ANA Discussion Forum
Post-Treatment => Balance Issues => Topic started by: Arasha on March 04, 2009, 02:29:32 pm
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Hi Everyone;
I am 16 months after the surgery, 38 years old, my balance is good, it improved a lot, but lately I've been having migraines which I was controlling with excedrin. This morning when I woke up I had severe vertigos, five times +-1 min/each, this is the first time I feel this, I could not get up from the bed, the ceiling was turning around very fast. I am worried, does anyone had the same symptons after the surgery?. I had an MRI 8 months after the op and it showed no tumor.
8 years ago I had similar symptoms. When the doctor discovered my AN and I told him I experienced vertigo long time ago, he said probably it was when the tumor was starting to grow. Just the idea to have another AN makes my world come to the floor. I have been under stress the last days, could this be a reason?. Perhaps the age?
Any advices will be highly appreciated.
Gloria
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Gloria~
I could be wrong, but if it has been this long since surgery, I think I would look to other things to figure out what is wrong and not just assume that it is the tumor again. Are you going to your Dr. about this?? Hope you get some answers soon!
K
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Gloria, I agree with Kaybo. Going to your doctor immediately will relieve your worries. The not knowing is worse than facing whatever the problem is. It could very well be something totally unrelated to ANs, such as an unrelated inner ear problem. I hope you will be telling us soon that you have gone to your doctor and you can relate to us a minor problem! The anxiety of not knowing will only feed your worries. Good luck and God bless!
Kathy
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I came to this side of the forum (I haven't had any treatment) to see if anyone is having any vertigo issues - which is unusual for me.
How are you feeling? Any virus/stuffy nose/full head stuff going on?
I am asymptomatic with a tiny tumor (IAC) and not planning, hopefully, any treatment any time soon. SO, I am an unusual poster over here.
On Saturday morning, I got up (I always get up quickly), and used the loo in the morning. I thought I was going to blast right off it - the spins were something I have never felt before, ever. Thought, oh no, here we go - something is happening. Then this morning, again leapt out of bed, lasted upright for less than a few seconds, before I hit the floor - the whole room was spinning. I had no clue which way was up. Again, something like that hasn't happened to me (I have low blood sugar/low blood pressure 'black out', sit down on the floor - but that is highly controlled - this wasn't at all like that, the world spun!)
However, I have been feeling a bit off.
Then, at work today - was feeling off balance on and off all day. I was talking with one of the team who was off sick earlier this week - I assumed virus, while somewhat virus related, it was mainly balance - he couldn't stand up without serious episodes over vertigo. He just started heart medicine - and thought he was having a heart attack. He called the doctor - who said not related to the heart medicine, more than likely virus. Both of us were very relieve to hear that a virus is going about causing bouts of vertigo.
So ... I would get it checked out ASAP given the history, but hopefully you just have a bit of a virus that is throwing off your balance.
Ann
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Thanks Kaybo, Kathy and Ann for your comments. I am getting better but still dizzy, when I make fast movements I have episodes of vertigo, so, I am moving like robot.
I tried to schedule and appointment with the ENT but the soonest available date to assist me is on March 19, so I went to the doctor (general physician), after checking me he said that I have the symptoms of virus located in the labyrinth (Ann you were right). I am taking medicine and probably it will go away in a few days.
It is assumed that the defenses of my body are low.
Anyways I still keep the appointment with my ENT.
Thanks again for all your support.
Gloria
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Gloria, so glad you have gone to your doctor, and so glad that you will keep your ENT appointment, as well! Your peace of mind will undoubtedly increase even more after that visit, and hopefully your vertigo will be totally gone very soon!
Kathy
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Kathy,
Thanks for your quote, unfortunatelly I don't get better and went to the Doctor again, he said that it is not the virus as he supposed; he transfered me to the ENT and I have the appointment this next Friday. I will let you know what it is wrong with me. My vertigos don't leave me alone.
Take care,
Gloria
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FWIW, my AN was initially misdiagnosed as labyrinthitis (a viral infection of the labyrinth, or inner ear, which causes inflammation and attendant nerve irritation). If the vertigo resolves itself within a few days, that would tend to confirm labyrinthitis or vestibular neuronitis (a similar condition), or possibly BPV (benign positional vertigo). But if it lingers for weeks or months, it's more likely something else is causing the vertigo. In any case, Gloria, given your past medical history, I would not wait weeks or months. I would have a specialist rule out another AN (or regrowth) just to be on the safe side.
Please don't trust your diagnosis to an ENT. You need to see someone more highly specialized in ANs, given your history. At least see an otoneurologist. Your neurosurgeon would be the best person to see; alternatively, email or call them to apprise them of your symptoms and get their advice. FWIW again, the guy who initially misdiagnosed my AN almost 9 years ago was my ENT!
Best wishes,
TW
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Hi Gloria, how is your vertigo now?
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Hola Gloria,
I am very sorry to hear of a return of the vertigo. Since it came on you so quickly, there must be something that the doctor determine. Ask him if an immediate MRI should be done to get to the bottom quickly of what the is causing the vertigo. Keep us updated after your appointment.
Best regards,
Steve
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Hi Gloria,
Please do keep us posted on what your doctors say. My ENT is the one who first suspected my AN & ordered an MRI, so that is why I said I am glad you are keeping your ENT appointment. If your ENT is like Tumbleweed's, though, I definitely agree that seeing your neurosurgeon would be the way to go. Let us know what you find out.
Kathy
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Best wishes, Gloria. Hope something works out soon.
Steve
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hope you get relief soon gloria.i know how it feels hang in there. ernie.
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THANKS EVERYBODY FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!
I do not improve but get worse, vertigos make me awake at night. As Tumbleweed suggested me, I called to the ENT to apprise the appointment as urgently as possible instead of waiting until the date was scheduled (literally I was begging), her assistance asked me to fax all my history and also a request from the general physician asking for an emergency attention. I did all of that yesterday including a letter with an explanation of my situation, I just called right now in order to know if they need further information. It seems they have all the paperwork and I keep waiting until the ENT calls me hopefully today.
Thanks again to all of you: Ernie h, Sgerrard, kathylittlejohncobb,Seal,jazzfunkanne, Tumbleweed, keeping up... It is good to know that you are there to support me.
Have a good day,
Gloria
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Hola Gloria,
Unfortunately, I cannot do much from this computer screen, but please know that I am thinking of you and hoping for the best. Don't tell my wife, but I'm sending you big hugs from the East Coast!!!! We are all thinking of you and hoping that this is temporary and easily correctable set back you your AN journey. Keep us updated as you find out more.
Warm regards, ;D
Steve
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Hello Gloria,
Hopefully this will just be a short term issue for you. I've had occasional severe vertigo ongoing for the last five years. It's not very frequent and there doesn't seem to be anything in particular that causes it. It comes and goes...sometimes more frequently and more severely than others. I fortunately haven't had an episode for at least a month and usually it will just come on quickly and then go away. I did have a brief period about two years ago when it was very bad, keeping me awake at night. Especially difficult to put my head down on a pillow so I often would sleep sitting up in a chair. Fortunately that period only lasted a few weeks. I've noticed a big decrease in episodes since i started focusing my efforts on getting lots of vestibular exercise. Still not perfect but they seem much less frequent and shorter in duration.
Hope this doesn't last long.
Bob
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Hi everybody,
First of all thanks to all of you for your support. Finally I went to the ENT, I just came from there. I got all the exams and everything is going well with me. I had vertigo for 9 days, now it is gone. What I had is called BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo), which is common after AN surgery and could be last for weeks. It will occur maybe every 2 years, there is nothing that I can do to get better while I am having those episodes, just wait it out and avoid sleeping on the "bad" side, get up slowly and sit on the edge of the bed for a minute...stuff like that. I am happy to know that it was only that!!! I was thinking the worse!!!. The doctor said this is the "best " among all the types of vertigos. whew!!!
Again, this forum is the best!!!
Have a great day :)
Gloria
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Dear Gloria,
So glad you received the diagnosis & are feeling better! Thanks for letting us know; your information will probably help someone else, as well!
Kathy
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i had the surgery in dec 06 and am still having severe vertigo problems, the ent doctor did a balance test to see if there was anything wrong and the results where that my good side was working just not compensating fast as i wanted i guess its getting better like i said in another post i have a harley and this really blows.... (i had ent appt in feb 09) so again dont feel like the lone ranger
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Glad to hear it. That sounds similar to my experience. The vertigo I get now is just quick "spins". When I had the problem like yours life was horrible. I couldn't do anything. Thankfully it hasn't happened like that since. Hope yours is gone for good.
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hi gloria did he say why this would happen every 2 years or so?
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Bob, I think my vertigos were similar to yours, I could not get out of the bed or roll over in bed, tip my head back, things were spinning like crazy, besides I felt dizzy all the time.
jazzfunkanne, ENT told me that 2 years is the average for me, some people can experience this more often. BPPV follows surgery, our brain is readjusting to the loss of balance but it is also associated to the age, the older we are the more we get because of degeneration of the vestibular system of the inner ear.
Reg, unfortunatelly there is nothing we can do with vertigos, doctors describe BPPV as "self-limiting" because sypmtoms often subside or desappear , so just wait it out.
Have a nice day,
Gloria
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Hi, Gloria:
I am so relieved that it's only a nasty case of BPPV you've got, and not regrowth of your AN. That is fantastic news.
FWIW, I had BPPV several years before I had my first AN symptoms and I stumbled by mistake on a remedy for getting over it (the BPPV) faster. My work at the time entailed working underneath some equipment and repeatedly looking up to make an adjustment and then looking down. You can imagine what a nightmare that was for me; everytime I looked up, the room would spin and I thought I was going to lose my lunch! But what's interesting is that the repeated positional changes forced my brain to adapt much quicker than it would have had I just sat still. As a result, my BPPV episode was virtually over within about 72 hours.
I'm not necessarily recommending you do something like this without first consulting your doctor, but you might want to ask your doctor if "provoking" your BPPV in a similar fashion might speed up your recovery.
Best wishes,
TW
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Hi TW:
You are right, the doctor asked me to do exercises (always with help). Well, I am scared about feeling vertigos again, I can lose not only my lunch, but all I have eaten the last days!!! ;D
Take care,
Gloria
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I got my AN removed at 18, and to this day I have only had 2-3 bad vertigo moments that I can recall that had me scared to death when the room wouldn't stop spinning. I do have days that are worse or better then others as in my case for the last 3 weeks now I have been just off balance feeling, but I do know it comes and goes with certain situations. I usually get a little bit off balance if I look up or down but never totally dizzy. The best thing to do is just go about life everyday without trying to worry about it, I feel better myself if I walk alot at my job and just keep my balance system in check, my balance system gets lazy if I get lazy, thats how I look at it.