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October 5, 2007 2:39 PM Subscribe
Labrynthitus? Has anyone else suffered from this? This dizzy/lightheaded thing needs to go away NOW!
So I read this thread already, and I have seen my primary care, a nuerologist, and an ENT so far. I have been dizzy/lighted for a week and a half and am having major anxiety. The primary said "you're stressed out, here's a scrip for xanax." Neurologist said new MRI/MRA looks ok (had one a year ago due to headaches), ENT said possible labyrinthitis and that it should go away in a few weeks.
I feel lightheaded/spacy and my eyes sometimes find it easier to not focus on things, especially screens. This is not an occasional thing, it is constant. I seem to not notice it if I stay busy doing something else like working with my hands. No vomiting/vertigo, and I am eating fine. It does make it hard to concentrate though. The anxiety is the worst part. I literally had a feeling that I was not going to wake up one night if I went to sleep when it first started. I keep having to fight the feeling that I am going to be this way for the rest of my life.
I guess I am most scared about the anxiety, as my family has a history of chemical imbalance/pill addiction and I don't want to take xanax at all. It does seem to help my outlook though.
Several questions I guess: Does this sound like labrynthitus? If you have had this how did you cope? Are xanax and others like it really that bad? How afraid should I be of becoming addicted? How do I keep my pregnant wife from freaking out about my scary thoughts?
Oh and I will never ever discount someone's account of a panic attack again. Not even remotely funny.
So I read this thread already, and I have seen my primary care, a nuerologist, and an ENT so far. I have been dizzy/lighted for a week and a half and am having major anxiety. The primary said "you're stressed out, here's a scrip for xanax." Neurologist said new MRI/MRA looks ok (had one a year ago due to headaches), ENT said possible labyrinthitis and that it should go away in a few weeks.
I feel lightheaded/spacy and my eyes sometimes find it easier to not focus on things, especially screens. This is not an occasional thing, it is constant. I seem to not notice it if I stay busy doing something else like working with my hands. No vomiting/vertigo, and I am eating fine. It does make it hard to concentrate though. The anxiety is the worst part. I literally had a feeling that I was not going to wake up one night if I went to sleep when it first started. I keep having to fight the feeling that I am going to be this way for the rest of my life.
I guess I am most scared about the anxiety, as my family has a history of chemical imbalance/pill addiction and I don't want to take xanax at all. It does seem to help my outlook though.
Several questions I guess: Does this sound like labrynthitus? If you have had this how did you cope? Are xanax and others like it really that bad? How afraid should I be of becoming addicted? How do I keep my pregnant wife from freaking out about my scary thoughts?
Oh and I will never ever discount someone's account of a panic attack again. Not even remotely funny.
Best answer: I have an ex who suffered from a bout of labrynthitis and from what I recall, your symptoms match hers, although it made her irritable rather than anxious. It was awful and she hated it, but there really wasn't anything to be done except wait it out. It went away in a few weeks (3-4, I think - it was a long time ago). Remember to breathe, and take up knitting if you don't already do that, since working with your hands seems to help.
posted by rtha at 3:06 PM on October 5, 2007
posted by rtha at 3:06 PM on October 5, 2007
Best answer: There are plenty of other things that cause dizziness that aren't as scary as Labrynthitus such as:
Low blood pressure
Inner-ear infections
Low/High Blood sugar
Also, it seems that Laby doesn't have a habit of lasting forever.
Something my doctor told me when she gave me a scrip for Ativan: "I am not worried about you getting addicted to this. People with anxiety are too scared to take their medicine anyway." Take your meds, don't panic, keep searching.
posted by idiotfactory at 3:06 PM on October 5, 2007
Low blood pressure
Inner-ear infections
Low/High Blood sugar
Also, it seems that Laby doesn't have a habit of lasting forever.
Something my doctor told me when she gave me a scrip for Ativan: "I am not worried about you getting addicted to this. People with anxiety are too scared to take their medicine anyway." Take your meds, don't panic, keep searching.
posted by idiotfactory at 3:06 PM on October 5, 2007
Best answer: I have only tangential knowledge of this problem but I went through an "oh my god I broke my head and I'm broken forever!" scare a few months ago when I started having tinnitus. For a while it was, or seemed like, the only thing I could hear. I couldn't sleep well, and I had a constant and high level of stress and anxiety about the whole business. My doctor was pretty "eh" about it. However, in the reading I did it seemed like the people who had the worst time with it were the ones who were made continually and perpetually anxious by it, that a lot of being plagued by tinnitus is the anxiety it invokes.
This is not to say that tinnitus isn't real and distressing, but that the distress can quickly become the primary problem that a tinnitus sufferer has to deal with. From what I have read, the same can be true for labyrithitis.
A few things that helped me deal with a vague medical problem that caused a lot of anxiety for me.
- I went to the requisite doctors and talked to some of my doctor friends. I had a few wonderful friends who were really willing to listen to me sort of fret about this for a while and plan out options.
- I filled my prescription for lorazepam which is an anti-anxiety medicine and treated it like my magic feather. If NOTHING else I could do would help me get to sleep, I had it as a last resort. I've taken it three times in the past six months but I carry it with me; it's helpful.
- I talked to other people who had tinnitus and was surprised to realize that other friends of mine deal with this occasionally. Talking to them and realizing that it wasn't going to be the end of my word even if my tinnitus didn't go away was also helpful.
- I really closely examined my life to see what might be stressing me out. I had a family situation that I thought I was dealing with fine that upon reflection maybe I wasn't, and I was travelling a lot which was fun but involved a lot of work. Both didn't seem like stressors but since I was having stress-related symptoms, I decided to treat them as if they were stressful and try to mitigate them and their effects. You have a pregnant wife and I bet that's wonderful but also probably stressful even if it's wonderful.
- I started exercising a lot. This may be difficult with labyrythitis but I found that getting tired out helped me stop thinking about myself and my ears so much.
- Idistracted myself. It seemed weird since I was already sort of overbusy but I listened to music all the time, kept the fan running and just didn't sit in a quiet room thinking I HATE THIS. If you have things you can do that seem to mitigate feeling dizzy and lightheaded, do them as much as you can.
- I watched what I ate/drank. I was more cautious about sugar and caffeine, especially late in the day. If you drink coffee, I don't suggest stopping, but winding down a little, maybe drinking less.
I can't speak to the xanax issue at all except to say that chemical dependecy does run in my family but if I found something that made me feel better I'd take it and work out an exit strategy if I was really concerned about long term usage, or talk to your doc about something less likely to encourage dependency if possible. Good luck, I know it's scary.
posted by jessamyn at 3:11 PM on October 5, 2007
This is not to say that tinnitus isn't real and distressing, but that the distress can quickly become the primary problem that a tinnitus sufferer has to deal with. From what I have read, the same can be true for labyrithitis.
A few things that helped me deal with a vague medical problem that caused a lot of anxiety for me.
- I went to the requisite doctors and talked to some of my doctor friends. I had a few wonderful friends who were really willing to listen to me sort of fret about this for a while and plan out options.
- I filled my prescription for lorazepam which is an anti-anxiety medicine and treated it like my magic feather. If NOTHING else I could do would help me get to sleep, I had it as a last resort. I've taken it three times in the past six months but I carry it with me; it's helpful.
- I talked to other people who had tinnitus and was surprised to realize that other friends of mine deal with this occasionally. Talking to them and realizing that it wasn't going to be the end of my word even if my tinnitus didn't go away was also helpful.
- I really closely examined my life to see what might be stressing me out. I had a family situation that I thought I was dealing with fine that upon reflection maybe I wasn't, and I was travelling a lot which was fun but involved a lot of work. Both didn't seem like stressors but since I was having stress-related symptoms, I decided to treat them as if they were stressful and try to mitigate them and their effects. You have a pregnant wife and I bet that's wonderful but also probably stressful even if it's wonderful.
- I started exercising a lot. This may be difficult with labyrythitis but I found that getting tired out helped me stop thinking about myself and my ears so much.
- Idistracted myself. It seemed weird since I was already sort of overbusy but I listened to music all the time, kept the fan running and just didn't sit in a quiet room thinking I HATE THIS. If you have things you can do that seem to mitigate feeling dizzy and lightheaded, do them as much as you can.
- I watched what I ate/drank. I was more cautious about sugar and caffeine, especially late in the day. If you drink coffee, I don't suggest stopping, but winding down a little, maybe drinking less.
I can't speak to the xanax issue at all except to say that chemical dependecy does run in my family but if I found something that made me feel better I'd take it and work out an exit strategy if I was really concerned about long term usage, or talk to your doc about something less likely to encourage dependency if possible. Good luck, I know it's scary.
posted by jessamyn at 3:11 PM on October 5, 2007
Best answer: A friend of mine was diagnosed with labrynthitus a few years ago. Her's was very bad, intense vertigo all day for days on end, unless she was lying down. After the ENT told her there was was nothing to do and that it should go away on it's own she was freaked out about the possibility of it not going away.
She ended up going to an acupuncturists and it helped. It could have been psychosomatic and it could have been just been a coincidence of the symptoms fading at the same time as she sought out the treatment, but she was better in about two weeks.
When I had anxiety attacks a few years ago cutting out all caffeine was a big help for me. I was a zombie for a week or two, but for me the trade off was worth it. I was able to slowly add caffeine back into my life and I now drink coffee again.
posted by JulianDay at 3:47 PM on October 5, 2007
She ended up going to an acupuncturists and it helped. It could have been psychosomatic and it could have been just been a coincidence of the symptoms fading at the same time as she sought out the treatment, but she was better in about two weeks.
When I had anxiety attacks a few years ago cutting out all caffeine was a big help for me. I was a zombie for a week or two, but for me the trade off was worth it. I was able to slowly add caffeine back into my life and I now drink coffee again.
posted by JulianDay at 3:47 PM on October 5, 2007
Best answer: I can't speak to labyrinthitis, not having any personal experience with it, but as to this part of your question:
Are xanax and others like it really that bad? How afraid should I be of becoming addicted?
In reverse order; you shouldn't be afraid of becoming addicted because with Xanax and other benzodiazepines; it is inevitable. You will become addicted to Xanax if you take it for more than a short amount of time. Benzodiazepines are physically addicting and and you will go through withdrawals when you quit, although they aren't too bad as long as you taper off properly.
Now the first part; Benzos are highly, and I mean highly, effective in treating anxiety and anxiety disorders. They can be quite literally a life saver if your problem is severe anxiety. You can take them for long periods of time without bad side effects apart from the addiction. The longer you take Xanax, likely the higher dose you'd need and the longer it would take to taper off.
So the question becomes; do you have a problem with anxiety? If you have an anxiety disorder that is fucking with your life, Xanax could help a great deal. If you are just anxious because you're sick with something else I'm not sure I'd take it unless you also have serious anxiety.
I might be tempted just to keep the Xanax and drug myself up next time I have a long flight. Really takes the ol' edge off.
Note: take your prescription only as directed. This is not an endorsement of drugging yourself up on airline flights.
posted by Justinian at 3:57 PM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
Are xanax and others like it really that bad? How afraid should I be of becoming addicted?
In reverse order; you shouldn't be afraid of becoming addicted because with Xanax and other benzodiazepines; it is inevitable. You will become addicted to Xanax if you take it for more than a short amount of time. Benzodiazepines are physically addicting and and you will go through withdrawals when you quit, although they aren't too bad as long as you taper off properly.
Now the first part; Benzos are highly, and I mean highly, effective in treating anxiety and anxiety disorders. They can be quite literally a life saver if your problem is severe anxiety. You can take them for long periods of time without bad side effects apart from the addiction. The longer you take Xanax, likely the higher dose you'd need and the longer it would take to taper off.
So the question becomes; do you have a problem with anxiety? If you have an anxiety disorder that is fucking with your life, Xanax could help a great deal. If you are just anxious because you're sick with something else I'm not sure I'd take it unless you also have serious anxiety.
I might be tempted just to keep the Xanax and drug myself up next time I have a long flight. Really takes the ol' edge off.
Note: take your prescription only as directed. This is not an endorsement of drugging yourself up on airline flights.
posted by Justinian at 3:57 PM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Oh, who am I kidding. It is an endorsement of drugging yourself up for long airline flights.
posted by Justinian at 3:58 PM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by Justinian at 3:58 PM on October 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I had labrynthitus and regular over the counter motion sickness pills (e.g., dramamine) helped. I *did* have vomiting and vertigo, so yours sounds different than mine.
As far as the anxiety goes, if you have something that you're stressed about, do what you can to take care of it, or learn de-stressing techniques like meditation, exercise, yoga, etc. Xanex and other anti-anxiety drugs can be great as a short term bridge, but they can be highly addictive. If this is a problem in your family, I'd suggest you be extra careful about taking them.
posted by jasper411 at 4:28 PM on October 5, 2007
As far as the anxiety goes, if you have something that you're stressed about, do what you can to take care of it, or learn de-stressing techniques like meditation, exercise, yoga, etc. Xanex and other anti-anxiety drugs can be great as a short term bridge, but they can be highly addictive. If this is a problem in your family, I'd suggest you be extra careful about taking them.
posted by jasper411 at 4:28 PM on October 5, 2007
Best answer: I've had non-vertiginous dizziness for about 6 months now. Had all the typical tests with nothing significant found. The only thing that has helped so far has been Clonazepam (Klonopin), which is a benzodiazepine, taken at 0.5 mg, 2x per day. It puts me at about 90% of my former self.
My Neurologist is switching me to Paxil now, since it's not recommended to take benzos for more than a month or two. I've read several studies in which SSRI's like Paxil can do wonders for such dizziness.
I'm a pretty laid back person, but I can't completely discount the anxiety component. Studies show a striking correlation between anxiety and non-specific dizziness.
Best of luck to us all.
posted by schrodycat at 4:41 PM on October 5, 2007
My Neurologist is switching me to Paxil now, since it's not recommended to take benzos for more than a month or two. I've read several studies in which SSRI's like Paxil can do wonders for such dizziness.
I'm a pretty laid back person, but I can't completely discount the anxiety component. Studies show a striking correlation between anxiety and non-specific dizziness.
Best of luck to us all.
posted by schrodycat at 4:41 PM on October 5, 2007
Best answer: One chapter in The Brain That Changes Itself talks about an experimental treatment that was successful for a person who had a long term and very severe form of this problem.
posted by DarkForest at 4:42 PM on October 5, 2007
posted by DarkForest at 4:42 PM on October 5, 2007
Best answer: I had some symptoms of labyrinthitis last year, with really nasty vertigo. I usually have no problems with anxiety, but this did make me panic, wondering if it would ever go away. It did, gradually, over a few weeks. After the first week it was relatively mild dizziness like you describe, then eventually back to normal. I have dealt with pretty much everything else in life before or since without major anxiety, but this constant dizzyness/vertigo thing totally made me crazy for a few days until I eventually managed to accept that this was just how things were going to be for an unknown length of time.
posted by sfenders at 5:25 PM on October 5, 2007
posted by sfenders at 5:25 PM on October 5, 2007
Best answer: I had a bout of labrynthitis that lasted maybe a week. It's unsettling. Over-the-counter seasickness pills helped me out, but be aware they make you sleepy.
posted by lorimt at 6:21 PM on October 5, 2007
posted by lorimt at 6:21 PM on October 5, 2007
Response by poster: Best answers for all, with gold stars to jessamyn because I really identified with the thought process and Justinian for the honest anti-depressant advice.
Some of you noted things related to general mental health prior to the onset - I have never had anything I felt like I couldn't control, but most of my friends know I stress about things I shouldn't. I have had 2 or 3 noticeable panic attacks since this started, with the first being an "omg I am going to die if I don't get out of here" which went over really well with the wife...
I'll pickup some dramamine in the am and see if it helps.
A special mention to schrodycat - best luck to you especially.
posted by Big_B at 7:50 PM on October 5, 2007
Some of you noted things related to general mental health prior to the onset - I have never had anything I felt like I couldn't control, but most of my friends know I stress about things I shouldn't. I have had 2 or 3 noticeable panic attacks since this started, with the first being an "omg I am going to die if I don't get out of here" which went over really well with the wife...
I'll pickup some dramamine in the am and see if it helps.
A special mention to schrodycat - best luck to you especially.
posted by Big_B at 7:50 PM on October 5, 2007
I had a bout of labrynthitis a few years ago and I never, ever want to be that sick again. Mine came on over the course of about an hour and by the time it full on arrived I couldn't walk or even move my head without vomiting. I spent the first weekend with my head in the toilet until I got some anti-emetics. Then I spent the next week lying in a dark room with my eyes closed not moving because even though I wouldn't outright puke, I'd still get nauseous.
After that I got somewhat better. My the next week I could sit up and watch some TV and use the computer so long as I absolutely didn't move my head. It took another week before I could go to work and drive (try lane checking with vertigo - SUCKS). Then it was gone and I've been fine since, except I think my balance is a little suckier than before. But never that sick or spinny, thank god.
I don't know if that's what you have but if you think you might I'd just try to really get into it and let yourself have it - don't try to carry on with your regular life if you don't have to (if you have vacation time, take it). I couldn't imagine doing anything for that first week. It was a chore to sip water and eat plain white bread.
posted by marylynn at 8:25 PM on October 5, 2007
After that I got somewhat better. My the next week I could sit up and watch some TV and use the computer so long as I absolutely didn't move my head. It took another week before I could go to work and drive (try lane checking with vertigo - SUCKS). Then it was gone and I've been fine since, except I think my balance is a little suckier than before. But never that sick or spinny, thank god.
I don't know if that's what you have but if you think you might I'd just try to really get into it and let yourself have it - don't try to carry on with your regular life if you don't have to (if you have vacation time, take it). I couldn't imagine doing anything for that first week. It was a chore to sip water and eat plain white bread.
posted by marylynn at 8:25 PM on October 5, 2007
Response by poster: In case anyone wants a follow-up, it has now been about 9 weeks, and I still feel off. I have had a Videonystagmography (VNG) test, which came back normal which is really good. This test, among other things, induces dizziness, which I know understand is not what I am feeling. It is more of a lightheaded/foggy feeling and my eyes feel odd, like it takes work to make them focus.
I have started seeing a therapist to deal with stress and the anxiety that this is causing. It does seem to be getting better, but very slowly.
On another note I was talking to an acquaitence about this, and he has experienced the exact same thing. He said his went away finally after taking xanax and exercising. He, and all my doctors think it is just stress induced.
posted by Big_B at 3:17 PM on November 19, 2007
I have started seeing a therapist to deal with stress and the anxiety that this is causing. It does seem to be getting better, but very slowly.
On another note I was talking to an acquaitence about this, and he has experienced the exact same thing. He said his went away finally after taking xanax and exercising. He, and all my doctors think it is just stress induced.
posted by Big_B at 3:17 PM on November 19, 2007
Response by poster: Oh and I have also learned that the internet is a horrible place for researching your medical problems. For some reason I always end up finding the hopeless discussion threads of people who have suffered for years with no help. Worst case scenarios are all I usually find.
posted by Big_B at 3:33 PM on November 19, 2007
posted by Big_B at 3:33 PM on November 19, 2007
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So I spent a few weeks dizzy but not feeling sick. I experienced the obvious and probably unavoidable fear that it wouldn't get better, or that something [new] was seriously wrong in my brain, but it never turned into a full blown anxiety attack. I don't have any advice for that, other than my own "I got better from something kind of similar" reassurances.
Eventually it went away and I was awesome again. I was kind of hoping to gain super powers or something, but I didn't. I am a supertaster but that's unrelated.
posted by aubilenon at 3:03 PM on October 5, 2007