Last night I had some disturbing dizziness while in bed. I don’t have a real cold, but nose was a bit stuffy, some sneezing from time to time. I am taking Niaspan, a niacin pill for lowering cholesterol. 500mg at night. I do get “hot flashes”, a typical side effect of niacin, about three times a month. We ate Chinese last night, Pork Lo Mein. I do not drink alcohol. Felt good, but tired going to bed. Then when I turned from my left side to my right, an overwhelming dizziness came over me, not just bedspin style, but helter-skelter-which-way-is-up style. I had to sit up and brace myself to regain “balance”. Recovery took about 3 or 4 seconds. This happened about six or eight times, at varying levels of seriousness, each time when I shifted my head position more than 90 degrees. At one point the cat was making noise and I sat up to get him, and promptly fell to my left onto the bed. Good thing I didn’t fall to the right, that would be the tile floor. I had an uneasy feeling at the top of my head the whole time, kinda like when I have a full blown cold and things just kinda move more slowly.
Since I have gotten up, there have been no more episodes of falling down, but I still have that kinda-sorta woozy feeling in the head, like it is about a half step slow.
Question: Could an extremely mild cold back up into the inner ear and affect balance to this degree? Would a decongestant help this problem?
For safety, my honey will be doing most of the driving today. Folks drive bad enough here without me weaving into oncoming traffic.
An history of MSG sensitivity? Dizziness is one of the (many) things blamed on MSG.
IANAD but check this out . Could it be Vertigo?
I think you should see a doctor very soon. Could be nothing but it could be very serious.
Good Luck
No known history of MSG sensitivity here. If this passes, that will be added to the list of suspects.
The vertigo symptoms seem close to what I had/have. Mild swoon in KMart this afternoon, not much more than grabbing a shelf for a second. Will call doc definitely if this is still in the works Monday morning.
Labyrinthitis, or inflammation of the balance mechanism of the inner ear is very common. It is often associated with viral infections, with or without typical cold symptoms. Most episodes do not have ear pain, but some may have slight hearing changes or ringing or fullness in one or both ears. It’s generally a self-limited condition, resolving in less than 3 days. There are medicines that reduce the nausea associated with the dizziness (like meclizine) but nothing that removes the dizziness itself. Things that make the symptoms worse are Qadgop’s facts or Fatigue, Alcohol, Caffiene, Tobacco, and Salt. If symptoms persist, or if they are severe, a doctor should be consulted
QtM, MD
Muchas Gracias, Doc. That sounds like a good plan. It is a little freaky when it happens, but if it does persist, I WILL be calling upon one in your profession. In person.
UncleBill, I had a few incidents, like what you described, during a time of great stress. I later read that a deficiency of some B vitamins can cause dizziness. Perhaps Qadgop the M. can verify if this is correct or not. My periods of dizziness eventually went away without intervention.
Never heard the B vitamin theory. And in this modern world (Western Civilization, mainly) it’s pretty damned tough to get vitamin deficient, unless you’re on a real severe diet.