However, on the MRI of the spine, there was a significant discovery: severe foraminal stenosis on the right side at the C4-C5 vertebra. Now I had no idea what that meant, but my physiotherapist (who is great by the way) explained it to me. Essentially, there are nerves that come out of the spinal vertebrae through little holes on the side called foramena. When the vertebrae become unstable, the body starts growing some bone back to try to stabilize them (which also leads to osteophytes, also called bone spurs, which I have a few of on my C4 and C5 vertebrae).

So this excess of bone starts to grow into the foramen (this is the stenosis, which basically just means ‘narrowing’), causing it to get blocked and impinging on the nerve that comes out through that hole. The nerve gets pinched and this causes various symptoms, including tingling, weakness and pain (all of which I’ve had in my right arm and shoulder for about the past year). Here’s a picture that may help:

So what’s causing the bone to grow in the first place in my case? It seems to be caused by degenerative disc disease at the C4 and C5 vertebrae in my neck (which I understand can also cause some neck pain).

Now the real question is, does this cause dizziness or vertigo? The answer seems to basically be ‘not directly’. All the medical professionals I’ve seen since this diagnosis seem to agree that if the degenerative disc disease were present at C3 or higher, then this could definitely cause dizziness since that area is connected to the vestibular system.

I’m quite convinced that this cervical spine disease is at the root of my dizziness and vertigo symptoms, which would explain why all of the previous tests I had (being mostly vestibular function tests) came back normal. In case anyone’s interested, here’s a great page on cervical vertigo and its potential causes.

I have an appointment with the neurologist on April 5 to talk about potential treatment, but it sounds like surgery is going to be the most likely option (since I’ve tried physiotherapy for about a year without success). I’ll post more once I know the treatment options available.

Most of my time was spent at the beach this weekend, which is certainly one of my favourite places to be. Yet it actually made me notice something about my balance that has really never occurred to me before…

When lying on my stomach and with my head at a 45 degree angle, I often get ‘drop attacks’ or feelings of sudden imbalance. The same goes for when my head is tilted at a 45 degree angle the other way.

Is it the angle that my head is at that is causing the feeling of imbalance? Is that even possible?

I know with some conditions like benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), where your head is at can make all the difference as to how you feel in terms of balance or imbalance.

This makes me wonder even more if I should check out getting some kind of ‘adjustment’ (as is often helpful with BPPV) to see if it improves my balance symptoms, as I think it would be oddly coincidental if sitting straight up just happened to improve my balance symptoms.

But I wonder… is this a common symptom with balance disorders? And is it a good sign that head positions actually change the nature of how I feel? It gives me hope that there is some kind of treatment associated with my condition anyway.

I’ve frequently been waking up with very dizzy, falling sensations. It’s especially bad in the morning when I wake up — and it’s starting to drive me a little nuts.

It’s tough to deal with, especially when I thought I had somewhat of a solution with the meclizine. I’m still taking it, and it seems to keep things from getting overwhelmingly dizzy, but it’s not doing nearly what it was before.

The comment about these being referred to as “drop attacks” is right on the money. That’s exactly like what they feel like — one minute I’m sitting or standing comfortably doing something, the next I feel like I’m tumbling through space.

I still haven’t heard back from the VRT folks, so I guess I still have some hope there. It really starts to get me down when I feel like the dizziness is winning though — it’s exhausting to fight a constant battle against some unseen enemy, especially if when half the time you wonder if what you’re battling against is just in your head.

It often crosses my mind that there must be some way to cope better with this. I mean I think I’ve learned to cope in a certain sense (it doesn’t drive me as crazy as it used to), but the goal I suppose is always to get back to 100% — which sometimes seems like a distant memory.

I think I’ve also been under more stress than usual lately. There’s been some added (and unexpected) stresses at work, which always seem to make the dizziness worse.

I seem to be able to find an unlimited amount triggers for making the dizziness worse — I’d be very happy if I could find even one that makes it better.

I do have to put up with lesser vertigo on a daily basis however, which usually leads me to avoid substances that change the way you feel (alcohol or caffeine for example).

However, before the onset of both episodes of my acute vertigo, I was consuming a far higher than average amount of alcohol in the week preceding the attacks. So the obvious question is, is there a relationship between the alcohol and the vertigo?

The first time this happened, the vertigo hit on a Friday evening, around 8:00. I had met a friend for a drink, and after having one sip of a pint of beer, the vertigo started. I hadn’t drank anything else during the day, and all I had to drink was that sip of beer).

I had had quite a few drinks the night before however, but not enough to be feeling at all under the weather on the Friday. The vertigo started with an odd, dizzying sensation, and progressed into full-blown room-spinning vertigo within about 20 minutes.

The second time this happened, I had had some beers with friends in the evening, and went home to bed. When I awoke in the morning, I walked to the bathroom but felt odd again on the way there. On walking out of the bathroom, I had a tingling sensation all over my body (probably just anxiety) and the vertigo started on strong.

I’ve had the same or more to drink on other occasions with no vertiginous consequences. Has anyone else had a similar experience with consuming alcohol and vertigo? The similarity of these two experiences makes me doubt that’s just a coincidence.

I think it starts to make other people wonder if you’re really just making it up or think it’s all just in your head. For some people however, there are other very unfortunate side effects of a vestibular illness. Take my sister for example.

Like me, my sister was diagnosed with something that either vestibular neuritis or labyrinthitis, and she suffered from the same horrible vertigo that I did. Unfortunately though, she went completely deaf in that ear within a few days of being sick. Yep, that’s right — totally deaf in one ear. So while she’s totally lost her hearing, it would be pretty difficult for anyone to say she’s not really deaf.

Unfortunately, there are many people who have problems with their ears and end up experiencing vertigo. And believe me, I feel terrible for anyone who has to go through the horrible experience of vertigo — there’s nothing else quite like it (and not in a good way).

As I said last time, it’s hard for someone who has never experienced problems with their balance to understand how difficult it can be to deal with. We end up suffering a great deal, but no one really seems to understand how much we actually do put up with.

On a (somewhat) related note, I’m taking a break from the meclizine for the first time in about 5 days, just to see how I do. It’s been about 4 hours since the last one wore off, and I seem to feel not too bad right now. Going to bed will be the real test however.

I was under a great deal of stress, in my job, my relationship and at school — with the added pressure that I now was graduating and needed to find a permanent job. When I think back on it now, it was an incredibly difficult period in my life.

At the time, I was drinking what I would say is an above average amount of alcohol to deal with the stress, smoking too much, not to mention eating poorly and not getting any exercise. My lifestyle had really hit rock bottom, and I was rewarded with an upper respiratory infection that lasted over a month.

I quit smoking during the respiratory infection (I was far too sick to smoke), but kept going to work and started drinking again as soon as I was feeling somewhat better (although I knew I should have gotten back to 100% before drinking again).

After making what I thought was a complete recovery from the respiratory infection, I went through about a week where I was drinking more than usual and consistently not getting enough sleep. On the Friday of that week, I went out for a beer with a friend.

After one sip of my first beer, I started feeling that something was not quite right. I felt like the room was spinning, and that the feeling was getting rapidly worse. My friend quickly paid the tab and we left the pub, but by this time I was barely able to walk.

I went home and the vertigo became much worse — to the point where I couldn’t get up off the bed. My girlfriend at the time called an ambulance, and I went to the hospital, where the doctor told me I had simply been drinking too much that week and to go home.

I went home, and started to feel fine for several hours. Then the second wave of vertigo hit me — and it was worse than the first. I went back to hospital, and was again sent home, since the doctor could find nothing seriously wrong with me.

The third wave of vertigo then hit, and was the worst of all. I didn’t go back to the hospital, since I thought I would simply get sent home again.

This round of vertigo was accompanied by severely blurred vision, vomiting and profuse sweating for around twelve hours (which if anyone experiences, I would highly, highly suggest ensuring that you go back to hospital).

Months later, i had an ear, nose and throat doctor tell me that what I most likely had was vestibular neuritis, which as usual, I’ll give you the Wikipedia definition of:

Vestibular Neuronitis, also called Vestibular neuritis, can be a paroxysmal, single attack of vertigo, a series of attacks, or a persistent condition which diminishes over two weeks. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, and previous upper respiratory tract infections. It generally has no auditory symptoms, unlike labyrinthitis. Vestibular neuronitis may also be associated with eye nystagmus. It is caused by inflammation of the vestibular nerve, the nerve that connects the inner ear to the brain.

All in all, it was a terrifying experience from which I feel I’ve never fully recovered, and one of the major reasons for this site. I think getting out how I feel about this experience will perhaps provide me with some kind of closure.

And just in case you’re someone who’s not familiar with vertigo, here’s Wikipedia’s definition of what vertigo is:

Vertigo, a specific type of dizziness, is a major symptom of a balance disorder. It is the sensation of spinning or swaying while the body is stationary with respect to the earth or surroundings. There are two types of vertigo: subjective and objective. Subjective vertigo is when a person feels a false sensation of movement. Objective vertigo is when the surroundings will appear to move past a person’s field of vision.

I thought about keeping a private journal of my experiences, but I felt that if I could somehow help someone else (even if it was just someone who knew that they were not alone in their experience with vertigo, dizziness or anxiety) — then I would be better off posting things publicly on the web.

It’s been a tough 3 years, and it’s often been difficult for me to keep going. Having to deal with balance issues is a burden I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, and I honestly hope that anyone who is afflicted with such a condition finds a cure that works for them.

But ultimately, I’m hopeful that things are going to get better for me (and I hope for everyone else who has any type of balance disorder).

And one last thing I wanted to point out — people with balance disorders often appear as if they have nothing wrong with them, but they are apt to feel really, really bad at times. If nothing else, this has been a lesson for me that even those who appear strong and healthy can feel much differently on the inside. Something to keep in mind.