Dizziness and / or lightheaded 10 weeks after spinal fusion of c3-c7

YES ! i had c4-7 fused, And had the exact same symptoms. I've been to many Dr's and specialists since. Everything seems to come back normal. However, I have a GREAT pt. Over the past few years of seeing all these symptoms, just recently he took me thru kind of a eye test, seeing if my eyes and brain are tracking together. As well as he has me doing new exercises at home. Since my surgery, and my body trying to compensate for everything that's changed, my neck posture has changed which definitely can produce these symptoms. I seem to have more forward neck positioning than ever before. I'm doing a exercise trying to retrain my neck muscles to go back to normal, and it has helped. I don't know if this can help you, but HOPE so, cause it's miserable.

I had a lumbar spinal fusion in 2019 and a few days afterwards I had severe dizziness and nausea. I was in a residential rehabilitation facility for my drop foot post surgery and the physical therapist diagnosed me with vertigo. A couple sessions took care of it.

@tilou You're welcome. My physical therapist has a doctorate in PT and also has some other skills. She is trained with advanced certifications from John Barnes in myofascial release (which has helped me a lot) and she also does things like dry needling which can release the electrical charge in a muscle that is spasming allowing it to relax. I haven't done that because I don't like needles. I know a lot of PTs focus on muscular re-education and strengthening which is good, but some problems are from too much tightness, and that is where MFR may help a lot. MFR is like a gentle massage that the PT does with hands on, and they hold the pressure until the muscle and fascia releases. That may be something that is OK with osteoporosis, but ask your doctor. When tight muscles pull on bones, it puts pressure on a bone or joint.

Do you have an endocrinologist treating your osteoporosis so it doesn't get worse?

Here is our discussion on MFR:
Neuropathy - "Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/

I had neck surgery 3 months ago and have been lightheaded/dizzy every since. Doc says not related. It is constant and I am debilitated. Not vertigo.

Taken a while but, a couple things. First off iron was not the issue. In addition, I have seen a PT a couple of times, and he has helped some but not sure what he can do. He has said that he thinks he can fix me ( will see). That said, I want to ask you Jennifer how and what was the fix for reduced blood flow from your cervical arteries? How did they diagnose, and what was the cure? In addition I’m curious about the c-2 nerve that helps with balance if anyone knows? My PT keeps taking about that.

@rkoepke It was just working with my physical therapist to resolve the vertigo. It was worse before I had my cervical fusion surgery because I was getting a lot of muscle spasms. My PT was doing myofascial release and also using a Dolphin Neurostimuator to interrupt pain signals. After surgery and my recovery, my neck spasms calmed down a lot. I can still get some slight rotation, but I realize it when I get a headache, and I do the stretching I need to get it realigned, and there has not been a vertigo episode since my surgery. If your vertebrae are getting twisted and stay that way, it's a problem. I didn't have a surgical fix for blood flow in vertebral arteries, it was just working on muscles to realign the spine properly.

I do know that some of propiception for balance comes from vision. I did some eye exercises following a diagram on the wall for this as part of my spine neck rehab. I think balance isn't just one nerve; it's a lot of nerves and muscle feedback and even hearing that is involved with balance.

Thanks, I’m seeing neurologist tomorrow, had another PT appointment today, still frustrated. Will see what neurologist says, therapist seem to be saying a lot of what your saying. Hopefully he can “straighten my spine out “ and I can get back to normal, but headaches make the dizziness come more often.