Does anyone else have this? I was at the ER today because I was so dizzy. They said I have this and gave me some medicine. I feel a little better, but still a little fuzzy. I have been feeling like this since Tuesday. Does it get better?

How miserable that must be. I hope you get better soon, I HATE being dizzy!!! Maybe a google or other search engine can give you more info?

Mimi

I have a friend who has this (or something similar) and she HATES it but says she has found the best way for her is to just try to ignore it and get on with life....it usually lasts a few days to a week and then she's ok for a while until the next "spell" or bout of it. It maybe hits her once a year or less.

I am trying to ignore it, but it is very hard!

Hi Carrie

I experienced this several times and I know how you feel, it was just awful - the first time I had it, the onset happened in the middle of a board meeting and I literally had to hold onto the table to stop myself falling off my chair. I wanted to leave the room, so I tried to get up and I made it all of two steps before I collapsed on the floor. I work on a mine site, so this triggered an emergency with our on-site paramedics being called and I was taken to the on-site ER where I was monitored for a few hours before being transported to hospital.

All I can say is that yes, it does get better - but it can come and go, so try to carry the medication you were given in your handbag at all times in case you need it.

Thanks. I am feeling much better now. But I still feel really dizzy when I first lay down or when I move my head a certain way. It is a very strange feeling.

Carrie, I'm sorry this is happening to you.

You get your sense of balance in three ways. First is your inner ear, you know with the Fluid and the hairs. Sometimes you can get little hard bits in there (otoliths) and there are positional sequences you can use to move those around and essentially get them out of the way. I'm surprised that you were given meds before the exercises.

Second there is your eye righting reflex which means that we take our bearings from the horizontal landmarks in our landscape and will do almost anything to keep our eyes horizontal.

Then there are our mechanoreceptors. These are little nerve endings found all over the body but our neck is chock full of them. These give us our sense of proprioception which is our sense of where we are in space. If someone loses this sense for example, they cannot point to where their other arm is with their eyes closed.

These three things are all connected reflexively.

So the easiest, safest and most non invasive thing to do is to get your neck checked. Chiropractors treat and cure vertigo regularly.

Good luck with it.

I'm friends with my vertigo... keeps me off the ladders at work! I was none too thrilled at the thought of climbing an 18ft ladder to sample ceiling asbestos with chronic vertigo, but luckily my health & safety person agreed that I should probably keep my feet firmly planted on the ground.

So which way do you turn? I always feel like I'm spinning to the right. I always wondered if everybody was the same or if some people went right, some left and some all over the place?

Good question. I've never really noticed. I think I spin all over.

I never thought about seeing a chiropractor. Good idea.