Vitigo???????
 

Anyone know about vertigo??? My mother has been having dizzy speels, bad ones & one of her friends took her to the doctor who put her on meds for it. She is 72, should I be worried???

Do you mean vertigo?

If so, vertigo is mostly self limited. Rarely it will be chronic and due to a middle ear issue.

Vertigo. My wife has had it ever since a homicidal cab driver plowed into us 10 years ago. Milder cases can be kept under control by meds. It could also be an inner ear infection.

My wife was diagnosed with it a few weeks ago. Meds have not helped, luckily she has not had an "episode" while driving. BTW she is 37 yo..
NDad- What do you mean by self limited?

The Doc said it was a good thing that she came in and has put her on meds....

My 39-yr-old girlffriend is dealing with it now.... she thinks it is an inner ear infection, though. My Grandfather had it. Mostly treated it with Jim Beam and water. Kept it under control. :)

84CAB, I mean that probably 99% of the time vertigo goes away on its own. Usually BPV (benign positional vertigo) is caused by an inflammation in the middle ear, sometimes following an illness. Other times you can have small stones called otoliths that roll around in your inner ear, causing vertigo. Those can sometimes be caused to fall out of the semicircular canals with a specific head maneuver done in the office.

The meds we use for vertigo are mainly symptomatic only. Again, mostly it goes away all by itself.

she's 72 - is she on any meds now?

I'd bet yes, so have her MD review a complete list of them.

one idea for the future - enter ALL her meds. into a typed list and print copies for her purse, for your wallet, etc.

include any herbals she may take as well

my mom went thru something similar

meclizine works well -it's the active ingredient in Bonine - the sea sickness OTC product.
It does cause drowsiness though.

Mmmmmm, I love bovine.

Medium rare, with fresh asparagus and garlic mashed potatos, please!

The active ingredient in Bovine is . . . . deliciousness.

Any chance it can be eyesight related? I've recently started having dizzy spells which seem to be triggered when I switch from distance to near vision. I've needed glasses for awhile, but just haven't had the time.

Brain tumor?

Diabetes?

Poor diet?

Anemic?

Trying to self-diagnose, as I have a $3k deductible on my health insurance...CAT scans are about $3k. :(

Thanks, that is great advise!!!!! Will do!!!

Try a physical therapist who is vestibular/cochlear specialist. Sometimes vertigo is caused by tiny crystals that break loose from the otolith and get lodged in the canal. They have a procedure that may help. Good luck to your Moms, vertigo sucks.

My mother was cured of vertigo via this procedure. 2 visits to the physiotherapist.

My mom also gets dizzy spells and has fallen/fainted a couple of times, she has critically low blood pressure, the Doc gave her some new med. for her eyes and the side effect was reduced blood pressure, causing these fainting spells (I was so mad at that SH, it took all my self control to not go to his office and btch slap that idiot, she see's someone else now)
Getting a list of all meds is a good idea but also find out any possible side effects that may appear when taking these drugs, it could have been real bad for my maw, fall and break your hip, at 83 thats a tough one to recover from.
I hope all turns out well for your mom, but don't feel you have to swallow everything your doc says, ask him questions and if he doesn't want to answer or feels put out for you asking, then get another Doc, you ask your mechanic questions, why not him too.

Who was it on OT that awhile ago posted about some kind of sodium deposit thing happening in his inner ear that caused really bad vertigo?

I can't find it... but maybe he'll read this.

Cool- I found it- read this:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/457970-benign-positional-vertigo.html

Vertigo cure
 

If it is a case of BPS (benign positional vertigo), you should do the "epley's maneuver" to her. This puts the otoids back into their proper place - out of the semi-circular canals. You Tube has a few examples of the maneuver:

YouTube - Epley's maneuver

Good luck to her - vertigo is a pain in the azz!

Tom Z.