Residual dizziness after vertigo

[Daniel Nugraha]

Hi i'm new to this forum. So my story began from last march this year i got my first ever vertigo ( not sure if it was BPPV ) for like 1 week and afterwards things get progressively better but during the recovery process sometimes i felt elevator sensation as if the elevator has arrived at destined floor like theres sensation of elevator floor softly drop . I wonder if anyone here have the same problem and get better or completely cured ?? This is almost my 3rd month and i think much of it has to do with anxiety dizzy cycle , breathing problem and neck problem , is that true ? And i wonder if this problem leave permanent "damage" in my brain like i would never be the same again ? I'm still aware and afraid if this will happen to me soon and oh by the way pardon my english hehe.. Thank you very much :D

[jray23]

Anxiety can certainly prolong recovery and leave residual effects from an inner ear vertigo/dizzy problem such as BPPV. And in fact, anxiety is a common side effect of these problems, so don't beat yourself up over it. It will pass eventually.

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[Daniel Nugraha]

Hi thank you so much for reply ! Yeah i just worry because it seems the recovery progress pretty stagnant now , but i'm quite aware and always stay alert for the attacks so maybe that's what holding the progress (?):yesyes:

[jray23]

Yes I think being alert to it can indeed. I'm in a similar situation (not BPPV), and I've finally improved to a point where I now don't often feel dizzy/off balance so long as I'm sufficiently distracted, but if I find myself "checking in" to see how it feels, I start feeling it a little more!

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[Daniel Nugraha]

Glad to know that , i totally can relate cuz i too always tryin to "check in" as well .How long have you been in this situation ? I ve been reading so many stories of people having similiar case and been suffering for years , i never see one case where people get completely back to normal which make me questioning wether this leaves permanent "damage" even tho i personally think problem like this shouldn't be permanent. Thank you

[jray23]

Glad to know that , i totally can relate cuz i too always tryin to "check in" as well .How long have you been in this situation ? I ve been reading so many stories of people having similiar case and been suffering for years , i never see one case where people get completely back to normal which make me questioning wether this leaves permanent "damage" even tho i personally think problem like this shouldn't be permanent. Thank you

About 4 months for me. Mine is Vestibular Neuritis. I've read a lot of stories too during this time, but I think that people just don't go back and post after recovery much. I've seen some.

There are so many different things that can cause symptoms like this (including anxiety) that it would be impossible to know a timeframe of recovery, but I haven't seen much to indicate that these things are often permanent.

Have you seen an ENT doctor? Depending on what it is, there are various treatments that can help recovery go faster. GP's don't often know a lot about inner ear problems so that may be a good idea.

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[Daniel Nugraha]

oh good , hmm but there are people who suffer this kind of symptoms for more than 10 years but no further update , so i thought it could be permanent. by the way I've seen both neurologist and ENT doctor and even did brain MRI scan , they both said nothing wrong.Also the ENT doc checked my ear and nothing seems to be wrong as well..so that's pretty confusing. My vertigo only last about 1 week tho and then til now i suffer this remaining dizzy sensation. Thankfully the dizziness come and go , it's not always there , seems to me triggered by body / head movement or stance. How about yours ?

[jray23]

That's good news what the docs said. It rules out anything serious! For me, after getting the clear brain scans (I did a few different ones!) it really helped my anxiety to calm down a lot. Which of course also helped my symptoms improve too!

There are some permanent ear things, I think Menieres Disease is, but an ENT should be able to diagnose that if you had it, mine said he ruled it out for me.

Mine off balance feeling is pretty much constant, although the intensity comes and goes, and has been getting less and less, very slowly over time. Head position or stance doesn't usually change it for me but head movements can do it, like if I look around several places quickly. Body position plays a role, lying down I am always perfectly fine. I'm thankful for that, as I'm able to sleep normal.

It's very annoying and frustrating, so I feel for you! The best ways I've been able to deal with it is to try to stop "checking in", and also to stop thinking about when it will finally go away, I try now to just think about today and let tomorrow happen tomorrow. Probably not a coincidence that those strategies also reduce anxiety!

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[Daniel Nugraha]

Hi there , i see...and now you feel completely back to normal like before u get this symptoms ? Hmm i did audiometry test and the result show no hearing loss still in normal range ( 0-10db ) so i think it's not meniere , yesterday i feel better , almost no symptoms at evening and night , and i'm trying to reduce anxiety just like what you've said. Hope it could go back to normal as i were before . :D[COLOR="blue"]

[jray23]

Glad to hear it's getting a little better for you! I'm not all the way better yet. Maybe about 85-90% back to normal. But glad that it's gotten this far.

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[Daniel Nugraha]

There are good days where symptoms do not attack frequently and bad days with more frequent attacks.
Compared with 2 months ago ,today is about 75-80% better but after 2nd month it feels like the recovery progress get stagnant but maybe have to wait more. How about you , do you think your progress stop or do you think it's still progressing but take a while ? I think im gonna try to swim and do muscle massage and see if it could help. �� this so depressing if you could at least control your psychology , that's a good thing !

[jray23]

There are good days where symptoms do not attack frequently and bad days with more frequent attacks.

Yes! While your exact dizzy symptoms you outlined earlier sound different than mine, your recovery sounds the same. I have a couple days that seem better than bam, a couple more that are worse. Not a steady improvement at all, but rather overall improvement over time. Very frustrating to me too!

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[Daniel Nugraha]

Exactly , so your recover progress hasn't been improved since the first 4 months ?when did you first get this symptoms ?..things that make me anxious is wether this symptoms could actually go back to normal and because the recovery seems to be up and down which make me doubt wether i actually making progress and get anxious about when could i go back to normal as i were. If i know that it would take about 6-8 months to be completely recover, i can deal with this and that would help reduce my anxiety. However uncertainty is big part of the reason why i'm anxious even tho personally i don't see any reason why this could be permanent. To this day the cause of my first vertigo ( last march ) remain unknown , i don't think there's massive structural damage in my brain as my MRI showing clear result, but perhaps muscles , nerve communication problem to which if that's the case i think it's curable. I get several direct and indirect clues that anxiety probably play big role however anxiety seems to be not the only cause. Have u ever try taking vitamin B12 and reduce caffein intake ? Some people say it's effective..but idk perhaps worth tryin. Thanks

[jray23]

I am much improved from four months ago. Just not all the way 100% normal yet. Maybe 85-90%. But it varies day to day. Like today was tougher, I had an all day meeting and had to turn my head back and forth as people talked all day, and the projector kept waving due to the air from the vent, lack of sleep, etc, maybe I was only 70% today.

A friend who has had vertigo mentioned trying B12 recently, said it worked for her. I will be getting a bottle later this week, worth a try as it only cost a few dollars. I never drink caffeine, for several years now. Caffeine = automatic anxiety for me, and I definitely don't need any help getting anxiety! lol

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[Daniel Nugraha]

Sorry are you on ur fifth/sixth month now ? For the last 3 days i get so much better like 95-97% better , i'm so thankful for that. i managed to reduce my anxiety level too. I think u just need to consume beef/chicken meat more , those are great sources of vitamin B12 ! Caffeine hmm..i drink it almost everday haha.

[Daniel Nugraha]

I am much improved from four months ago. Just not all the way 100% normal yet. Maybe 85-90%. But it varies day to day. Like today was tougher, I had an all day meeting and had to turn my head back and forth as people talked all day, and the projector kept waving due to the air from the vent, lack of sleep, etc, maybe I was only 70% today.

A friend who has had vertigo mentioned trying B12 recently, said it worked for her. I will be getting a bottle later this week, worth a try as it only cost a few dollars. I never drink caffeine, for several years now. Caffeine = automatic anxiety for me, and I definitely don't need any help getting anxiety! lol

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By the way i just want to inform , that for the last 2 weeks and now , i feel so much better perhaps like 95-98% back to normal. And that's so good , i psychologically managed to ignore the symptoms and it gets better. !!

[jray23]

Awesome! It's always amazing how much better we feel when we're not thinking about it. I'm much improved too, even went dancing for a wedding party last weekend and didn't feel off. [emoji106]

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[Daniel Nugraha]

Hi sorry it's been a while , yeah it's really amazing how much progress we've made so far , even tho sometimes in some case there's still a little bit of dizzy sensation. Anyway today is my 20th good day and it's a huge record since the very first 3.8 months ! and so...how's your improvement ? :D

[jray23]

Excellent!

I have been really good although this weekend was a huge setback for me for possibly several reasons, the symptoms have returned with larger intensity. It always comes and goes in intensity though so I expect it to improve again soon.

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[Daniel Nugraha]

Hmmm..so sorry to hear that.
Why do you think it happen ? U told me u probably have VN (?) As far as i know VN caused by inflamation in the inner ear , and stress is one factor that could trigger / worsening inflammation so maybe because of that or... Vegetables are anti inflammatory
I hope you'll get well soon and fully recover��

[jray23]

Yeah, vestibular neuritis, although in both ears. Usually it's just in one. Could have been a few things responsible for the setback. I tried a stationary bike in the gym for the first time since this started, it was very hot this weekend, I had a little congestion, probably drank too much alcohol for me to handle at this time lately too. Who knows.

The one thing I am clearly seeing is how much anxiety can affect things even when there is a "real" illness. This time around although I have felt nearly as off balance as months ago, I am not anxious about it since I know what it is, and that has helped massively. I don't feel nearly as awful and tense as before. Still not fun! Anyway it was a little better today, it will continue to get better soon I am sure.

EDIT: In fact, I just today (July 4) read a scientific paper (that I mostly understood, lol) about how anxiety/stress affects vestibular function and how vestibular losses increase stress/anxiety response, and how anxiety/stress/depression even affects long-term recovery in issues such as mine. Fascinating how intertwined the two are although the paper admitted that there is still much more research to be done before the link is fully understood. I wonder if this whole experience is meant as a challenge to help me get over my health anxiety once and for all.

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[Daniel Nugraha]

First of all , knowing the underlying cause ( in your case at least u know it's VN ) already good , unlike me , i'm not even sure what triggered my vertigo at the 1st place on march. I read some scientific papers too about how this whole anxiety stuff related to dizziness , and BPPV's epley manuever method , seems clear to me that anxiety certainly affects a lot. Anxiety , depression and stress also affects muscles too and in my case my breathing pattern. Btw it's been 26th good day , feel so thankful even tho yesterday i was soo busy and kinda stress also i have to move/walking a lot , etc..my physiological "balance" condition pretty much stable. I think it's possible to be 100% back to normal just take time and don't ever let ourselves get anxiety or it will prolong ( i think ) , i haven't tried my plan to do massage , and swimming regularly every weekend ( which is good for vestibular exercise ) because too lazy lol...btw how are you now ? Feel better ? Hope u get well

[Pkstracy]

Have Doc check your C1 and C2 in neck, you could have a neck that needs an adjustment.

[IrishMonkey92]

Hi there , i see...and now you feel completely back to normal like before u get this symptoms ? Hmm i did audiometry test and the result show no hearing loss still in normal range ( 0-10db ) so i think it's not meniere , yesterday i feel better , almost no symptoms at evening and night , and i'm trying to reduce anxiety just like what you've said. Hope it could go back to normal as i were before . :D[COLOR="blue"]

Hi Daniel,

I’ve the exact same sensations as you. How are you now?

Can you tell me your strategy, precisely? I struggle to understand people’s method of ignoring the symptoms.

[ARIES34]

I've had this elevator/walking on a boat/head fog issue for a very long time. Easily overstimulated nervous system is probable culprit. I've had every medical test and they were all normal. Avoid stimulants and avoid thinking about it... go about your day as best you can. For many people it goes away. The medical community doesn't fully understand psychogenic dizziness.

[jray23]

I've had this elevator/walking on a boat/head fog issue for a very long time. Easily overstimulated nervous system is probable culprit. I've had every medical test and they were all normal. Avoid stimulants and avoid thinking about it... go about your day as best you can. For many people it goes away. The medical community doesn't fully understand psychogenic dizziness.Agreed 100%.

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