epley on me.
Why do so many have to go so long without a dx? Do we truly have to have all these horrific tests? I’m thinking out loud…because I’m trying to learn from all of you that have been down much longer and harder roads than I. Do I NEED to have an ENG VNG caloric VEMP and suffer for 2 years? Should the ENT be “waiting” to see if I have another attack of get some hearing loss to give me the MM dx? I’m so frustrated. And I know I’m impatient. Please forgive me! 
I’m done with this rant. Peace to all of you.
Shell
i think my lifestyle, just having a baby, stress and anxiety, and my father dying, and injections of botox and juvederm for superficial reasons may have all contributed to it. i was drinking a lot, like everyday, started smoking cigarettes with my girlfriends when we would go out. i had had a baby like 4 months into it when it started, and i have always had stress and anxiety. i honestly think it all contriubted to it. i got a slight respitory infection for a few days and then bam, i woke up to humming in my head and dizziness. it was crazy. i am finally getting a little better after 4 months.
i honestly think that the botox may have been a big contributor to my issues. they say bad side effects last for weeks, but this is not true. i think it may be the main cause of all this. i will never ever put that shit into my body again. i think it damaged some nerves bc i had jaw pain, sinus pain, headaches, head pressure, that humming in my ear. and now 4 months later it is getting better but still there. do not put that stuff in your body.