Constant dizziness/imbalance

Posted by Chester @chester, Jul 21, 2011

I'm a 47 year old male, and I've been experiencing a non-spinning dizziness/imbalance feeling for over ten months now. It all started after having a sinus and ear infection. I've had and MRI of the head, balance testing, blood tests for any deficiencies, heart tests, all of which are negative. I am suppose to see a neurologist next. Anyone else having similar problems?

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@anon88375104

I guess you can add me to the list. I woke up with dizziness, ringing in the ears, visual problems - like vibrating vision, balance problems and sensory disfunction (somewhat like ataxia) one year ago. I've seen every kind of doctor imaginable, including Mayo, and the only thing they've come up with is a vestibular problem, but no explanation for the sensory disfunction and ringing and visual problems. I'm currently in vestibular rehab and it is helping a little with stability, but everything else is still there. I am so desperate I will do anything to have my life back. Has anyone discovered anything yet?

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Has your doctor prescribed any medication for you? I completely understand this desperate feeling to get your life back. This is a horrible life changer without a death sentence.

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So many people have this. I never heard of it until it debilitated me. I hope the neurologist can help you. I'm counting on mine.

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This comment is soooo... after the fact, but I too have been battling inconsistent imbalance , weird spacey head feelings that medical personnel call "dizziness", tiredness sometimes not long into my day depending what I'm doing, where my coordination decreases to the point of dropping stuff , just being clumsy in ways that are unlike me. If I'm feeling that way I find if I take a nap of about an hour and a half , I'm better after. After going to neurologists , ENT's etc, I ended up with a PT who was trained in "Vestibular" issues, not your typical ones , but the more involved ones. I will share she treated me for Vestibular Migraine. It did help. But that was a few years ago and I actually came to this site to see if I could find out further information in that area, but feel like what I found is that maybe what I've discovered can be of benefit to others on this site. It is not easy to find a well trained PT in that area ,as I went to two others for that and they had learned some stuff at conferences and did'nt really understand the nature of effective treatment. I am a trained Occupational Therapist myself so I have a good basic understanding of the vestibular system,. Anyway, the long and short of this message is to tell you to go to youtube and punch in this dr's name -Dr. Shin Beh. Hopefully this will open a whole new world for you. Also, if you put in "optokinetic training" , those were some of the things I began doing far into my treatment. I wasn't ready for those exercises in the beginning . Treatment needs to be graded so you can handle it , but not overtaxing the system and making you feel worse!! hope something here helps someone, as I know how frustrating it has been for me, ie being told a few times what was going on was because of anxiety!! Good luck and hopefully I will hear back from someone, possibly with even more good information!!

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@ans

This comment is soooo... after the fact, but I too have been battling inconsistent imbalance , weird spacey head feelings that medical personnel call "dizziness", tiredness sometimes not long into my day depending what I'm doing, where my coordination decreases to the point of dropping stuff , just being clumsy in ways that are unlike me. If I'm feeling that way I find if I take a nap of about an hour and a half , I'm better after. After going to neurologists , ENT's etc, I ended up with a PT who was trained in "Vestibular" issues, not your typical ones , but the more involved ones. I will share she treated me for Vestibular Migraine. It did help. But that was a few years ago and I actually came to this site to see if I could find out further information in that area, but feel like what I found is that maybe what I've discovered can be of benefit to others on this site. It is not easy to find a well trained PT in that area ,as I went to two others for that and they had learned some stuff at conferences and did'nt really understand the nature of effective treatment. I am a trained Occupational Therapist myself so I have a good basic understanding of the vestibular system,. Anyway, the long and short of this message is to tell you to go to youtube and punch in this dr's name -Dr. Shin Beh. Hopefully this will open a whole new world for you. Also, if you put in "optokinetic training" , those were some of the things I began doing far into my treatment. I wasn't ready for those exercises in the beginning . Treatment needs to be graded so you can handle it , but not overtaxing the system and making you feel worse!! hope something here helps someone, as I know how frustrating it has been for me, ie being told a few times what was going on was because of anxiety!! Good luck and hopefully I will hear back from someone, possibly with even more good information!!

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Have u been tested for Histamine Intolerance? It’s genetic and if u have it you cannot break down histamine in so many common healthy foods and this problem makes you dizzy and weak. POTS is another thing you need to have checked. It’s where ur BP falls a lot when u stand up; causes dizziness and certainly a lightheaded feeling. There is a Med for this problem.

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Chester, Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD) is a chronic functional disorder or nervous system if that is what you have. Your described symptoms fit it to a T. Good news it can be treated. Let us know what the neurologist says. Likely a referral to ENT?

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I am going to read about this PPPD. I have been on nutrec for vestibular migraine prescribed by my neurologist now for 1 month. It seems to be taking the edge off but I am far from cured. Has anyone noticed that the humidity might be making symptoms increase. I've been off for this whole week as it's been very humid. And around 7 at night I begin to get pretty fuzzy.
cmg

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Chester
There are so many people on this mayo support group who have this. I got a lot of information from them. Different things trigger symptoms. I was told medication can "manage" it.
cmg

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@cmg

I am going to read about this PPPD. I have been on nutrec for vestibular migraine prescribed by my neurologist now for 1 month. It seems to be taking the edge off but I am far from cured. Has anyone noticed that the humidity might be making symptoms increase. I've been off for this whole week as it's been very humid. And around 7 at night I begin to get pretty fuzzy.
cmg

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I was evaluated by an ENT doctor and found to have bilateral vestibular hypofunction. Eye exercises have helped with the loopy feeling I had in my head and helped with my balance

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@dlydia

I was evaluated by an ENT doctor and found to have bilateral vestibular hypofunction. Eye exercises have helped with the loopy feeling I had in my head and helped with my balance

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Welcome @dlydia, Thanks for sharing what helped you. Do you mind sharing what type of eye exercises helped and how you found them?

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@johnbishop

Welcome @dlydia, Thanks for sharing what helped you. Do you mind sharing what type of eye exercises helped and how you found them?

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My diagnosis was by the ENT doctor. The inner ear does two things. It allows you to hear and it helps you maintain balance, because mine doesn’t function properly my balance is off. The idea of the exercises is to retrain the brain and stimulate the inner ear, to improve the balance.
I have a post note with a big X on it on my kitchen cabinet that is eye level. I stare at the X and move my head from side to side to the beat of a metronome, which is going 120 beats a minute.
I repeat that moving my head up and down. I do this three times for a total of six minutes. I do the whole exercise again Two more times during the day. This for a total of three times a day, and I try to space it out equally. I saw improvement after about 10 - 14 days.
Hopefully this will be helpful for you. Keep me posted.

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