Dizzy spells

[Daisy1278]

Has anyone had spells of dizziness? This morning I was making breakfast and suddenly felt dizzy and faint. I had to sit down very quickly and retire to bed for an hour. I feel better now but am feeling quite week. My question is: is this a PMR symptom? I have not experienced this before.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Now you have posted your question you will see plenty of related posts …it may be due to your adrenals as you are at a level when they need to start working again -

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

[Daisy1278 in reply to DorsetLady]

Many thanks for your swift reply. I will look into it.

[SheffieldJane]

Apart from your adrenals, if you are on a low dose ( under 7 mgs Pred) .

It could be raised blood pressure. It is worth having your own machine at home. You can get a decent one for around £30.00. Hypertension is a side effect of steroids.

[Daisy1278 in reply to SheffieldJane]

Many thanks for your reply. I will certainly investigate.

[Purpleazalia in reply to SheffieldJane]

Hi Jane, can I ask why you say '...on a low dose' please? Is there any information you can refer me to? I ask because my blood pressure increased at higher doses of steroids, and reduced on lower doses. I am now on 4mg and my blood pressure has been very variable at times. I'm undergoing some health checks and thought it wouldn't be related to steroid side effects - but interested in why you said under 7mg for hypertension.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Purpleazalia]

But dizziness at low doses of pred is more likely to be due to hypotension, low BP.

[Purpleazalia in reply to PMRpro]

I see, thank you.

[SheffieldJane in reply to Purpleazalia]

Lack of punctuation I am afraid. Don’t tell my old English teacher, Miss Laidlaw. I meant under 7 mgs for our Adrenal function and above for hypertension.

Incidentally, is your blood pressure the same in each arm? Mine differed which eventually led to a Large Vessel Vasculitis diagnosis.

[Purpleazalia in reply to SheffieldJane]

Thank you 😊

I have enough of a problem getting the cuff on my left arm, but will give two arms a try next time my daughter is here - thanks for the suggestion.

My doctor suspects angina from the symptoms I have - all chest related. He has been very thorough and organised lots of tests.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Not necessarily PMR but I was dizzy due to labile BP which would plummet at times. Do you have any other symptoms - sweats, palpitations for example?

[piglette]

Yes I have dizziness and have fainted a few times too. I find that standing cooking breakfast for example I have to sit down to stop the dizziness. I put it down to the adrenal glands. My blood pressure seems to just drop particularly in the mornings. It did get down to 54 / 45 when I was in hospital having my hip replaced.

[Karenjaninaz in reply to piglette]

Souns like adrenal insufficiency.- bordering on adrenal crisis. Did your doctor give you any steroid in hospital?

[piglette in reply to Karenjaninaz]

I had my own steroids. I had just fainted when I got that reading.

[alangg]

Prob not related to PMR but while I was on a low pred dose, I had some very momentary dizzy spells. GP reckoned it was BPPV brought on by a particular movement of my head. It cleared itself after a couple of weeks.

[Pr0jection]

I occasionally go through periods of dizziness particularly when I turn over in bed, or bend down to pick something up. It may not be PMR related but a cervical spine issue. For example, I have always suffered from forward head posture and only fairly recently discovered that two vertebra at the top of my spine are fused.

[Doraflora]

if it happens again then do get checked out, Daisy1278

[Suffererc]

yes and low bp. It wears off . Have upped my Steroids to 4 mg for a week because of flare. GP a week ago told me to stay on 2 and someone would get back to me, but didn’t so I upped them myself and feel loads better 😊

[Exflex]

Yes, when I started a 3mg to 2.5mg taper. I returned to 3mg steady state and the dizziness disappeared. Of course it could have been coincidental and I may have had a virus (as my GP said at the time).

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Exflex]

It might have been their beloved answer to everything except a broken bone "It's a virus", But in a patient on such a low dose of pred after long term steroids, adrenal insufficiency is FAR more likely ...

[Exflex in reply to PMRpro]

Haha, yeah that’s why within 5 minutes of leaving the surgery I put my money on adrenal performance. A few months later, whilst still on 3mg, with new head aches, a GP locum said “I don’t think you’ll ever get off steroids”. I’m now at 1.75mg for 5 out of 7 days. In between, with eye disturbance and head aches, I was fast tracked to ophthalmology for potential GCA. It turns out the eye disturbance is vitreomacular traction. I have a follow up appointment this coming week. Headaches put down to stress of house move. Suffice to say I’m being really careful with steroid tapering, even though splitting 1mg tablets into quarters is a pain in the rear end.

[Hidden]

Hello Daisy,

I have had this in the morning. Feeling that I was on the verge of fainting. Though it could be adrenals, I had dizziness when I was on a lower dose of steroids, it could also be due to dehydration. I find that drinking water gets me back to normal fairly quickly. Hope this helps.

[Louisepenygraig]

I often get dizzy spells, especially now I'm down to 5.5 pred. They tend to happen later in the day if I stand up too long, for instance if I'm trying to cook dinner and then I have to ask my husband to take over. I assume its mainly adrenal related. I have had a tendency to dizziness and very occasionally fainting throughout my life so I'm used to spotting the signs and taking action.

[Josie-Anne]

hi Daisy1278,

Do you have high or low blood pressure? Possibly your sugar levels were low, I get dizzy spells with low blood pressure or my sugar levels are low but also if I haven’t eaten for hours I get light headed, just a thought 💭

[Artnmusiclover]

Hi, yes ...I got this a lot when tapering down from 10mg to 6mg...even in bed I could go dizzy..as I stabilised at 6mg it has eased. I must mention that I was diagnosed type 2 diabetic back then so I have cut my carbs down and drink lots more water which seems to have helped..and of course as mentioned above I think my adrenals are stuttering to try and work again...I hope you find something that works for you!!!...its a horrible feeling

[Missus835]

The last few days I've experienced the room spinning (like when you're a little too tipsy) which seems to happen when I move my eyes. It really was a drunk feeling. On waking, if I should get up too quickly (this morning) I felt a little wonky. This has happened randomly over the past year. We shall see what happens when I return to Ophthamology Clinic soon and the Vascular Surgeon to whom I've been referred. Also hoping the just-started-today 60 mg. of Prednisone alleviates some of the eye/ears/headache symptoms. One day at a time.

[Songbird69 in reply to Missus835]

I don’t know if this could be relevant to you, but I had these symptoms many years ago. It was dead scary, having the room spinning; it affected my vision too, but I was finally diagnosed with labyrinthitis. I was given stugeron at the time which helped enormously and it finally cleared up.

[Missus835 in reply to Songbird69]

Thanks for your reply. I'll mention this to the Rheumie.

[Sharitone]

I get dizzy, and a bit nauseous when I have reduced pred a bit soon. This started at 4mg. I just have to go back to the previous dose for a bit longer to sort it out.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Sharitone]

I would say that’s likely to be adrenals still stuttering - both indicators of low adrenal activity….

are you using a slower tapering method -and very small decreases?

[Sharitone in reply to DorsetLady]

Yes, 1/8mg at a time. At the moment, I'm redoing the stretch from 2mg to 1.5mg, because of Christmas and Covid, so going rather quicker than last time. Rheumy is expecting me to be off pred entirely in 3 weeks, but that obviously won't happen! However, I'm still as wiped out as I was at 60mg, and am collecting lots of painful, struggling muscles and tendons so of course I would like this stage to be over as quickly as possible. I don't know whether it is better to get off pred quickly so the tendons can start to recover, or to go really slowly to reduce the strain on them. No good asking any medics, because they will want it to be quick.🥴

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Sharitone]

Except at this stage it is the adrenal function - or lack of it - that is significant. I certainly wouldn't want to stop suddenly unless I was absolutely positive my adrenal function was back to normal. Plus - we all know 1mg of pred can do a lot against inflammation!

[Sharitone in reply to PMRpro]

Yes, thank you. Silly me!🙄 That's another pred problem - not thinking things though from every angle!

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Sharitone]

Agree with PMRpro - adrenals functioning much more important at moment...

[Heidi_SF]

Could be several causes. This happened to me when I had low B12. I was eating healthy but not taking vitamins, and for some unknown reason not absorbing B12 from my food. Now I take daily B12. Problem solved. Easy to test for.

[KASHMIRI1]

I have this symptom on and off the whole time l have been on pred which is three years in May. I usually sit down and put my head between my knees until it goes.