I was diagnosed with "migraines" by a neurologist, neuropthalmoligist and PCP. They were all in agreement of migraines with a "vestibular" component AKA Vestibular migraines- but I still question it. Ive had chronic headaches for years but they were never migraines. Apparently you can aquire migraines, ect. My mom has had them since she was 16 years old, but hers are different. I honestly believe my so called " migraines" are related to my neck issues. Ive had Xrays and MRI's of my neck which shows disc issues, Soft tissues, ligaments, ect. Last year it showed two bulging discs. They can press on nerves or even the spinal cord. If I do actually have migraines- I believe they are caused from issues in my cervical spine. Ive read a lot and done a lot of research.

Anyways my symptoms besides the chronic one-sided neck pain are: lightheadedness (like a faint/passing out feeling), off-balanced (like I've had a couple glasses of wine), headaches between my eyes and sometimes the back of my head (but not like the pulsating kind that migraines usually are), blurry vision, tilting/swaying feeling when walking, providers have seen nystagmus in my eyes with neck movements and brain fog. Also- they say with vestibular migraines- you don't always have a headache but you can just be dizzy, lightheaded and all the other migraine symptoms.

Suggestions: You could ask to try Nortriptyline (used for migraines/nerve pain) look it up! There's also more NATURAL remedies out there that help - Migrelief (supplement: has magnesium, riboflavin and feverfew) it helped me a lot but have to stop taking because of some other GI issues. Or you could try just magnesium, riboflavin and COQ10 separately OR eat foods that are high in these vitamins. Vestibular rehabilitation has also been beneficial for some folks as well.

Check out this website: vestibular.org
VEDA website. Talks all about vestibular disorders. Let me know if you have other questions. 😊

What doctors have you seen? I know how frustrating it is! Trust me.

@nrd1 My vertigo was caused by misalignment of C1 & C2 that were twisted or tilted and stuck that way because of a muscle spasm prior to my spine surgery for cervical stenosis at C5/C6. When the muscle spasm came on it started a muscle headache in the subopcipitals on the back one one side of my head, or it caused ear pain and jaw pressure. Then if I moved my neck in particular, looking upward so I arched the neck, that set off light headedness and the world looked like it was moving and spinning. I lost my balance and fell down during one of the episodes and there was nothing I could do to stop that from happening. It was like spinning around when I was a kid getting dizzy. If you dart your eyes quickly, it can give that sensation or when you are the first car stopped for a fast moving train that is passing by and you are trying to follow it with your eyes. It really looks like the world is moving and you have to lie down and close your eyes to help feel a little better because your balance is off.

Sometimes just sleeping helps, and that may be because of the resting position that the neck relaxes a bit. A physical therapist can have you lie on your back to put the muscles on slack, and feel the spineous processes that stick out to the sides to feel if they are aligned. If you put your thumbs behind your ears, and feel for the notch at the base of the skull, that is where the spine processes of C1 sit just below that. My PT showed me how to check this. You should see a PT about this rather than try to fix it yourself because if there is spinal instability, that can have a lot of risk of serous injury. The vertebrae can be realigned by stabilizing the shoulder blade on one side and turning the head away from that against resistance from your hand pushing against your head, but you need to know what your pattern is for muscle spasms. That gets your muscles to realign the vertebrae by contracting and moving them. My spasms started on the left likely because my neck is tighter on that side because I have thoracic outlet syndrome that is worse on that side. A physical therapist is the best person to help figure this out and to work on correcting it. The vertebral artery passes through the side of the vertebrae, and having them twist and stay like that will stretch it, and can alter blood supply to the brain. That is what happens with Bow Hunter's syndrome which is much more involved than what I experienced. Since my surgery, my neck has calmed down and vertigo doesn't happen anymore after a C5/C6 fusion. I can still cause a muscle spam if I strain my neck position,and get a slight headache on the back of my head, but I can massage my neck and get it to stop.

Here is a link with some information.
https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/resource-library/vestibular-migraine/