@thamollusk Hi again - I forgot to ask about your experience after being diagnosed with Vestibular Neuritis around 7 years ago. You said it resolved after about 3 months and I'm wondering if the ENT thought this was due to compensation or habituation or whether the inflammation had actually gone down? I ask because my ENT and the balance therapists I have talked to all say improvements are due to compensation.
You also mentioned having a 33% weakness in your left ear back then and they found that is still the case now so presumably that was the result of ENG or VNG testing (or both)? I wonder if you've always had the 33% weakness or whether that came back after the vaccines. I ask about this because I am self-funding (in the UK) and my ENT says it would cost a bundle to do the ENG and VNG testing and that it would mainly confirm his diagnosis of "likely left-sided vestibular hypofunction" and specifically Vestibular Neuritis, but I don't get the impression that the testing would open up any new treatment options . . . he doesn't like steroids/drugs since they provide temporary relief, but delay recovery over time.
Hi Guys, I've been taken off Amatriptyline and put on Propranolol today. Does anybody have any experience with the new med i've been given?
Take Care All xx
@lookingforanswers Sorry for the delay Susie. I was asking about your BP because my mom (72 yo) has a history of high blood pressure and was on 3 meds for it. She got her booster mid December and was feeling very fatigued. On 2/4/22 she passed out and fell. When I checked her BP it was 92/50. I had her stop all her BP meds and monitored her BP for a month and her BP has stabilized around 120/70 without medications. I took a spread sheet with all the BP readings to her MD and he said she no longer needs her BP meds but jo explanation. I find this difficult to understand. I’ve seen people get tapered off meds but not go from needing 3 to 0 in a matter of 6-7 weeks. I did find an article stating that COVID can damage the vagus nerve and one of the effects of that is low blood pressure. I’ll look for it and post it, if you haven’t seen it.
@carym23 ok thank you for your response. I continue to suffer daily with anxiety and sleep disturbances.
@adelaide Hello, my neuritis went away 7 years ago because of compensation. I was told the body learns to adapt to the weakness in the ear. The best way the ENT summed it up was that I was once a 4 legged bar stool and now I'm a 3 legged bar stool. The body learns to live with 3 legs instead of 4. The 33% weakness will always be there, it will never improve and will never be less than that number in future tests. That weakness can get worse and be 45% down the line if I have another issue, but it can never be below 33% again. That being said, I guess it was a good thing that it is still 33% in my recent tests and it hasn't gotten worse. That also proves that the vaccine didn't cause the weakness because it was already there and hasn't gotten worse. We believe the vaccine might have flared up that old injury, but to answer your first question, it was compensation.
For the second part of your question I agree that you probably don't need testing. As I mentioned my weakness has been there for the last 7 years, it didn't go away and come back after the vaccine. Every other test the ENT ran came back normal. I can almost guarantee you they won't find anything wrong with you at the ENT, but that's just my gut feeling. I strongly believe that what we're all experiencing is a form of long covid due to the vaccine. I'll link two articles below that sum up my reasoning. As you'll see in one article, dizziness is a big symptom of long covid. Like many others have stated, time and rest seem to be the best medicine for what we're all dealing with.
Hope you feel better soon!
@tennyson77 How have you been feeling since? I hope you're still doing okay after getting the booster!
Hi.. Thanks for asking. I feel pretty good to be honest. My outside vertigo is mostly gone these days, but I still have the odd flare inside. But mostly I'm doing pretty good.
My antibodies went from 389 before the booster to 11,481 after the booster, so I'm back at full strength! I expected a bit of a regression, and maybe for the first week I did feel a bit off, but I think I'm mostly through the hard part now.
Other than the inside veritgo, the only thing that still bothers me is the occasional sinus and/or ear pressure, especially when I drink alcohol. My doctor thought maybe there is a sinus infection going on or something, so I'm trying some nasal steroids right now and some antibiotics. Not sure if they'll help, but I don't think they'll hurt.
So, slow and steady I guess.
My anti body showed 13.49 at the moment. So how many months more would I need approximately to get rid of these?
I'm just confused!
Hi I’m so glad I found this knew I couldn’t be the only one. I had my second Moderna vaccine on Tuesday, February 16. Had the usual chills and muscle aches Tuesday and Wednesday, felt great Thursday and bumpy Friday was feeling off. Dizzy, slightly nauseated, just out of it. Had a bad response to a flu vaccineabout 5 years ago and ended up with an inner ear virus. I was out of it for a year. This isn’t nearly as severe but very similar symptoms. This was my biggest fear that it would happen again and it did. The problem is nobody knows. I asked 3 docs if I should take the vaccine with my prior history and not one said no.
How are you feeling now? Have you completely recovered?
@tennyson77 How have you been feeling since? I hope you're still doing okay after getting the booster!
Hi.. Thanks for asking. I feel pretty good to be honest. My outside vertigo is mostly gone these days, but I still have the odd flare inside. But mostly I'm doing pretty good.
My antibodies went from 389 before the booster to 11,481 after the booster, so I'm back at full strength! I expected a bit of a regression, and maybe for the first week I did feel a bit off, but I think I'm mostly through the hard part now.
Other than the inside veritgo, the only thing that still bothers me is the occasional sinus and/or ear pressure, especially when I drink alcohol. My doctor thought maybe there is a sinus infection going on or something, so I'm trying some nasal steroids right now and some antibiotics. Not sure if they'll help, but I don't think they'll hurt.
So, slow and steady I guess.
Are you still feeling better? Has anything worsened after your booster?
Hi Guys, I've been taken off Amatriptyline and put on Propranolol today. Does anybody have any experience with the new med i've been given?
Take Care All xx
Hi!
I could tell you a few things about beta blockers, in general: don't make sudden movements, especially at night, for example: the phone rings and you quickly get out of bed, to go get the phone. At night the heart beats less often, anyway.
Such a movement must be done more slowly, because beta blockers change the way the heart reacts.
That is, beta blockers reduce the frequency and strength of heartbeats.
Therefore, with a sudden movement, the heart may not be able to adapt to the situation, and send a sufficient amount of blood to the brain during that sudden and rapid movement of the body.
It should also be noted that in beta blockers, when the treatment is stopped, the dose is gradually reduced, it does not stop abruptly.
I, personally, took for a short time, another beta-blocker (nebivolol) and I had good tolerance.
May I ask, the sore throat you are talking about, is in the front or side of the neck, could it be from the thyroid? Have thyroid tests been done, including autoantibodies? Do you have tachycardia?
@thamollusk Many thanks for your very clear and concise response – probably the best summary I have seen of compensation from vestibular injuries! My ENT says that the improvements I have had over the months have been due to compensation, although I still have symptoms so I’m not yet fully compensated.
I was almost certain after I had my first dose (AZ) that the lightheaded feeling of swaying when walking was due to my body’s inflammatory response to the vaccine. I seem to have a strong immune system and don’t often get colds or flus, but I know when my body is fighting something since I often get cold sores and that is exactly what happened after the vaccine. My dizziness is non-rotational and only when walking. I have no problem when standing, jumping, sitting, lying down or driving. My lightheaded swaying sensation is not episodic, but often present when walking. It tends to be better in the mornings and I can have better days followed by worse days so it’s hard to find a pattern. I also developed tinnitus in my left ear, but had no other side effects so it looks like “classic” inner ear dysfunction.
Unlike others, I have not experienced medical denial and my GP and ENT both said it was very likely my problem was caused by the vaccine and they said they had seen other people with similar issues. The ENT’s initial exam found “no evidence of any spontaneous or gaze evoked nystagmus” and the Romberg’s and other office tests were negative. He also found “no cranial nerve or cerebellar dysfunction.” The hearing and tympanometry tests were also normal. He concluded my symptoms indicated left-sided vestibular hypofunction and likely Vestibular Neuritis.
The vestibular physiotherapist says that compensation can occur after a few months, but can take longer in some people. She says some people naturally rely more on proprioception for movement, but others – like me – depend a lot on their eyes so the confusing signals can take time for the brain to sort out. Apparently brain plasticity varies among people and also has an impact on how quickly you compensate.
You and others mention symptoms returning after colds or Covid infection and that is what I have been told. The body, in effect, undergoes decompensation in these situations, but compensation can reoccur once things have settled. You mentioned rest being helpful and I’m sure that’s right, although the vestibular physiotherapists I have talked to emphasize the need for physical activity to force recovery and compensation through stimulating the vestibular system.
After delaying for a month, I “bet” that the ENT and the vestibular physiotherapist were correct that the damage had already been done so I had the second dose (Pfizer) and a booster dose some months later (Pfizer). I had zero side effects from these shots, although it’s become clear they don’t stop infection since everybody I know who caught Covid in recent months has had 3 doses! Some have had Covid several times . . .
I have an MRI of brain ..nuero symptoms . And CT scan GI issues. In two days, should I mention I think symptoms are from vaccine. Or get a diagnosis first ? Also have an appointment with neurologist in a month. Not sure what to do ?seems doctors are hesitant when mention vax.
@adelaide Thank you for all the great info! My ENT didn't go into that much detail, but it's definitely great to hear everything you had to say. It all makes a lot of sense when I think about everything I've been through. I'll keep you posted on my progress as time marches on. Hope you continue to improve!
