Christian Forums

Anyone know of home remedies for vertigo?  I read in here about avoiding salt, just wondered if there were any others.

I've been having trouble with it for 4 weeks, last week being the worst (drove off the road four times coming home from the doctor, I'm thinking maybe driving wasn't the smartest thing to do).

I got a prescription for it.  It's rather comical, it says:
- May cause drowsiness.
- This drug may impair the ability to drive or operate machinery.
- This medicine may cause blurred vision.

I'm not sure which is worse, the medicine or the vertigo :)

Anyway, the medicine helps (especially the intense nausea) but I'd rather avoid medicines when I can; and it doesn't seem to be going away.  I have no infections, just a little fluid behind one ear.  Does anything make it go away?  I'm REALLY getting tired of the world moving in waves around me :)  People look at me like I'm on some serious drugs.

Vertigo indicates some kind of problem with one or even both of your ears.  It could indicate an infection such as otitis media (middle ear), or it could indicate a problem with the inner ear, which is the control center for your balance.  Another problem which could arise (though it is rare) is a cholesteatoma.  This is an acidic soft growth which can start in the middle ear.  In time, if untreated, it could eat away your middle ear (the three tiny bones), get into your inner ear, and even into your brain.  This is rare, but if you ever got one and didn't deal with it, it could actually kill you in time.  Given these potential causes (along with others), I have only one piece of advice for you: Get to your famiy doctor as soon as possible, and have this checked out.  Your doctor can perform an examination of the ears and, if necessary, either order tests (such as a temporal-mastoid scan), or refer you to an ear specialist.  In any case, vertigo is no laughing matter, and nothing to mess with.

I've had vertigo twice... the first time, I had to be carried, tossing my cookies to the emergency room, I fell out of my shower and off of my toilet.   I could not hold my head up.  I tried to crawl but could only go to the left, so I crawled along the wall o my house to get from one room to the other.

Take your meds, it will go away...  take the meds to the end, by then you should be back to normal.  I was told... once you have it, you probaby will get it again at some point.  And I did.  I had a mild case a few months ago.  The first one was 8 years ago,

I had an infection in my inner ear.  I was told, there is no treatment for that, but that you have to let it run it's course.  Mine was all gone in about 10 days, both times.

From what you wrote above, I take it that all this "advice" came from the ER.  I cannot speak to the qualifications of those who saw you there, or to what examinations they did; however, it would appear from what you're saying that they did not get to the core of your trouble, seeing you keep on having bouts of vertigo.  Now I'm not in any wise qualified to diagnose you, nor will I even attempt it; however, I assure you that something is going on in your system, and you definitely need to find someone who can faret it out and deal with it.  My only experience with vertigo lead to the finding of a cholesteatoma which had destroyed my middle ear (left), gotten into my inner ear, and was starting to eat into the bone structure leading to my brain.  It was surgically removed (the only way you can get rid of one of those things).  You need to keep "pestering" your family doctor or someone else in the practice till you get to the bottom of the problem, or else, if nothing else, you're going to fall sometime and seriously injure, or even kill yourself.

Quote from: Ewigkeit on Mon Oct 20, 2008 - 09:25:18
From what you wrote above, I take it that all this "advice" came from the ER.  I cannot speak to the qualifications of those who saw you there, or to what examinations they did; however, it would appear from what you're saying that they did not get to the core of your trouble, seeing you keep on having bouts of vertigo.  Now I'm not in any wise qualified to diagnose you, nor will I even attempt it; however, I assure you that something is going on in your system, and you definitely need to find someone who can faret it out and deal with it.  My only experience with vertigo lead to the finding of a cholesteatoma which had destroyed my middle ear (left), gotten into my inner ear, and was starting to eat into the bone structure leading to my brain.  It was surgically removed (the only way you can get rid of one of those things).  You need to keep "pestering" your family doctor or someone else in the practice till you get to the bottom of the problem, or else, if nothing else, you're going to fall sometime and seriously injure, or even kill yourself.

No... not at all, I had follow up visits with the ear dr and with my own dr again when it retrurned.  In the ER all they did was give me meds to make the world stop spinning, the actual diagnosis and treatment was done by an E,Ears, N&T. specialist.  He said I had an inner ear infection..  I don't know what you had, but I Had an inner ear infection. 

An inner ear infection could certainly cause vertigo. What worries me is that the treatment has not prevented the vertigo from returning.  I suppose it would be possible that the infection might keep recurring; but if so, why?  Has any specialist ever suggested a temperal-mastoid scan or any other type of scan of the area of your ear?  There is obviously some reason for the recurring vertigo, and it would seem to me that all stops should be pulled out to ascertain or rule out any conceivable cause.  If it were I going through what you have described, I'd be demanding testing to faret out the reason(s) for the problem.  Nobody can go on forever with vertigo.

I haven't had it forever, I had it twice, for a period of about 10 days...  almost 10 years apart... and the second time, only a slight case compared to the first time which was severe... and left me crawling left on the floor.

Now that clears up a lot of things.  Your earlier posts had given me the impression that you were still having problems with vertigo.  If it's been that long since, I would guess the medication given you did indeed clear up an inner-ear infection.  Let's hope you don't get it again; however, I can assure you there's no reliable home remedy for that condition...At least, none that I've ever heard of.

My case of vertigo had pretty stayed a consistant "dazed" state", but the nausea had been increasing (probably because I have a new workload that requires much more movement during the day) so I did something out of the ordinary. 

I went to my handy dandy chiropractor.  He worked wonders on my migraines when nobody else could, so I figured what the heck.

He says "oh, no wonder your ear won't drain, your C1 is out".

Darn if within ten minutes I wasn't seeing just a smidgen clearer.  By about 5 hours later the nausea had mostly gone away.  I don't know that this necessarily cured the vertigo and I don't know if it will last.  All I know is that I spent the rest of my day feeling a LOT better, and for that I'm a happy girl.  I EVEN did dishes and laundry, and housework had become quite a chore with how I was feeling.

Yes indeed.  Medical science today is recognizing more and more the value of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Thunder, a pharmacist once told me to suck on crystallized ginger when I had dizziness due to an inner ear infection.  Some people use the ginger instead of dramamine when they get carsick as it is a natural treatment for nausea. 

The only caveat is that overdoses of herbs, like overdoses of drugs, can have adverse effects.