Vertigo - Altitude Illness

I had vertigo for a few months with symptoms too mild to affect my quality of life. "Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo" might have been caused by a cold. I occasionally felt a slight dizziness when I changed position. I would not have hesitated to travel to Switzerland. If your symptoms are worse you should ask your doctor's advice.

Can you specify? Is it true vertigo, meaning "an abnormal sensation of motion in which the patient can not maintain their balance"? Or is it motion sickness, which isn't the same thing as vertigo?... which is also distinct from altitude sickness. If you have ever suffered from altitude sickness before (AKA, high altitude cerebral edema), the recommendation is not to return to high altitudes, as this is potentially fatal without treatment. That being said, some people take acetazolamide to prevent it, although whether or not this would be appropriate for you is a matter to discuss with your doctor. And of course, a big factor is how high you ascend. The summit of the peaks could be a potential danger. At lower altitudes (like the elevations of the villages in the Berner Oberland), altitude sickness is very unlikely. I'm going to take a stab and assume you don't have a form of vertigo (because if so, you would barely be able to walk), and what you are actually describing is motion sickness. In that case, ask your doctor about an anti-cholinergic medication, like dramine, scopolamine or promethazine. All of these are somewhat sedating, so you would need to dose the medications appropriately. Bottom line... talk to your own doctor...

Tom, Thanks for the reply. During my last two flights, I have had pain and pressure in the ears. Two years ago, I had a bad case of Vertigo that lasted about a month and then lingered for a long time. I would describe the dizziness I am currently having as a mild form of Vertigo, with some nausea. The dizziness seems to fade as the day goes on and reappears in the morning. Nothing like the experience I had two years ago. My doctor doesn't see a problem in the ears and tells me to take Sudafed and Dristan during the flights. The unknown has me concerned. Doug

Vertigo is caused by a dysfunction of the vestibular system in the inner ear. I'm guessing that the pressure of the altitude causes complications with your ears (possibly inflammation) and that causes vertigo. Do you relieve pressure by popping your ears every so often? If not, you might try doing that. --------------- I've had ear problems since I was young. Recently, I had Vestibular Neuritis that caused vertigo and I just got over it. Vertigo is NOT fun!

Doug, Have you seen an Ear Nose and Throat Doctor? I too had vertigo about 20 years ago which was quite severe and lasted for several weeks. On that occasion, they diagnosed that I had a virus in the inner ear. Earlier this year I had a recurrance of vertigo that was not quite as severe, but symptoms were similar to what you described. I had quite severe dizziness in the morning, particularly when I moved from lying down to getting out of bed; it would diminish during the day but then come back thenext morning. After about 2 weeks, I finally went to see the ENT Doctor. This time, they diagnosed 'Benign paryoxysmal positional vertigo". They said this type of vertigo occurs when the crystals in your ear canal move into the wrong part of the canal. They showed me an exercise to perform 3 times a day (called the Epley maneuver) which would move the crystals along the ear canal. It seemed to work. At first, I thought things were getting worse but within about 3 days I no longer had the problem. By the way, when they did this maneuver with me in the office, they could tell which ear was affected by watching my eyes. Clearly, I'm not qualified to diagnose your problem, but I would suggest that if you haven't gotten any relief, perhaps you might try a different doctor. I hope you find relief. I know having vertigo can be quite a miserable experience.

Last August, my husband and I were in France. We had been there about 8 days when he became ill. He couldn't walk at all. They hospitalized him and diagnosed vertigo - he was on an IV for 3 days before he was released. He indicated his ears had not bothered him on the flight over, so not sure why all this came on. He had no problem with his ears on the way home either. He thought vertigo was one of the worst things he'd ever encountered - I realize it's not always as bad as he had it. I agree - talking to your doctor is important.

I am a physical therapist who runs a balance center. If you and your doctors suspect that it is a BPPV, a motion provoked vertigo, you need to have your doctor send you to a physical therapist who can treat this. It is highly treatable and can be done in a short period of time. So do it soon so you can get over the vertigo because then you can be ready to enjoy your trip. You will most likely be taught how to dx yourself, so that if you flare up in the future, you can treat yourself. Good luck