Post flare dizziness

[Wheezycat]

Does anyone else get this? Some years back, before my asthma diagnosis, I got labyrinthitis. Unpleasant, but it clears up. Now I find that when I get really ill with a cold/asthma, I seem to get a brief return of labyrinthitis after. It is brief, but can be disconcerting. This time it seems to have happened again, though very mildly this time, just dizziness and a bit off balance, but no sickness, thank goodness! Does anyone else get this?

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador]

I had labyrinthitis a few years ago - it was horrid! Couldn’t get out of bed without falling over/wanting to puke!

Nowadays I only really get dizzy/vertigo when my sats are low, or I haven’t slept/drunk enough.

I do get popping/crackly ears, ear pressure issues and that spaced out feeling with most bad colds, tho not with my asthma unless related to a virus 😅 - it’s not really dizziness tho

I’m sorry to hear that you still get this, and I hope this bout is short for you x

[Wheezycat in reply to EmmaF91]

Oh, thank you! This time it is only dizziness and a bit of sense of losing balance once in a while, but no sickness. Two-three years ago I got this following s cold or something, and it reared its head as I was about to see a client, someone I had never met before. I had to turn the lights on at the socket just before and that was bending in the ‘wrong’ way and triggered my sickness big time. I managed to hold it for an hour or so by sitting very, very still, statue like for nearly an hour while I met this new person. Afterwards I could home quickly and the relief came........quite literally. It is not at all like that this time, just feel a bit feeble. But it will pass.

The first time I got this condition I realised something was really wrong when the bathroom floor suddenly bent up and threatened to smack me in the face. I fell backwards into the shower screen, which crashed into the wall and the cat fled. Since then the floor has stayed in its place. Labyrinthitis was quickly diagnosed.

[Hidden]

Hi, yes I also get labyrinthitis and have done for several years now intermittently during and after an acute exacerbation of asthma &/or bad chest infection or pneumonia.

It’s very disconcerting and the GP thought initially it was because the eustacian tubes were blocked and there was a lot of cracking, popping and crackling in my ears but when my balance was also affected and I felt very nauseous with it he diagnosed labyrinthitis.

I think it’s something that can affect some but not all of those with asthma or other respiratory issues.

Hope it clears up soon for you...good luck 👌👌👍👍

[Wheezycat in reply to Hidden]

Yes, it was a very mild one this time, just a bit of loss of balance. So mild I didn’t realise at first and thus felt a tad worried. So it was in fact a relief to realise that this is known to me. And a relief I didn’t get the dreaded sickness! Perhaps it is also useful for me to just be aware this can happen after a ‘cold-plus-flare’ . I hate it when I have to take more time out of my normal activities, but when the full sickness is there there’s not much I can do about it. Yes, I too can get the ear effects, and a sense of bubbling in my ears. And all that. Oh, well.

[Hidden]

I had a Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo many years ago which eventually cleared up but like you when I get a cold or virus it sometime sets my vertigo off, although nowhere near as intense.

[Wheezycat in reply to Hidden]

No, nor is this, but I still rather not have it. It has in time meant I had to take yet another day or two off.

[TJRN1959]

Yep, I have had labyrinthitis several times in my life, and it is horrible. I'd never really connected it with having asthma, but I guess that as it's a viral infection and can follow a cold, which in turn of course can exacerbate asthma, then there's a connection. To ward off the dizziness, for many years I've taken Betahistine. Last year my asthma became very much worse, and I was in and out of hospital several times over a period of month. As the story unfolded it turns out that Betahistine is in effect an artificial histamine, which of course is associated with allergic asthma flares. Added to that, Salbutamol has the effect of INCREASING the adverse effects of the histamine part of Betahistine. So the dose of Betahistine would give me an asthma attack, which was then actually made worse by the administration of Salbutamol. The perfect storm! I had several blue light admissions, including a very, very scary one straight into emergency Resus, before I worked all this out for myself using good old Dr Google - and when I saw the Consultant he confirmed that although rare, it absolutely is a known and documented fact that Betahistine and Salbutamol are not good together! To avoid problems now I simply stagger the times at which I take my meds. I do think that not enough attention is paid to the conflicts - and problems - that multiple meds may cause.

[Wheezycat in reply to TJRN1959]

That sounds really difficult. I agree I don’t think it is asthma itself that triggers labyrinthitis, but my sense for now is that when I get a cold, which triggers asthma, I get so much more run down than I used to from just a cold, and that can’t help. I think I have had this post viral plus asthma labyrinthitis three times now. This last one was very mild, but it affected my balance. No sickness though. I don’t take anything for it. I just get frustrated when my general unwellness gets extended by this.

Your medicine interaction sounds horrible. It is so important for you AND your medics to be aware! I hope you won’t need to be blue lighted again!