Well, spent all day in the ER with DH. I always thought Vertigo was just being dizzy apparently not. At 10:30 this morning DH was standing at the kitchen sink and suddenly was so dizzy he almost fell over, broke out in a heavy sweat and started vomiting, his arms were numb and as he put it "slippery feeling". After 6 hours in ER and Brain MRI to rule out stroke the DR believes it was vertigo. Does any one have experience with this severity of vertigo?
I do indeed. I discovered 2 years ago that I have Meniere's Disease. For 4 months, I had periods of dizziness that lasted perhaps a couple of hours. One day when I was out with Gord, it hit me so hard, I was holding on to the front of his shirt to keep from falling down. I did anyway. It was a lot of fun somehow getting a man with Alzheimer's home while I could barely stand. It was also fun when I was having a spell and he decided that he needed to leave the apartment. It is an awful feeling. I didn't have the sweat but several times had the vomitting. I started a drug called betahistine and since December of 2010 have not had a spell......touch wood. It certainly would not be as difficult now that I don't have to chase Gord.
If your husband doesn't have a history of vertigo, I would wonder about a heart problem. The profuse sweating and nausea can be symptoms of a heart attack.
I also had Meniere's Disease about 15 years ago. It is terrible. When I would have a real bad spell I would bounce off the wall going down a hallway. I might be sick for several days and had to go to bed to keep from being sick at my stomach. It also caused me to go deaf in one ear. I regained my hearing two different times and then lost it again when I had minor spells of the condition.
I do think the dr. would have tested for that. Sometimes with this AD very strange things can happen and it can be just a one time thing. Sure it must have scared you.
I also have Meniere's Disease...but I am luckier than most..it is cochlear which means I have the buzzing, fullness in the ear, and low freq hearing loss which makes movie theaters and loud tv and churches impossible when I am in an attack. I have been in remission now for a few years..about 5 I think..but I had active non stop buzzing etc for 3 years and was not allowed to fly because at first the flight surgeon thought it was something else and feared rupture of the eardrums. MY ENT told me some people have vestibular, some like I do and the real unlucky ones have mixed meaning both kinds... This can come on suddenly...for those who have this condition, make sure you wear a medic alert bracelet..so if you do go down in a store or on the street at least they won't think you are drunk and will at least check for meds you may be on. That said, I would tend to agree, maybe this is a cardiac issue. Keep a log of what goes on prior, the weather etc and maybe a connection can be discovered if this happens again. Good luck with this.
I had several hours of this about 3 months ago and had CAT scans, ECG etc. Final diagnosis: probable viral infection, middle ear. Touch wood, that was the end of it.
My DH had terrible vertigo before we knew he had AD. This went on for almost a year. I wonder though if he is having it again and cannot express it. He has on several occasions had bad headaches and then vomiting. He just did this 2 days ago. I checked to make sure he took his medicine correctly, and he had. Has anyone else dealt with severe headaches and vomIting?
Thanks everyone for the info , when I took him to the Er I was thinking heart but his EKG was fine. one thing was interesting about the brain MRI was they could see the progression of the brain shrinkages since his first MRI in 2009 at that time the atrophy was that of someone in their 80's and he was 64 :(
sherizeee my DH has had this several times , the profuse sweating and nausea. we have thought it to be caused by a sudden drop in blood pressure- it can be medically induced from some meds that list it as a side effect. about the only thing to do is use very cold compress on foreheads and neck to ease them. it ususually subsides within the hour. if you can start monitoring his blood pressure just to check. esp after standing after the meds.then again like the others say it could be cardia related or blood sguar levels. good luck divvi
Mimi, I never thought of putting it on my medic alert bracelet. I also having a ringing/buzzing in my ear. During the months that I was having the attacks almost daily, I had lost considerable function in my left ear. By the time I returned to the ENT specialist, my hearing was back to normal for my age. I never heard about not flying nor do I know if mine is cochlear or vestibular. It was terrifying when I fell. I think your brain doesn't work either. I could have called a number of friends to come and get us or there were a number of taxis a crawl away. Instead, I made the choice of getting Gord and I on a bus. Duh!!!!!!
I was thinking about this after I posted. It is probably off topic but I don't know where to put it. As caregivers, I think it is safe to say that we all worried or are worrying about an illness coming. Even something like the flu. I know with Meniere's, I would have to try to do something for Gord and then lie down quickly. Do something else and lie down. I felt really ill the other night. It struck me how amazing it was that I only had to look after myself. That really shows what this disease does to us when you consider being able to look after only you a luxury.