The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Ginger
Posted by Ron (Emporia, Kansas) on 02/11/2009
★★★★★
About 1984 I woke up and got out of bed. When my feet hit the floor, my body dropped like a rock. I slowly got up and the room was spinning. It was the most strange experience I've ever had. It was like I was standing still and the world was moving. I found out it was Vertigo. I went to the doctor and he said "I don't know what to do about it...let me know if you figure it out." The Vertigo lasted for several days and slowly got better.
Every winter I would get Vertigo and over several days or weeks it would slowly get better and then go away.
I moved to Las Vegas in 1991. I was fine for a couple of years. But, then one winter, it hit me hard. It was so bad I couldn't lay down to sleep. I had to sit up and set my body up against the corner of the room. I slept horribly for days. This happened each winter for a few more years.
One night in 1996 when the vertigo was so bad that I couldn't even sleep sitting up, I was thinking about my experiences with vertigo and realized that when I got vertigo, my stomach also seemed upset. I remembered that Ginger Root was used by travelers to settle their stomachs after getting stomach upset from the local food or drink. I wondered if stomach upset might be causing the Vertigo. (Please remember that my condition always took several days or weeks to get better.) I got up and went to the kitchen and took 6 capsules of health food store Ginger Root. Within 30 minutes my stomach seemed to feel more settled. I decided to try going back to bed.
Normally when I have the Vertigo, if I'm laying down and turn my head right or left, the room starts spinning. This time...NO Vertigo! I turned my head left to right and even did is faster than normal, but no Vertigo. I slept well the whole night
and woke up with no Vertigo.
I started taking 6 capsules of Ginger Root every night after that. After a few weeks I reduced the dosage to 3 capsules before bed. This is now 2009 and I still take 3 capsules Ginger Root every night and haven't had Vertigo since 1996.
Ron
Dehydration Link to Vertigo
Posted by Cara B. (Santa Monica, California) on 02/09/2009
★★★★★
i too have suffered vertigo. went to a dizzy specialist at ucla, westwood, california who showed me an excercise that anyone can do. you drop your head off the side of the bed while on your back. slowly turn your head from one direction all the way to the other direction. or perhaps it is lie on your side and do it....i am sure you can find a link and a video on line, my kaiser doctor friend sent it to me one time. the ucla doctor said it was hormonal in my case, the kaiser dr didn't think so. i have snapped my neck many times, boogie boarding, snow boarding, skiing etc. but i thought it had something to do with being dehydrated which is why someone on here saw a connection between caffeine and vertigo, caffiein being a diuretic. my own theory is that the dehydration dries up the liquid in the ear and somehow these particles get in the wrong place. moving your head when you feel ilke throwing up and cannot move is HARD!!!! and i had to do it more than once but it worked and i spaced it out cause i was sooo sick. the doctors agree that moving the head, and thus the ear relocates the loose particles in the ear. i know this is a great discovery for many people but perhaps won't work for everyone. don't forget to always stay well hydrated!!
Colloidal Silver
Posted by Beaver (Frigid North, Alaska) on 01/09/2009
★★★★★
my mom had a severe case of vertigo and the doctor told her it was because of her blood pressure.we had it checked a number of times and it was always normal, but the dizziness kept coming back. One day i was reading an article that said that vertigo was not an ailment, but a symptom, most likely of an inner ear infection, and they recommended colloidal silver.i went straight to the store and bought a bottle of 10ppm (parts per million) and had her take the recommended dosage on the bottle(i think it was a teaspoon).her vertigo was gone the next day!i hope this can help someone because i have seen how terrible the effects of vertigo can be, especially the not knowing of the cause.great website! keep up the good work! beaver
Rule Out Ehs First
Posted by Laura (Parish, NY) on 12/23/2008
★★★★★
Wow.....I can't believe what I'm reading here. I have los hetaring in my right ear and feel a strong sense of fullness after using a cell phone; all the docs say no relationship here. Rhonda, could you fill me in a bit more on this and treatment, please. Thank you!!
Eliminate Caffeine
Posted by Alain Boutin (Derry, NH) on 10/29/2008
★★★★★
I start suffering mild vertigo 15 yrs ago. I was heavily drinking coffee (huuumm, good coffee...) at that time and did not know the link with vertigo.
I am very prone to motion sickness. I cannot dive either because I cannot clear the pressure in my ear. I often has mild dizziness when changing position in my youth. But the vertigo started at the age of 35 and it was something much worse. I sometimes had to lean against a wall in order to not fall when standing up or just turning the head. It I was suffering a genetic problem common in my family.
It is by change that I stopped drinking coffee, just because there were no coffee shop in my new neighborhood. The vertigo stopped. I started coffee and coca-cola and the vertigo came back.
I repeated that cycle a good dozen times, and it reconfirmed every time the link between vertigo with cafeine
I saw 2 specialist (one was Otorhinolaryngology) who sweared there were no link between cafeine and vertigo. The Otorhinolaryngology said it was some loose crystals in the ear and not much could be done except some exercises like rotating the head.
Some web site call this similar dizziness BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo) syndrome and can be cure by the Epley maneuver. I never tested it though.
Now that I stopped definitively coffee and coca-cola, I seldom have vertigo and when I do have them, they are very mild.
Yoga and Balance Exercises
Posted by Amie (Toulouse, France) on 10/05/2008
I am a vinyasa yoga teacher and have a new student with Menier's disease. Any helpful poses are welcome as she has a hard time in any poses that require you to look up, down, or sideways. I have taught her variations so she keeps her head still. Any tips or good poses?
Treat for TMD
Posted by Rene (Memphis, TN) on 09/08/2008
★★★★★
For any of you who have been diagnosed with Meniere's Disease, please use a search engine right now to search for TMD and your symptoms (e.g. TMD and dizziness and tinnitus).
I have had debilitating dizziness for literally 10 years and have seen many, many doctors and have had UNTOLD numbers of tests and procedures and taken who knows how many herbs, prescription medicines, and supplements and have followed any crazy diet I have heard of that might help. I even had surgery on my sinuses hoping for freedom from this terrible condition, but nothing worked.
On this very site, I read about a lady who went to see a chiropractor for Meniere's symptoms and had good luck with it. This was the first time I'd read about that approach, so I immediately set up an appt with a chiropractor. He diagnosed me with TMD (many people call it "TMJ", but it is TMD for TM joint disorder) and has sent me to a TMD specialist for treatment. Not a regular dentist. A TMD specialist.
He also told me to go home and search the internet for TMD to read about it, and I have found so many reports of people who had suffered for years, just like me, and saw tons of doctors and specialists, just like me, and finally actually got RESOLUTION and got their lives back when someone diagnosed them with and treated them for TMD. Doctors diagnose you with Meniere's Disease, and you find out it's incurable, and it feels so hopeless. This feels hopeFUL for me for the first time in years! I want all of you to feel hope, too!
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by BERNADETTE (ROCKWOOD, MICHIGAN) on 03/21/2007
★★★★★
I use the 3% peroxide in my humidifier, which keeps it clean and perhaps improves the air. Also I have been using it in my ears for years.When my ears are bothering me, I get dizzy, this takes it away. I asked the pharmicist years ago if I could drink a little and he said a quarter cap, there was nothing in it to harm you. A half cap causes a little headache for a minute. I taste it in my coffee (decaf). I put some in my dad's water with some aloe vera juice and he drank it. He sure felt better. He was very ill, and is perking up, so I am going to keep it up.
Yoga and Balance Exercises
Posted by Maureen (Woodbury, CT) on 10/02/2006
★★★★★
I have also been diagnosed with Meniere's and put on Valium as well as a diuretic. Both made me extremely ill. Yoga is very helpful. You have to teach your brain that you are in balance. Your brain gets use to the fact that you are always off balance so you have basically re-train yourself. It takes time and sometimes you are dizzy while exercising but does help. Also, no caffeine and very low sodium diet. Good Luck
Stop Drinking Caffeine
Posted by Jay (helensvale GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA) on 07/26/2007
★★★★★
according to my specialist he told me that caffeine was one of the biggest causes of menieres disease(crystallizing of the ear canal)- I was a major sufferer of vertigo and menieres disease so I stopped drinking coffee straight away after about 1 week I never had another bout of dizziness and that was 6yrs ago to date I still don't drink coffee-- hope this helps rgds
Gingko Biloba
Posted by Julie (Kiel, Wisconsin) on 08/21/2007
★★★★★
I have found that ginko biloba has helped me with vertigo. When I have episodes of this I can take ginko for a few days and it goes away completely!
Strawberries
Posted by Rebecca (Fullerton, CA) on 08/26/2007
★★★★★
I have had problems with dizziness every year around the same time. I have it right now in fact. I just wanted to say that a few months ago I bought a natural cures book of some sort and it said that strawberries help vertigo. Yes, eating fresh strawberries. I don't know what truth there is to this but it definitely wouldn't hurt or how much it would take for it to work. Actually, according to
http://nutrition.about.com/od/fruitsandvegetables/p/strawberries.htm, strawberries contain more vitamin C then orange juice. Who wants a strawberry shake? I might do that tomorrow for breakfast. Lots of fresh fruit with a cup of yogurt and some milk plus a little almond extract is YUM!
Dietary Changes
Posted by Lyn (Singapore)
★★★★★
I had a sudden attack of vertigo two days ago and read that some causes of vertigo could be related to a lack of water in the body due too to much salt or a high cholesterol. If this is the case. A diet as simple as staying off caffeine and salt would help. And taking more citrusy fruits like oranges will help reduce the bout of spinning. It works.
Chiropractic
Posted by Carolyn (Pittsburgh, PA) on 11/09/2007
★★★★★
re: Vertigo, hearing loss, Meniere's symptoms -- I suddenly lost my hearing in one ear, and shortly there after, started getting vertigo. I knew it was somehow related to an incident that caused very slight physical, but more mental trauma. After several doctor visits, taking steroids, seeing an Ear, nose and throat doctor, having an MRI done, seeing a neurologist, I still was not cured, and no one knew what the problem was. I also noticed that if I ate something very salty, that it might start an episode of vertigo. This comment is not about any item that helped me, it is about a particular type of doctor, and help me he did! I self referred to a chiropractor because I had heard a talk show about hearing and spinal misalignment. After starting my treatments, my vertigo gradually subsided, but took the hearing longer to come back. After months with no symptoms, I jarred my neck while horse back riding, a week later my vertigo and hearing loss came back with a vengeance! I went immediately to a chiropractor and this particular doctor had me up and running in less than two weeks, with my hearing restored. He explained that the misalignment in my neck was putting pressure on the cranial nerve that controls hearing and balance and also stated that certain foods can indeed aggravate the situation by causing dehydration, especially very salty foods, as was the case with me. This doctors regiment is not just spinal adjustment, but exercise, and nutritional advise. After being led to believe that I needed a hearing aid, or may have an incurable disease, I am so grateful that I was somehow led into the right direction and am totally symptom free. In my research I have found that thousands upon thousands of people are suffering from the same symptoms, and the cure is so simple, if the cause is the same as mine. I already had the misalignment problem, it was the mishaps that caused the further aggravation that set the vertigo and hearing loss in motion. I have noticed for years, a kind of pinched nerve feeling from my neck and into my shoulder. It does not take an accident to have neck problems, is what I am trying to relay. I hope this helps some fellow sufferers.
Fenugreek and Thyme
Posted by Tara (Provo, Utah) on 11/19/2007
★★★★★
All throughout my childhood I had bouts of vertigo. Fluid would get into my ears, cross the ear drum and get stuck around the eustation tube. Recently, I had a severe bout that lasted almost a month. Decongestants and Meclizine would help but it would just come right back.
I spoke with a good friend who is extremely knowledgable about herbs and she said she has had a similar problem. She uses a mix of Fenugreek and Thyme. She said its also good to use Pcynogenol as well. I have only been using the Fenugreek and Thyme mix but I have noticed a huge improvement. The mix of herbs is also good for general sinus clearing. Drink lots of water though because this will pull the fluid out of your body. Hope this helps!
Rule Out Ehs First
Posted by Rhonda (tallahassee, usa) on 12/12/2007
★★★★★
I read of a case of a lady developing Meniere's after living next to a cell phone mast. She was amongst alot of other persons who took ill. There is a disease highly recongnized in Sweden, Germany, Canada, and even some cases in the U.S. called electrohypersensitivity (EHS). This condition has some very similar feature's to Menier's for those who are sensitive to electromagnetic frequencies. This should be ruled out. Get close to a cell phone mast or monitor your reaction near wireless networks, especially those in doctor's offices and other strong EMF fields to rule out this condition. An MRI will make the condition worse if this is the case.
Acid Reflux Medication Link
Posted by Scott (Atlanta, GA) on 01/01/2008
I have had acid reflux for several years now. I was on a prescription for Prilosec before it was OTC. Usually only took a pill when I felt the reflux coming on strong. Over time, it has gotten worse with many reflux attacks daily. Two months ago, I started taking Prilosec OTC every day to see if I could fend it off. It worked great and I rarely felt any reflux all day long. Then, I had three violent episodes of Vertigo....which is similar to being spun around while you are violently seasick and stays like that for about 5 hours. Turns out this is rare but known side-effect of Prilosec. Needless to say, I'm off it now. I am relying on Pepsid AC now which works great but only last for a few hours and gets expensive. I'm planning to try the ACV next.
