Dizziness & Vertigo Support Group

Hi Katie,
Gee, that's some dedication to your thesis, coming down with a vestibular problem! ; - )

I don't live in Maryland, but I will forward your info to some folks that might be interested. Have you contacted VEDA - about your study? They have a monthly newsletter that they send out to patients and doctors and maybe they would publish your info.
You can contact them here:

www.vestibular.org

Good Luck on your study!

Hi Katie i live in the uk and am about to have vestibular testing for my vertigo...could you tell me what they do and what they are looking for i also have BPPV.
Many Thanks

Thanks for that idea about emailing VEDA! I am definitely going to give that a try!

Lynnsmith. I can definitely do that and I will try my best to keep it short. BPPV means that you have little calcium deposits floating around in your semicicular canals (usually its only one of the canals). In a normal healthy ear when you change the angle of your head movement this causes the fluid in your ears (endolymph) to move around which long story short bends your hair cells allowing your brain to sense that you have moved your head. If you have these little calcium deposits floating around when they should not be their movement in the endolymph actually creates drag and causes the hair cells to move even though your head is not actually moving. This (along with a few other things) creates the illusion of vertigo.

BPPV is a peripheral vestibular issue. You can also have problems with the vestibular system which are known to be central issues because they deal with problems in the central nervous system.

The most important test they will do with you is called the Dix Hallpike. the way this works they will have you sit on a bed or mat while wearing what are called Frenzel goggles. Those allow the audiologist (or whoever) to watch and record your eye movements). they will then turn your head in a particular direction and slowly and smoothly drop you back down on the mat so you are lying on your back (in what is called the "supine" position). Your head will be hanging off the end of the mat. They will be looking for something called nystagmus, which is a particular beating of the eye but I will spear you the details of that before I turn this into a novel. :-)

You have three semicircular canals so if you have these calcium deposits floating around in one of these the nystagmus patterns that you show will correspond to the particular canal that is having the problem.

Once they figure that out they can do something called the Eppley Maneuver where they move you back and forth into different sitting and lying down positions to move those little floating calcium deposits back out of the canals. If done properly it only takes a few moments to move them and you are cured. But once you get BPPV it is possible to get it again.

Does this help?
Katie

Thanks Katie for your reply but i have already had all that done and the Epley now they say i'm having vestibular testing so is this something different to what they have already done...all the things you described they have done...i have been told that they put water in your ears is this true...many thanks

Hey Lynn
Sorry it took a wee bit to respond. The lab has been super busy. Squirting the water in your ears is a possibility but the test is called a caloric.

Calorics can be done with water or air. Different ENTs prefer different ones. Both have their plus and minus to them. The basic idea behind the calorics is to see if there is any function of the HORIZONTAL semicircular canal and you look at only one side at a time. This is great for detecting unilateral issues because you are only testing one ear at a time. For sake of simplicity lets say we are using air calorics. When doing the test you use both warm air and cold air. When you apply the air it shoots down the ear canal and eventually hits the membrane that lies closely to the semicircular canals. The goal is to change the density of the endolymph that is in the canal. The reasoning for this is because inside the canal is something called a cupula. Long story short, when the endolymph moves due to a head movement it causes the cupula to bend which is what allows the brain to know how the head is turning (there is way more to it then that but this is just so you get the general idea). Normally the density of the endolymph equals the density of the cupula. That way the cupula is always sitting upright in the endolymph and it only moves when the flow of the endolymph due to a head movement causes it to move. If you change the temperature of that endolymph you change its density and that can cause the cupula to start to bend EVEN THOUGH your head is not moving. This is another way to cause the sensation of vertigo. Using the temperature of the air you use will change the density of the endolymph is a particular way, causing particular eye movements (nystagmus) in a particular direction. So the doctor is now looking for the eyes to move in a particular direction depending on whether he used cold air or warm air. Using warm air makes the eyes beat to the same side as the ear being tested and cold air makes them beat towards the opposite side (think COWS = cold opposite warm same).


Hope this helps!
Katie

Thanks very much this helps a lot i'm having them done next Thursday so ill let you know how it goes thanks again

did they mention if they were going to do the rotary chair with you by any chance?
Katie

Hi Katie..this morning i had all my tests done...thanks very much for all your explainations i did have the warm and cold air tests in both ears ...with the cold air the spinning was very bad...and with the warm air it was worse on my left side which i consider to be my bad side...i had the glasses on a did the light tests too...none of this was very pleasant but thankfully i got through it and now have to wait to see what my specialist thinks about the results...thank you so much for all your help.
lynn

Hi Katie,

My name is Robert - are you still looking for people for your study? I would be happy to drive to U of Maryland for tests.

I guess it has been about 5 years since I was diagnosed with bilateral vestibular loss. I was tested at the Vestibular and Balance center in Charlottesville, Va

http://www.healthsystem.virginia.e...

I am not or have ever taken any meds for this - just did a few months of Physical Therapy. Although I must admit sometimes I wish I would try some anti-depressants and anti- nausea meds but have resisted thus far.

I remember the caloric test - the nurse started by pouring room temp water in my ear then responded "normally I step up to cool water but you don't have any reactions at all so I will go straight to the ice water" - after the ice water she replied "Wow - you still have no reaction at all - that is very unusual"

I started having a few vertigo spells for a couple of years before going to the doctor - did not want to go to doctor because it seemed so random that I did not think they would have much to go on and end up being a waste of time and money.

Then one night at a friends watching sports - he actually has 4 TVs in on the one wall - we had 2 basketball games and 2 baseball games on at once (do not try this at home folks - lol) ... then I started feeling a "clicking" in my left ear. I sat there and "wiggled my ears" trying to get the clicking to stop and all at once - BAM - I nearly passed out and the next day I went to a doctor ... then an ENT .... then the Balance center then the Neurologist (the last 2 may have been in reverse order?)

I had to leave my job of 6 years then went on to going through 6 jobs in less than 2 years (at less than half of what I used to make) - I finally found I job that I can handle (most of the time) and a great, understanding group of co-workers - I have been at that company for 2 years and it is a challenge everyday. Sometimes I think about trying to go for disability but am afraid I would just stay home "sitting in heavens waiting room" getting bored

Anyway - enough for now. New to the group and am happy to share any "tricks" I have for getting though each day and willing to listen to others as well.

Feel free to contact me at RFLipscomb@gmail.com