This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Hi,

I was taken off Rebif 2 weeks ago and have felt fine. All of a sudden the dizzyness I felt before going on medication is back. Has this happened to anyone and if so did your Dr do anything?

I'm nervous because my Dr said each relapse requires hospitalization for steroids, but I don't know if this would require steroids. Please share any information with me.

Thanks,

Samantha

Sam,
I am dizzy almost all of the time. I tell people that it is my most debilitating symptom since it hampers your level of activity. I don't even really get hungry anymore, unless it's been like all day since I ate, because of it. I tried Antivert, but it made me too sluggish. There are three things that help with this for me; marijuana, exercise and taking a very cold shower and gettings lots of cold water in your armpit area and areas where veins are close to the surface. I have a very screwed up bladder, but if I had to give up a symptom, it would be that first. It has really gotten bad for me this year.

The exercise helps me the most and I don't really know why. It makes sense to me like this: I think that somehow I "push past" my symptoms. In other words I exercise as vigorous as I can and everything flares up. If I push through it, I can get to a point where I'm not dizzy. It stays that way for a good, long while too. About two months ago I wasn't exercising at all. You know just feeling too awful, sometimes I can't push past it. Well that is when I get really dizzzy. I came out of it, started exercising, and my dizziness vastly improved. I also think it may have something to do with endorphins. I really have no scientific understanding of that, but from what I've glossed over, it seems to fit.

Another thing that helps slightly is the Diazepam I take 3x daily for my bladder. When I forget that I also get dizzier than when I'm diligent when taking it. It's only a small amount (2mg) so it doesn't make me tired, but it seems to work a bit.

So for me it's exercise, get cool when overheated, and smoke pot. I can't smoke all day since I work, so I just do it before bed. It's close to exercising to a good sweat for the dizziness, but it's not for everyone. It would be if everyone gave it a try (shameless plug for medical MJ), but some people just can't pull the trigger.

I hope this helps. I hate this symptom with a passion. I wish you luck. If you find a technique that works, make sure you share it with the group. I, for one, would try just about anything to rid myself of that one. Good luck.

Lew

loobie,

How are you getting to work? I sure hope that you are not driving dizzy!!

gwa

I drive dizzy sometimes, but if it's too bad, I just close my eyes for about ten - twenty minutes, shut out the lights and wait until it's tolerable (my work is very understanding if I'm a little late since I will make it up in the evening). As I explained in some other thread about mornings, I'm usually not into the daily grind of symptoms like ON and vertigo for a bit in the morning. It's my only free time from it. But there are times when it's time to go home and I'm dizzy and I just finish up emails and work on my drawings in my icebox of an office before I will drive. Other than to work, my wife drives us almost exclusively. Like I said, it's my most "hated" symptom. It's the one that gets in the way the most and keeps me inside the most.

I've been experiencing dizzyness also. It is a rather new symptom for me. Lew is right, exercise does help. Also ginger has helped me some. I buy ginger gum at the health food store. Sometimes I take Zyrtec and that has helped also but not always. In the research I've done on this I read that vitamin B6 can help. I am just now trying that. I can't report on it yet.

If anyone has any other ideas let us know. This is the most annoying symptom!


Lori

Went through a period with extreme dizzyness, it felt sometimes like i was having a stroke i guess i don't really know what a stroke feels like but if i wasen't sitting down at the time i'd be on the floor weather i wanted to be or not. They would just come and go when ever they pleased just like everything with ms. i went to the doc and they were going to set me up with a heart monitor and some blood work but the problem passed pretty much at the same time, still get it now but not nearly as often. just something else to deal with, it's like a road full of pot holes and you can drive sometimes for miles without hitting one but then you go through a streatch where it's impossible to avoid them and some are deep they just bang your car around until you think it's gonna break and then theres another smooth spot. Thank god for the smooth spots! It will pass ...

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Had ms for over 19 years now.

oh oh oh me me me...i also get very very dizzy...here i thought i was the only one....i hate getting like that..sometimes its even when i am laying in bed all of a sudden the room will start spinning...man i hate it when it happens..my kids asked me this summer to go on a ride that spun around and i said no thanks i have my own little ride in my head that does the same thing.....

chris

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waiting for answers

I am posting this just in case it may help someone. Every time that I drink or eat anything with aspartame in it, I get vertigo, which lasts for an hour or two, depending on how much I consumed.

The last time I had vertigo was about 12 years ago.

gwa

had it first time for three months last time i took serc and my chiropracter use a little activator thing and adjusted behind my ear and it went right away

What is serc?

a rx drug it helps

I will look into it! Thank you!

I was diagnosed after developing really severe vertigo in 2004, I have quite a few other symptoms but the vertigo/dizzyness and associated nausea are the most troublssome by far. I was working permanent night shift at the time and found that when i tried to get back into a noraml sleep pattern on my days off, i would get the really awful vertigo. i used to try to stay up all day and go to bed at a normal time, so i was very tired- i would sleep but wake up the follwing morning with the really bad bedspins! if i moved my head at all or closed my eyes i would throw up! i have a family history of brain tumors so they decided to do a CT to be cautious- this suggested deylinating process so they did an MRI, that showed over 30 lesions! I still find that if i get over tired it will trigger a really bad day or two but even beside from that i am always a bit dizzy and slightly nauseated! nothing seems to help this much at all. I also find that my co ordination and depth perception are not great- i tend to bash into door frames etc and if i move my head too quickly i will throw up. I have tried ginger capsules and various medications without much luck, it seems the best i can do is limit the severity by not allowing myself to get too tired. I also have muscle spasms, bladder probles, fatigue, swallowing problems, back pain, foggy thinking but these are generally well contolled ( fatigue can be a problem but like vertigo i can avoid the things that make it worse to some degree). Whe i was dx the neuor told me that vertigo was not common with ms, but that does not fit what i hear from other ms er's- it seems to be once of themore common and more troublesome symptoms= i sometimes wonder if the neuro's and the patietns are on the same page!