Vertigo/Lyme Disease

[Sue]

I'm wondering if there could be a bug currently going around which includes vertigo.

Has anybody had this?

No offence, but I'm looking for personal experience, not a copy and paste of googled articles - I am all googled out :)

I have had vertigo for a week so far, was in hospital a few days (not looking for sympathy, just to give background), had an MRI and a load of tests and no cause has been found yet.

In case you don't know, which I didn't previously, vertigo is not just being a bit dizzy, it is being unable even to sit up because the whole world spins round and if you are unlucky you throw up. I'm on medication but it isn't completely controlling it :(

Also, if anybody has had personal experience of Lyme Disease (spread by a tick bite) and in particular of vertigo possibly related to it, please could you PM me, thanks. Again, I don't want general googled articles, I've already done all that, thanks.

[singalto]

I had that a few weeks ago and was diagnosed with labyrinthitis. I was given Stemetil for the vertigo.

[sjw]

A friend of mine was also diagnosed with labyrinthitis after going to A&E with similar symptoms. Dont know what medication she was prescribed.

[uncleglen]

A friend of ours had Menieres...similar symptoms but it was episodic?

[teddyboy23]

Sue shot in the dark .but did you remove the t and g from under your stairs.and have been running up and down as Quickly as possible and getting out of breath and dizzy.in case the stairs do collapse.

[lavender27]

Hummm, I as bittern by something and since then have had the room spin round whilst laying down, I didn't think much into it as I am a diabetic too and just thought it was the bloody suger playing up.

[Sue]

sjw Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> A friend of mine was also diagnosed with

> labyrinthitis after going to A&E with similar

> symptoms. Dont know what medication she was

> prescribed.

Was this recently?

If it is a bug going round it might be more explicable as SingAlto has also had it recently?

My discharge diagnosis was "likely vestibular neuritis" ie an inner ear thing probably, and probably viral (as it started on the last day of a two week course of antibiotics :( )

However I also have other apparently unrelated symptoms :(

[Sue]

teddyboy23 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sue shot in the dark .but did you remove the t and

> g from under your stairs.and have been running up

> and down as Quickly as possible and getting out of

> breath and dizzy.in case the stairs do collapse.

Ha Ha

[Sue]

lavender27 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hummm, I as bittern by something and since then

> have had the room spin round whilst laying down, I

> didn't think much into it as I am a diabetic too

> and just thought it was the bloody suger playing

> up.

You would know if it was a tick as you would have had to pull the effing thing out (unless you missed it completely and it finished sucking your blood and dropped off sated ..... :)) )

Also, I don't get the symptoms lying down, only when I move. Doesn't mean you don't, of course.

I don't think vertigo is a common symptom of Lyme Disease, however the SELDoc doctor I spoke to prior to being carted off to A&E said he had experience of Lyme and seemed to think there could be a connection.

[ianr]

> Also, I don't get the symptoms lying down, only when I move.

I had what was diagnosed, on its clearing up, as probably viral labyrinthitis, some decades ago. I too felt absolutely fine when lying down, albeit in a dozy and spacey way, but very unpleasantly dizzy and ill on standing up, which made the five minute walk to the Docs a trial. Some nystagmus noted. I was improving after five days, and ok after nine, according to the notes. I have a slight downgrading of higher frequency hearing in one ear, and occasional mild tinnitus, which may have been a result.

I see from one source:

"Much confusion surrounds the nomenclature of acute vestibular neuronitis because the term ?labyrinthitis? often is used interchangeably with it. Labyrinthitis (i.e., inflammation of the labyrinthine organs caused by infection) is distinct from acute vestibular neuronitis (i.e., inflammation of the vestibular nerve), and the terms are not interchangable." https://www.aafp.org/afp/2006/0115/p244.html

I hope yours clears up soon too.

[intexasatthe moment]

Sue - massive sympathy ,it sounds dreadful .

i'm guessing they ruled out Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo ?

[Sue]

I think that was mentioned at some point, but basically they don't really know what it is, so they are treating the symptoms.

They have ruled out a number of things it isn't, but I'm still waiting for some test results :(

ETA: Thanks Ianr, I've had this for a week, it started last Monday morning.

[Jenny1]

Hi Sue

I first had what was diagnosed as labyrinthitis with a probable viral cause after spinal surgery more than twenty years ago. I was given stemetil which helped. I was unable to get up quickly from sitting or lying without horrible vertigo and suffered nausea and 'bedspin' when turning over in bed.

I find it recurs almost every winter - and sometimes in the summer too - but never as severely as when I first had it. I've only ever needed stemetil on one other occasion to treat the symptoms.

I know others who've had it severely just once (and had to be hospitalised) and others, like me, who seem to have it 'in their system' as a lower grade chronic problem. I, and one other friend, have found cranial sacral osteopathy helpful in getting shot of the symptoms. I would suggest only going to an osteopath who's been personally recommended to you.

There are a lot of things that can cause the symptoms you describe but if everything else has been tested for, then it's probably viral. The best policy in my experience is to treat it like flu - so rest and drink lots of water.

If you've had a tick bite and are worried about Lyme Disease then you probably need to take further measures.

[Sue]

Jenny1 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

I, and one other friend,

> have found cranial sacral osteopathy helpful in

> getting shot of the symptoms.

Thank you, I will be looking at this possibility if things don't improve.

> If you've had a tick bite and are worried about

> Lyme Disease then you probably need to take

> further measures

Yes, thank you, this is being dealt with concurrently, as I have other symptoms as well.

[cactus]

Hopefully a virus, and you'll be feeling better very soon.

Labyrinthitis does also sound like a possibility, I think it tends to come on suddenly or you wake up with it out of the blue (mum and friend suffer from it, so just basing my comments on how they present).

Menieres is usually severe vertigo plus tinnitus in one or both ears, so if you have anything along those lines then another possibility.

[Sue]

Thanks Cactus.

I am still awaiting some test results.

[dulwichbloke]

intexasatthe moment Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sue - massive sympathy ,it sounds dreadful .

>

> i'm guessing they ruled out Benign paroxysmal

> positional vertigo ?

Yes, my sympathies too - I have a similar thing just now. Personally, (and I should stress I'm not a doctor!) if you haven't been already, I think you should be tested for BPPV (there's a simple test called the Dix-Hallpike test (https://www.webmd.com/brain/dix-hallpike-test-vertigo - check out the You Tube videos of physios doing this - it's very simple). If you have BPPV, there is a further simple manoeuvre that can give very good relief by moving the crystals causing the vertigo out of the part of the ear that affects balance (it's called the Epley manoeuvre). That is supposed to be very effective - see this from the British Journal of General Practice - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2930235/

Good luck with whatever you do to make it better.

[lavender27]

I had food poisoning from one of the takeaways, vertigo. Slurred speach, headache, vomiting, I passed out for 7 hours, woke up in a daze, couldn't speak on the phone to anyone. I ache all over today, but have to carry on as normal.

[annabel42]

Have you been tested for visual vertigo? It is not commonly diagnosed as the symptoms are rather vague and it was recognised as a medical condition only in 1995.

Your comment that it affected you when moving struck a cord.

I am not qualified to explain the condition competently, but its basically an imbalance between ears eyes and brain causes excess strain on the eyes causing the dizziness.It is not Menieres or labyrinthitis.

Much of my life has been spent consulting GPs, neurologists, psychiatrists, neurosurgeons, eye specialists and others with no success, until around 6 months ago I had two falls, resulting in my being referred to the Bromley

Falls and Fracture Clinic, which, after extensive tests lasting around 2 hours, diagnosed me with the condition.

It may be worth your while asking to be referred to a physiotherapist with specialist knowledge of this condition, if you haven't already, if only to rule it out.

[Sue]

Thanks annabel42, they did a load of tests involving my eyes but I don't know what they were ruling out!

But the doctors did stress that vertigo is not the same as dizziness.

I'm glad you were finally diagnosed.

[spark67]

ITs a horrible thing ! I had it about 13 years ago, had to be taken to hospital twice from work as I collapsed and started vomitting everywhere & was incoherent, & happened a couple of times in the street. I have only one woking balance organ in my ear (which i was born with) I had never had any probs with it before, Turned out a virus had knocked out my remaining balance organ and took awhile for it to reset, I had to go to "Brain training" at thomas's to reset my balance with a few simple excercises... Turned out a bout of shingles I had weeks before was the culprit... but was told there are a few viruses that could do this.

[annabel42]

Sue, were the tests conclusive and what is the diagnosis?

[Sue]

I have a hospital appointment on Wednesday (should have been last week but it was postponed).

I hope to know more then. Feeling pretty ill at the moment :(

[monkeyspanner]

I wanted to add that my other half had similar symptopms a few years back. He had a CT scan etc and nothing there - we thought maybe BPPV and tried dix-hallpike. In the end the doctors could only assume he'd had a virus which had affected his inner ear and that he'd be back to normal within a month.

However it was 6-9 weeks until he made a complete recovery - so if they rule everything out, don't expect a recovery timeframe to be precise, don't panic if it passes and you're still not better, it took him twice as long.

Good luck

[Sue]

Thanks for that.

I've now had the vertigo since August Bank Holiday Monday :(