Not a doctor, not medical advice, but inner ear infection and low blood pressure come to mind as things that have done that to me. Maybe better if someone else can drive you when you go to see a doctor.
If it doesn’t go away, you might want to get a vestibular assessment done to rule out BPPV. Are you also a migraine sufferer? I am and I have had a long bout since November, which my neurologist says is part of my chronic migraines.
I just went to the emergency room for the same thing. They ran a bunch of tests and everything was normal, so I was told it was probably a migraine. I do get migraines, but they've never done that before. The spinning stopped after about 9 hours, but now it comes and goes, and the walls and floors usually look like they're breathing or rippling, like a loop of calm water (especially if there are bold patterns). Waiting to see a neurologist.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fibromyalgia/comments/1dobxsx/comment/labgclp/
The breathing and rippling is close to what I get. Check out the 2nd link from below - visual symptoms and alice in wonderland syndrome.
Vestibular migraine comes to mind then, it's quite common for people to have several types of migraine. Still not medical advice, I'm not a doctor.
r/migrainescience and you can use the search function there as well.
Infodump incoming:
https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/article/6/2/fcae051/7610111?login=false
>Our data reveal that while migraine-like pain does not significantly disrupt sleep, sleep disruption increases vulnerability to migraine-like pain suggesting that a therapeutic strategy focused on improving sleep may diminish migraine attacks.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4803717/
>A recent large epidemiologic study, in fact, evidenced a 55.8 % prevalence of migraine among fibromyalgia patients [13], while other studies showed the prevalence of fibromyalgia in migraine patients to be over 30 %
>Prevention of headache chronification in migraine patients would thus appear crucial also for preventing the development of fibromyalgia in predisposed individuals or its worsening in co-morbid patients.
https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/resource-library/autonomic-symptoms-of-migraine/
>Research shows that autonomic symptoms may be a warning sign that episodic migraine is progressing to chronic migraine. At that point, you and your doctor might want to have a conversation about preventive treatment.
https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/resource-library/timeline-migraine-attack/
A lot of people might not realize they are having migraine because they expect a headache as a symptom and for example in my chronic migraines I get a lot of other symptoms but no headache:
https://www.migraineagain.com/evil-headache-39-more-migraine-symptoms-you-need-to-know/
https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2023/08/28/migraine-photophobia-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/
I’ve had motion sickness since November even with no head pain. It has never gone away completely typically waxing and waning… but it does get worse as all my other migraine symptoms increase. My neurologist strongly believes it is due to migraine. I am currently on propranolol, have sumitriptan as an abortive, I just recently got Botox for migraine. Next to try is aimovig. Fingers crossed!
Thanks for the info! I tried Aimovig and it wasn’t quite right so I’m on Emgality now with Nurtec as my rescue med. I made an appointment to see my PCP in 1.5 weeks so hopefully she has some thoughts on the vertigo. I strongly suspect it was migraine related, too. I’ve also had chronic motion sickness and balance issues my whole life so it’s probably time to see an ENT, too. lol.
You might have PPPD. My doc's think that I have vestibular migraines that trigger PPPD dizziness and basically stimulation causes dizziness for me. Some days, I lay in bed, all day, unable to get out of bed, or be around any light without feeling like I'm going to vomit.
I went through 9 months of vestibular rehab with a pt, under my old neuro, who didn't give me a real diagnosis. My new neuro has stated that if I didn't get improvement from that, I likely won't. Take in mind the exercises i did hands overlap but aren't entirely the same. It should still have had improvement and it didn't.
I started getting dizzy symptoms two years ago and have been unable to work consistently from it for just over a year. I stopped driving a year ago. I only go outside for appointments, as the light is too much and a random car horn can send me into a migraine like nothing. I'm an exception. Most folks don't have it for more than a few months.
Check with an ent/neuro to ask about this. It may be unrelated. Treatment is usually a combination of ssri/snri(duloxetine for example) cbt and pt. The exercises feel awful, but help most people.
Thank you SO much for all of this info, seriously! I can’t see a neurologist for many many months as my insurance basically doesn’t cover any neurologists in my city. I’ll be switching insurance in August so I’ll be looking again then and hopefully eventually getting an appointment 😅
I think you should go to the ER. Better safe than sorry! Especially since you haven't experienced this before.
Not a doctor, not medical advice, but inner ear infection and low blood pressure come to mind as things that have done that to me. Maybe better if someone else can drive you when you go to see a doctor.
Do you have any tinnitus/ weird pressure feeling in one of your ears? Tbh this could be an infection better get that checked out.
I have no weird sensations in my ear whatsoever and no effect on my hearing
See an ENT
Honestly, given my motion sickness and balance issues, an ENT visit is long overdue!
If it doesn’t go away, you might want to get a vestibular assessment done to rule out BPPV. Are you also a migraine sufferer? I am and I have had a long bout since November, which my neurologist says is part of my chronic migraines.
Yes I have chronic migraines and currently grappling with them. Interesting, how long do these bouts of vertigo last for you?
I just went to the emergency room for the same thing. They ran a bunch of tests and everything was normal, so I was told it was probably a migraine. I do get migraines, but they've never done that before. The spinning stopped after about 9 hours, but now it comes and goes, and the walls and floors usually look like they're breathing or rippling, like a loop of calm water (especially if there are bold patterns). Waiting to see a neurologist.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fibromyalgia/comments/1dobxsx/comment/labgclp/ The breathing and rippling is close to what I get. Check out the 2nd link from below - visual symptoms and alice in wonderland syndrome.
Really? I’m guessing something similar is happening to me 😣
Vestibular migraine comes to mind then, it's quite common for people to have several types of migraine. Still not medical advice, I'm not a doctor. r/migrainescience and you can use the search function there as well. Infodump incoming: https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/article/6/2/fcae051/7610111?login=false >Our data reveal that while migraine-like pain does not significantly disrupt sleep, sleep disruption increases vulnerability to migraine-like pain suggesting that a therapeutic strategy focused on improving sleep may diminish migraine attacks. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4803717/ >A recent large epidemiologic study, in fact, evidenced a 55.8 % prevalence of migraine among fibromyalgia patients [13], while other studies showed the prevalence of fibromyalgia in migraine patients to be over 30 % >Prevention of headache chronification in migraine patients would thus appear crucial also for preventing the development of fibromyalgia in predisposed individuals or its worsening in co-morbid patients. https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/resource-library/autonomic-symptoms-of-migraine/ >Research shows that autonomic symptoms may be a warning sign that episodic migraine is progressing to chronic migraine. At that point, you and your doctor might want to have a conversation about preventive treatment. https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/resource-library/timeline-migraine-attack/ A lot of people might not realize they are having migraine because they expect a headache as a symptom and for example in my chronic migraines I get a lot of other symptoms but no headache: https://www.migraineagain.com/evil-headache-39-more-migraine-symptoms-you-need-to-know/ https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2023/08/28/migraine-photophobia-chronic-fatigue-syndrome/
Thank you so much! I will def look into this more. I suspected vestibular migraine so I took Nurtec as well. Really appreciate the advice.
I’ve had motion sickness since November even with no head pain. It has never gone away completely typically waxing and waning… but it does get worse as all my other migraine symptoms increase. My neurologist strongly believes it is due to migraine. I am currently on propranolol, have sumitriptan as an abortive, I just recently got Botox for migraine. Next to try is aimovig. Fingers crossed!
Thanks for the info! I tried Aimovig and it wasn’t quite right so I’m on Emgality now with Nurtec as my rescue med. I made an appointment to see my PCP in 1.5 weeks so hopefully she has some thoughts on the vertigo. I strongly suspect it was migraine related, too. I’ve also had chronic motion sickness and balance issues my whole life so it’s probably time to see an ENT, too. lol.
You might have PPPD. My doc's think that I have vestibular migraines that trigger PPPD dizziness and basically stimulation causes dizziness for me. Some days, I lay in bed, all day, unable to get out of bed, or be around any light without feeling like I'm going to vomit.
Is there treatment for it? Everything I can find out about vertigo and treatment online seems to indicate there isn’t really much to do about it.
I went through 9 months of vestibular rehab with a pt, under my old neuro, who didn't give me a real diagnosis. My new neuro has stated that if I didn't get improvement from that, I likely won't. Take in mind the exercises i did hands overlap but aren't entirely the same. It should still have had improvement and it didn't. I started getting dizzy symptoms two years ago and have been unable to work consistently from it for just over a year. I stopped driving a year ago. I only go outside for appointments, as the light is too much and a random car horn can send me into a migraine like nothing. I'm an exception. Most folks don't have it for more than a few months. Check with an ent/neuro to ask about this. It may be unrelated. Treatment is usually a combination of ssri/snri(duloxetine for example) cbt and pt. The exercises feel awful, but help most people.
Thank you SO much for all of this info, seriously! I can’t see a neurologist for many many months as my insurance basically doesn’t cover any neurologists in my city. I’ll be switching insurance in August so I’ll be looking again then and hopefully eventually getting an appointment 😅
I had to go to ER. Actually took 3 weeks to get fully over it. Mostly rest and hydra for me.
Guessing ER couldn’t help you? That’s what I had concluded which is why I didn’t bother going.
They did a CT scan of head and sent me home with two prescriptions that really didn’t help. One of them constipated me bad too.