Anon, I'm so sorry to hear that you are dealing with this. I have dealt with vertigo off and on for years and I totally understand what you are going through.
A person who has never had vertigo doesn't understand how startling it is to be sitting at a table or lying in a bed and suddenly feel like you are falling out of it. I have learned over the years how to basically not trust the wave of nausea that tells me I'm losing my balance, but it's not easy.
I echo Alison's question, were you diagnosed by a doctor? Did he or she tell you that it might not ever go away? Is this your first episode with this? Are you having symptoms other than vertigo?
Most vertigo episodes that I have had are controlled with a small amount of motion sickness medicine (Bonine or Dramamine) where the active ingredient is Meclizine Hydrochloride. I sometimes have had to take it on and off for a week or two, to get past a particularly nasty episode. But it does help with the dizziness and the nausea, if you have that. And it does go away; it just might recur sometime later on. (I have even wondered if certain allergies bring it on, but I've never found any evidence of that in researching it).
Hang in there. Most long vertigo attacks do clear up in about 7-10 days. That seems a long time while it's happening, but you will get your balance back again. Please write back with any more information you have, especially specifics on what your doctor told you. We may be able to help with more research.
Comment Reply
Anon, I'm so sorry to hear that you are dealing with this. I have dealt with vertigo off and on for years and I totally understand what you are going through.
A person who has never had vertigo doesn't understand how startling it is to be sitting at a table or lying in a bed and suddenly feel like you are falling out of it. I have learned over the years how to basically not trust the wave of nausea that tells me I'm losing my balance, but it's not easy.
I echo Alison's question, were you diagnosed by a doctor? Did he or she tell you that it might not ever go away? Is this your first episode with this? Are you having symptoms other than vertigo?
Most vertigo episodes that I have had are controlled with a small amount of motion sickness medicine (Bonine or Dramamine) where the active ingredient is Meclizine Hydrochloride. I sometimes have had to take it on and off for a week or two, to get past a particularly nasty episode. But it does help with the dizziness and the nausea, if you have that. And it does go away; it just might recur sometime later on. (I have even wondered if certain allergies bring it on, but I've never found any evidence of that in researching it).
Here are a couple of good pages about this:
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec19/ch220/ch220j.html
http://www.vestibular.org/vestibular-disorders/specific-disorders/labyrinthitisvest-neuritis.php
If you have been dealing with this for a long time, you might take comfort in knowing you're not alone. Here's a list of support groups by region:
http://www.vestibular.org/support-groups/find-support-group.php
Hang in there. Most long vertigo attacks do clear up in about 7-10 days. That seems a long time while it's happening, but you will get your balance back again. Please write back with any more information you have, especially specifics on what your doctor told you. We may be able to help with more research.
December 12, 2008 - 10:42amThis Comment
Reply