Hello everyone.

I’m really glad about Veda and the opportunity to introduce myself. I’m 37 years old and have a two year old daughter. About 3 years ago I had a syncope, fainted in the shower and hit my head. I lost consciousness briefly and developed severe BPPV after that injury. CT scan was normal. The BPPV seemed to resolve in a few months and I did not have any symptoms then. Coincidentally I also got pregnant around the same time with my daughter ( my first child). When I was about 22 weeks pregnant the vertigo came back and was horrible. Head spinning whole night. I suffered for several days with vertigo and the rest of my pregnancy was unfortunately very difficult with the vertigo coming in and off and bad BPPV when rolling over in bed. I got both Covid vaccine shots during pregnancy. Surprisingly after my second Covid shot my vertigo worsened. I also ended up delivering my daughter very early at 34 weeks, a couple of weeks after my second vaccine shot.

A long story short, after the delivery, the head spinning BPPV was gone, but I had a constant sense of imbalance and dizziness. I was breastfeeding my daughter for a year, and weirdly after I stopped breastfeeding at night I developed a bad rocking on the boat sensation with extreme sound motion and light sensitivity. The whole time I had these symptoms I was also seeing a neurologist at chicago dizziness institute ( dr. Cherchi) who is awesome. He initially had diagnosed me with BPPV but this time around the diagnosis was vestibular migraine. I basically landed in a chronic daily situation of dizziness and vertigo and extreme motion sensitivity. I have tried VRT for several sessions but it didn’t help much. I also tried acupuncture. The whole journey was very difficult with a new baby and being a new mom and adjusting to the constant rocky vertigo feeling. 

Dr Cherchi gave me plenty of preventive medication so I have been doing vitamin d and magnesium. I have recently noticed that running on the treadmill brings me great relief and as counter intuitive as it sounds to run with dizziness, it seems to make me feel better. So I have been trying to run daily and getting my life back on track. One great news is that I feel I have improved from where I was 3 years ago, but this really could be a lot better. My symptoms generally get worse on the day of my ovulation or few days before period suggesting some hormonal link. I never had any of this before, and it really all started after my head injury 3 years ago.

I really want another baby and do not want to suffer through the horrible vertigo I had in my first pregnancy. I don’t know if anyone out here has had a similar experience or knows any physical therapist that can help. It will be so great to know if there are any resources for me, and help me with my goals and family planning. I’m happy to go in person for a consultation, I’m looking to establish a plan that will help me with my second pregnancy.

I’m so grateful this forum exists where I can discuss and get support. Thanks to the forum and all the vestibular warriors,

aarti