DD has sudden severe vertigo

DD called me yesterday, barely able to talk. Said she woke up yesterday morning with severe dizziness. No other symptoms. She had some alcohol 2 days earlier, but nothing the day before and had been drinking lots of water. She was in agony all of yesterday. Last night it got really bad and we got ready for the 3 hour drive to go see her, but she finally took some dramamine and it helped somewhat and she was going to try to sleep through the night.

We decided to postpone going, since she would be asleep and hard to assess.
Is this the way benign positional vertigo is? I know when I had a couple spells of something like that, I had a little warning a few days ahead, with slight dizziness.

We were going to take her to the ER, but she doesn't think she can even move out of her bed. She has no other symptoms.........no headache, vision, or sinus problems. We might make the trip today if she's no better after a good night's sleep. She does drink alot of caffeine. She's VEGAN, but insists that she gets all the right nutrients.
Is this how this disorder acts.........with sudden onset? Any suggestions as to her treatment? She's at school in another state and doesn't have a doctor, so we'll probably have to take her to an ER.......which will be a feat in itself, trying to transport her with this incredibly severe vertigo.
Poor DD. She's been through so much lately, and now this.

It's been many years since my last episode with vertigo (had it twice in my lifetime), but I had no warning. I went to bed the night prior to, feeling normal and well, and by morning I couldn't get out of bed. I was seeing double (triple), everything was moving and spinning, I couldn't walk, I couldn't even keep my eyes open, because the spinning and moving sensation was bringing on nausea. I was scared. DH came home from work to take me to the hospital. It took ± 36 hours (if I remember correctly) for all signs and symptoms to subside.

Funny, the same thing happened last weekend to my massage therapist I see every now and then. She was about 20 minutes into my massage and all at once I felt her kind of leaning on me. Then she said, "I can't finish your massage. I am so dizzy. The room is just spinning around.". After I dressed and came into the reception area she was sitting with a wet washcloth and not looking so good. She said it was sudden, she had no other symptoms, and had never experienced anything like this in the past. She assured me she had someone to call and to drive her home, so I left. I've wondered in the days since how she is doing. Sounds so much like what happened to CathyA's DD.

This has happened to me several times throughout life starting in my teen years. I would just wake up and the room would be spinning. Even turning over in bed was difficult. Once it was diagnosed as a virus. Another occurrence was the day after dh had sprayed some bug spray in the house so who knows. Another time a doc told me it was just anxiety. Mine has always resolved itself within 24 hours but I had to go to sleep first. I hope that is the case with your daughter but I have to wonder if there isn't a connection with the vegan diet, ie B12 or some other deficiency. Strangely, I have heard several people lately complaining of sudden dizziness.

Thanks everyone. Sorry to hear of your own experiences with it! I had it a couple months ago. It would happen mostly if I turned to my left side, or even turned my head to that side. Its awful.

I talked to DD this morning and the Dramamine was helping a bit. She was able to walk downstairs to get a drink, without getting too dizzy or nauseous. But the longer she's up, the dizziness gets worse. Supposedly the "Epley Manuever" helps alot with this. I sure wish we lived closer to her.

I just wonder how our modern world factors into this. Who knows what cell phones, etc. might do to those little crystals in our inner ears that keep us balanced. We also have a tiny sodium pump in our inner ears and its probably easy to overload it with all the salt in our diets.
I'm going to do a search for what vitamins might be helpful for this sort of thing. I might have to force her to eat a steak. haha She wouldn't.
Thanks for your replies.

Sounds like an inner ear infection. This has hit me twice in my life, and it is weird.

Redfox, did you have any pain with your inner ear infection?

I feel so bad for DD. I'd posted awhile back about her struggle with bedbugs. Now that she's laying in her bed all the time, she has bites all over. She'd been keeping on top of that problem by vacuuming and laundering all the time. But now that she's so dizzy, she can only lay there and attract them. I can't wait for her to move out of that house.........but she has 7 more months on her lease. I think in a couple months we'll try to convince her to just move out, and we'll pay the rent until her lease is up. She just can't seem to cut a break. She gets one problem under control and then gets another one. She was just starting to make some headway out of a depression and then this dizziness hits her. If her dizziness doesn't appear to be resolving, we'll go get her and bring her home for testing soon.

Would she show you a copy of the lease?
Do you think the bedbugs could give her any kind of out on the lease?

Hi mtnlaurel,
She said that in that state (Ohio), landlords are not responsible for bedbugs. I have the sneaking suspicion that they were there when she moved in in August. They showed up soon after that. She has tried to reach the person who rented it before her, but she hasn't responded back. What's unfortunate is that maybe the previous tenant wanted out for the same reason, and failed to say anything about them since she just wanted to get away from them herself. I don't know if this was the case, but its very curious that they started up right after she moved into this house.

Odd, I had a day and a half of vertigo with headaches 2 days ago. I assumed it was some sort of virus and tried to lay low, ate very little and didn't move much. Can't remember ever having anything like that before, but it did pass and I feel normal today.

The weather has been crazy this year. I do wonder about all the drastic pressure changes we've had and how it might affect our ears/brains. I'm glad you're feeling better Tweety.

Re: the bedbug issue, CathyA, when your daughters lease is up (if she stays that long), please encourage her to report the problem to the proper authorities.

Back to the vertigo issue, do keep us updated on her progress.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CathyA

Redfox, did you have any pain with your inner ear infection?

I feel so bad for DD. I'd posted awhile back about her struggle with bedbugs. Now that she's laying in her bed all the time, she has bites all over. She'd been keeping on top of that problem by vacuuming and laundering all the time. But now that she's so dizzy, she can only lay there and attract them. I can't wait for her to move out of that house.........but she has 7 more months on her lease. I think in a couple months we'll try to convince her to just move out, and we'll pay the rent until her lease is up. She just can't seem to cut a break. She gets one problem under control and then gets another one. She was just starting to make some headway out of a depression and then this dizziness hits her. If her dizziness doesn't appear to be resolving, we'll go get her and bring her home for testing soon.

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No pain whatsoever. It was really weird. I just could not stop my head from spinning, and could barely get out of bed for basic necessities. Didn't even try stairs! It abated after several days. I did quite a bit of internet reading at reputable health websites about it, which helped me understand it.

I don't imagine having bedbug bites is helping her immune system, poor darling. I too recommend trying to help her get out of the lease due to the pests. Has she contacted the local health dept.?

Here is a bedbug registry I use when traveling. When she's functional, or if you feel moved to, putting the building on it will warn other prospecive tenants.

http://bedbugregistry.com/

Thanks redfox. I was hoping to find DD's address on that site, but didn't see it. (In hopes we could show they were there before DD moved in). Bedbugs are just everywhere. Something must be askew in nature that they're multiplying everywhere so much. When DD moves.......it will be a major undertaking to be sure she doesn't move them with her. I think the whole city has a major problem with them. Hopefully, it will affect some of the scientist/researchers and they'll figure out a way to stop them.....hopefully without chemicals somehow.
It does seem like any insect that draws blood from you can't be good for you!

A friend of mine suffered from BPV after an auto accident. Eventually, she saw Dr. Epley. I think she got to sit in his magic chair. At any rate, it fixed her up.

Here's a video with Epley maneuvers:
http://drpullen.com/epley

Thanks for posting the video link, Jane.

Thanks Jane. Thank heavens the Epley Maneuver was "invented"! Its helped so many people.

I had a sudden onset of severe vertigo, with acute nausea and vomiting. It was labyrinthitis, and it took nearly six months to resolve. I used the Epley manoeuvre with some success, but for the first couple of weeks the only thing that helped was lying very still.

Well, a little good news. I talked with DD last night and she was doing much better! She was even talking about going into work later this afternoon, and I really cautioned her to give herself a couple days to be sure its really gone. I don't want her driving and having it suddenly come back! I think she just wants to get out of her bed though, with those bedbugs. I find it amazing that they never wake her up. You'd think she'd feel them. But I guess they are professionals. :(
I got several doctor's names from my vertigo Doctor for docs she might see in the city she's in now. If this appears to resolve quickly, I don't think she should see a doctor who might order a bunch of expensive tests and a ct scan. Those scans have much more radiation than we ever thought. (And I've had about 8 of them of my head!!) Keep your fingers crossed that this was just an anomaly and it won't come back. Thanks for all your replies! Its so good to have this place to talk to people about all sorts of things!

What great news that is, CathyA. Send her a warm hug from all of us here.

Thanks Mrs-M!

Within the last 6 months I have experienced vertigo when awakening in the morning, especially if I am lying on my left side. I just started seeing a chiropractor because of a back sprain and he has immediately helped me with the vertigo. I believe my episodes may be caused by my spine being out of alignment.

I get car sick, air sick, whatever sick and also can get vertigo especially in bed (that great feeling of turning over in bed and feeling like you are falling off the Earth). I suspect it's a left over weakness from many ear infections as a kid. I will get a flare up of vertigo from the littlest bit of water in my ear (have to make sure and Aqua Ear them after swimming) and have had to put an absolute ban from putting anything in my ear smaller than my elbow. It can be torture NOT 'cleaning' my ears with a cotton bud, but using them is a definite connection to the vertigo.