Migraine

I've been sifting through the discussions in the forum and learning a lot and making some new discoveries & associations to my own migraine anatomy!!

Now I'm trying to sort out the whole vertigo thing and curious about others' experiences...

Do you always have a migraine with the vertigo? I sometimes just get the vertigo alone.

Have you identified any triggers with your vertigo? One that I know of for sure is riding an elevator.

How long does your vertigo last? I suffer for weeks.

And lastly, what provides you with relief? I've tried a couple different motion-sickness meds without success. They just tend to make me sleepy and kind of fog-up the vertigo (if that makes sense?) but not eliminate it.

Thanks for your input!
Pat

Hello and welcome to our forum family, Pat! Our goal is to provide everyone with the information and support that we all need to manage our Migraines and/or headaches. To that end, we consider this a “safe harbor,” where nobody tries to sell us anything, and we all use “family-friendly” language so parents are comfortable letting their children read the forum with them.

Please take a few minutes to review our policies and guidelines along with the other information in the START HERE folder. For information about Migraines, a good article to begin with is Learning About Migraines - Where to Start

I can't share any personal experiences with vertigo related to migraine, since I haven't had any. I do have a couple of friends that have gone through some horrible vertigo related to migraine. Neither of them have ever found much to relieve it, unfortunately. One friend is fine as long as the migraine had taken a hike. Another friend is so bad off that she's always got vertigo to some extent, even when she has no migraine. Keep in mind that everyone is so different, though.

We have had discussions about migraine-associated vertigo from time to time in the forum, as well as in our question and answer features. The easiest way to search for this kind of info is to use the search tool at the top of the screen above the posting window. It will pull up info from the forum, from shareposts, and from the Q&A features. Just putting in "migraine-associated vertigo" brought me all THESE LINKS in a heartbeat.

Hi Pat,
I have vertigo and nausea all the time with or without a migraine. My Dr. told me it had to do with overactive neurons stimulating the section in the brain responsible for balance and nausea. (Hope I'm explaining that right!). He has me on 2mg of valium twice a day and that has taken care of the problem for me. I'm no longer dizzy even when I get a migraine, although I still have some nausea during migraines. This has been an absolute lifesaver for me, because since I had it all the time I could not function with the kind of vertigo I was having. Hope this helps.

Peggy

Hi and thank you for your responses!

I get bouts of vertigo about once a year and they last approximately 8 weeks. During this time I constantly feel like I'm on a boat. If I lay down, sit up, turn my head, etc, then I feel like I'm violently spinning. It wakes me up from my sleep when I roll over in bed. A simple thing like tilting my head back to kiss my husband good bye in the morning sends my head spinning. (He rather likes to think it's his manly affect on me but...believe me, it's not in a good way!)

I'm also very sensitive to sounds and sights during the vertigo spells. For example, the sound of a car driving by the house or seeing the trees swaying on a windy day can affect the intensity of the vertigo. Some days are better than others and some days I feel so nauseous that I just want to stay in bed.

The only thing that makes me feel better is driving the car because then all of my senses are processing correctly - I can see, feel and hear the motion. Weird, huh?

Peggy, I'll definitely ask my dr about trying the valium. I'm glad it worked for you! I cannot imagine enduring vertigo indefinitely. At least my situation is such that I know it will end eventually (knock on wood).

Pat

Pat,
Since your episodes are not constant like mine, there may be some other options for you too. You may even be able to figure out what is triggering it since it is once a year. Vertigo is miserable, so I hope you can find some relief when you need it!

Peggy

Does your doctor know this? I would think that there are definite safety concerns driving during a vertigo attack.

I know when my grandma had vertigo, she'd end up leaning clear over. Her brain was sending signals that she was upright and fine, so she actually thought she was. But she so wasn't in reality, even though she didn't know it. I'd hate for the same thing to be happening with you driving. If your brain is sending you false signals that everything is processing correctly even though it isn't, that could court disaster.

quote:

Originally posted by PatriciaH:

The only thing that makes me feel better is driving the car because then all of my senses are processing correctly - I can see, feel and hear the motion. Weird, huh?


Pat