Diazepam for vertigo

[Theteacherswife]

Hi

I’m currently really struggling with vertigo and now anxiety relating to the vertigo! Does anyone have any experience of treating vertigo with diazepam? I’m thinking - kill 2 birds with 1 stone?!

Thank you x

[Jeff1943]

Vertigo can be caused by all sorts of things, mainly problems in the ear but it can be anxiety too. I suppose the way to check if it's anxiety is to take 5mg of diazepam when the vertigo starts. If it stops it then it's defo anxiety, if it doesn't probably not.

The most common cause of vertigo is called Benign Paradoxol ??????? Vertigo caused when fragments of detrius in the inner ear fall on the little hairs responsible for balance. You either wait for the debris to move on which can take up to 2 months or do the Epley Manouvre which is a series of rapid head movements. This is successful in moving the debris in 75% of the time. There's a YouTube video of how to do it but I'd want someone in a white coat to do it for me and my doctor's practice didn't have anyone who knew how to do it. The last time I had vertigo was years ago and it was constant for 2 hours so we called an ambulance and just ad the ambulance guys were manhandling me into the ambulance the vertigo went never to return.

I'd say it's essential for you to see your doctor about this, mention the Epley Manouvre, and get a referral to see a specialist (they call them Dizzy Doctors). Your own doctor can prescribe tablets for vertigo, the best one is called Serc.

[Theteacherswife]

Thank you Jeff1943 for your reply! I’ve seen my gp and had the Epley done - was prescribed some meds which increased my anxiety (racing heart, twitchy muscles etc) so I couldn’t take them... am now taking an ‘over the counter’ sea sickness tablet. It’s been 3.5 weeks... the osteo who did the Epley is pretty sure it’s BPPV. Trouble is - my anxiety has now gone off the scale and I’m sure this is now completely exacerbating the vertigo. My go-to coping strat for anxiety is walking, getting out of the house etc and these aren’t available to me right now because of the vertigo! Feel like I’m in a mess 😔

Off to see the gp again in a bit...

thank you

[klawanna in reply to Theteacherswife]

I've been struggling with vertigo (sometimes just a dizzy, off balance feeling) for the past several years and now my anxiety is awful. I can't take a lot of the medications for anxiety because of the side effects. Xanax does help with the dizziness and anxiety. Now my doctor has suggested I see a psychiatrist, so I am in the process of trying to find one. I know what you mean, I feel like I am falling apart. Praying for some help.

[Theteacherswife in reply to klawanna]

Hi klawanna

I’ve had a better day today with my vertigo and my gp has prescribed some diazepam on an ‘as needed’ basis... I haven’t taken any yet as I had a busy day & didn’t want to be zonked out! But I feel a bit better just to have it in my arsenal...

I could deal with either vertigo or anxiety separately - but both together is an absolute nightmare!

I wish you well and hope you will be on the road to recovery very soon

[Calm_mama]

HI!

If it's Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo the good news is that it is often self-limiting. (It often gets better on its own.)

I have had this twice in my life. It's very different from other kinds of dizziness. It's the kind of dizziness where you feel like you are on the tea cup ride and can't get off AND it's only associated with certain positions. It's caused by crystals in the tiny canals of the inner ear. These crystals are supposed to be there but they accidentally move to a different part of the inner ear.

Many folks get better with the Epley manuever. Epley helped me a little but I got 100% better both times with an aggressive version of the Semont maneuver:

youtube.com/watch?v=hiP7ifV...(Not working as expected?)

This particular video is for origin in the RIGHT ear. There's a different video for the LEFT side. You can usually tell which ear it is but have your doc confirm for you. The second time I had it was in BOTH ears- wild. So I did the semont moves for several days on BOTH sides.

Of course this is a hard maneuver to do if you have physical limitations. Epley is better if you have shoulder problems, hip problems, etc. But I personally think Semont works better, and especially this version of it.

In the meantime, keep your head straight and when you turn your head, get out of bed, move it out of it's forward and front plane at all - do it very slowly! And I recommend not putting your head down until it's all resolved. That's the worst. I blow-dry my hair with my head down and that was just a no no - flat, lifeless hair for a few weeks

Ignore anxiety if it kicks and screams about this! It is considered a pretty simple condition to treat in medicine. And it's called "benign" (harmless) for a reason.

Good luck!

[Theteacherswife in reply to Calm_mama]

Thank you so much - very reassuring 😊

[Hopeless100]

Hello, and I haven't heard of treating vertigo with diazepam, but I was given this discipline and it also stopped my tremors , that is how I found out about it.

It usually needs a bit of time to allow the small crystals that usually form in the ear causing vertigo, to disappear, perhaps reducing the sensitivity of the nervous system works here.

Anxiety may need you to practise meditation to reduce your anxiety-inducing thoughts and reduce the stress.