Advice required if anyone has any experience please. 'Almost' unlikely to be stroke related now.
I got home from walking the Hounds at the weekend to hear a muffled cry from upstairs. My Wife had had a shower and had got out, raised her leg to the edge of the bath to dry said leg and then her whole vision went askew and she was violently sick. I got her to lay down and eventually called 111 the NHS helpline To be fair they were thorough and quick. An ambulance was dispatched and within 15 mins (we are quite rural) a first responder arrived in a VRS. He and his very young and pretty trainee were on the case and exceptionally thorough. He eventually thought that it was an inner ear issue and called for an ambulance to take her to A&E. This arrived within a further 15 minutes and she was whisked into A&E and then into a private bed space. They carried out numerous tests over the space of a coupe of hours and a young doctor who was once again very thorough thought that it may have been a stroke and a CAT scan was carried out. Being Sunday night the results get emailed of faxed (Lord help us) to a sub-contract company and we had the results within 2 hours. This concluded that there wasn't a bleed on the brain, but he stated that a Cat scan is not the best medium for identifying a clot and he further suggested that an MRI scan may well be carried out. I left after seven hours as her indoors was snoozing and I was drained. The morning call to the Medical Assessment Unit suggested that she was showing improvement. A consultant determined that an MRI was not required and he diagnosed either Labrynthitis of Vertigo, but did not expand further. I duly took the Lady home yesterday, we cooked, ate and had a pleasant evening, we were both worn to a frazzle, but to be expected.
This morning saw her very flat, uncomfortable and quite unwell. I had to go out to deal with some business, but early PM she called me and was in a right state again. Her vision had become blurry again with "everything moving around" and she was being sick. I got home within 20 minutes to find her in a right mess (but not as bad as the initial episode). Put her to bed with whatever was required, stayed for an hour then returned to work.
Now if any of you have experienced these symptoms can you tell me if these are aligned with the diagnosis or not please? Lethargy. Tiredness. Vision issues. No appetite.
Sorry for waffling at length, but I am concerned and other views may ease my mind.
Very best regards,
MD
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migraine without the headache. really I don't know, .
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I've only had third hand experience of a couple of cases of labrynthitis, but your experience sounds very similar to them.
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MD a number of years ago I had some of these distressing symptoms. I went to my GP and she did various tests of my balance and vision before referring me to specialists for a battery of tests and scans.
It took some weeks to resolve but I made a full recovery after a very worrying time. One of the things I learned was that there are a multitude of possible causes so my particular case is unlikely to be the same as your wife's. However I can empathise. Short term anti nausea drugs helped me as I felt the attacks coming with a few minutes notice. Longer term my particular condition resolved itself.
Its not clear if your GP is involved yet so if you haven't already done so can I suggest that she make an appointment ASAP. Even if the GP has aleady been involved your wife has unanswered questions so ought to go back. If appropriate you might want to see the GP together as its such a worrying situation for you both.
Last edited by: smokie on Wed 23 Jan 19 at 08:07
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MA. Thank you and we are at the Doc’s now. All points noted.
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What MA says.
I've been a doc for over 20 years and wouldn't ever try to diagnose vertigo over the phone/internet.
Brain stem stroke is the big worry as the other causes generally sort themselves out.
CT scan is poor for acute stroke as the hospital guy noted - the diagnosis is made best by thorough history taking and examination as strokes usually have other positive findings. CT does generally rule out brain tumour thankfully.
If it turns out to be labyrinthitis expect 1-6 weeks of nauseating dizziness which spontaneously resolves.
The apparent sudden onset in this case certainly made it worthy of hospital involvement - labyrinthitis typically brews up over a day or so, often after a viral illness.
Good luck!
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I once stayed in too hot a bath once and got out and almost keeled over. Had to lay on the floor for a while to get back to normality. No further issues.
Mrs FC suffered from Meniere's Disease for a few years, just up to and after retirement. (Its a disorder of the inner ear that can lead to dizzy spells (vertigo) and hearing loss.) Fortunately she made a recovery. This would lead to vomiting, dizziness and the lack of ability to walk in a straight line (similar to drunkennes).
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Thank you Lygo. Since receiving the new med from our excellent GP today things have much improved. I hope that it lasts. Don't ask me the name of the drug as I'm knee deep in domestic chores!!!
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>>Don't ask me the name of the drug as I'm knee deep in domestic chores
It'll likely be prochlorperazine if your GP is over 40.
Good resource for all your GP type info:
gpnotebook.co.uk/simplepage.cfm?ID=-610664379&linkID=20467&cook=no
limited page access if you're not signed up - I like it as it contains no waffle.
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Sorry to hear this - my Wife had a similar episode about a year ago. It was initially diagnosed as Labrynthitis, didn't improve and didn't respond to antibiotics. Was later diagnosed as BPPV (google it!) and successfully resolved with 'Canalith repositioning exercise'. She was later advised to cease yoga as positions can disturb the calcium flakes in the inner ear which block and cause these problems. She has been fine since.
We did have a very unpleasant period of about 4 weeks before this was correctly diagnosed for her, but after the repositioning exercise recovery was rapid.
Good luck!
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My wife had a similar attack about three years ago, MD, but a less serious one. We had been having lunch in a local Prezzo and, emerging, she staggered, saying that everything was swirling in her vision. She could not move and I had to leave her propped against a wall while I fetched the car. She vomited on the way home and we immediately diagnosed food poisoning. I got her into bed and had a mini-consultation over the phone with our GP surgery which ruled that out. As a result I was able to pick up a prescription shortly after for a drug, whose name I forget but which soon restored her balance. There has been no resumption, apart from occasional tiny episodes of vertigo. However, to avoid what I believe is called "postural drop" (dizziness caused perhaps by blood draining away from the brain), she sits for a few moments before standing up from bed or a chair before moving off.
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My wife was diagnosed with labyrinthitis a few months ago after being tested for a stroke. It started with vertigo, which left her unable to stand or walk and being violently sick. It also caused hearing problems and tinnitus in one ear. She had 3 bouts of this, each to a lesser degree, over the next 3 weeks and was prescribed medication. As this is a viral ear infection, antibiotics are not suitable. The doctor advised rest with the vertigo (you can do nothing else!) and to work through the less debilitating dizziness until the virus works its way out of the system. Hope this helps. Good luck.
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Thank you to both Ambo and Clk Sec.
It's all making sense/falling in to place now. A slight improvement here thankfully.
I sense that she may be rallying as more instructions are resuming O:-)
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Labrynthitis, Vertigo or Stroke - slowdown avenue
