dizzy spells

[keegan55]

Can GPA cause dizzy spells.... room spinning and throwing up

[LisaT]

I was just signing in to ask the same question! Not throwing up but a sudden feeling like the world wobbles and I need to sit or lie down... Feeling woozy and them comes the headache. It feels like when my blood sugar drops except I have no desire to eat I just want to sleep. Hope you feel better. I'll be interested to hear what everyone says.

[Dirty Don]

My dizziness was caused by lack of oxygen initially before I was dxed. Then, in recovery/rehab, a poor mix of drugs did the same except worse. Never had headaches tho.

[marylz]

I have had the light-headedness off and on for about 6 months. I get the funny feeling, then I know I need to sit down or I am going to go down (which I have done about 5 times now- and 1 time I broke my ankle!) I don't throw up or feel nauseous though. My doctors think it may be one of the medications I am on or a combination of them. So they are playing around with them to see what works. So far we haven't "cured" it.

[annekat]

Can GPA cause dizzy spells.... room spinning and throwing up

I think it can, indirectly, yes. I've been having trouble with this myself this winter and spring. Vertigo is the extreme end of dizziness, where the room is spinning and you may throw up. There are lots of possible reasons it happens, some of which could be related to GPA. It may take a doctor awhile to pin down an exact cause. There are quite a few without GPA who have experienced this, too, and they don't always find out why. It is usually thought to be a disturbance of the inner ear. I've gotten more reasons off the internet and from the forum and other people than I got from my ENT. Some of these include allergies, blocked ears from swollen Eustachian tubes, trapped fluid in ears, ear infections, ear wax build up, crystals in the inner ear called "ear rocks" which can be dislodged and remedied by certain exercises, the list goes on. I figure since a lot of us with GPA have ear problems and inflammation around the inner workings of our ears and e-tubes, we could be subject to this. In my case, it could be a combination of allergies, GPA inflammation, excess ear wax, and a minor ear infection. One eardrum is perforated, deformed and caved in and the small bones on the other side are eroded, all from GPA. I've been given antibiotic drops which go through the torn ear drum into the middle ear to stave off infections. Interestingly, I had no vertigo for 6 weeks after a huge chunk of wax was removed from that ear, which due to the damage is now more prone to wax build up. But then I had it again the day after the ENT had been poking around in there to remove additional ear wax. Anyway, I think the answer to your question is yes, due to the variations of GPA ear involvement, but it could also be the other reasons such as allergies, which also cause blocked ears and inflammation. You'll find some threads on vertigo and dizziness by searching the forum and there is also quite a bit of info online, some of it conflicting.

BTW, if you haven't seen anyone for this, get some Dramamine and take 100mg. if you have an actual vertigo attack that lasts more than a few minutes. Then try to get a prescription for generic meclizine, which is the same drug but MUCH less expensive. You can take from 25-50mg meclizine as a preventative if you feel dizzy and don't want full blown vertigo. But don't overuse it as it has something of a rebound effect and will delay your getting over the problem. Good luck. Vertigo is miserable.

[LisaT]

I have had the light-headedness off and on for about 6 months. I get the funny feeling, then I know I need to sit down or I am going to go down (which I have done about 5 times now- and 1 time I broke my ankle!) I don't throw up or feel nauseous though. My doctors think it may be one of the medications I am on or a combination of them. So they are playing around with them to see what works. So far we haven't "cured" it.

What is the funny feeling you get?

[mishb]

Light headedness or dizzy spells can happen for any number of reasons and not necessarily as a result of WG.

For some it is due to low blood sugars, others anaemia or even an inner or middle ear infection or blockage, or if you take MTX for example, low folate can cause this reaction. Even standing up too fast from a sitting position or lack of sleep......lack of oxygen.
Have they checked your heart, is it beating too fast, do you have high blood pressure ???

Lots of reasons for feeling faint and many more

I know that feeling you get Marylz - it's the uh oh feeling.
I start to see little white starry dots swimming around in the air and a kind of head ache but not really painful.
The painful headache comes after you start feeling good again.

For me, if I have a mint or a barley sugar or a couple of glasses of water, the feeling goes away quicker.

I hope you find the answer Keegan and Marylz and Lisa. I'm sure this added worry is something that you don't need.

[debhaz22]

This (the vertigo) is how this whole WG diagnosis came about for me. 2 years ago I had terrible vertigo, went to ENT's, Neurologists, had a brain scan done...Nothing was showing up. Finally I went to get a hearing test done and the TECHNICIAN asked if I'd ever been tested for Wegener's. I had never heard of it before that moment. She said get in with a Rheumatologist asap and have them check. Almost 2 years from that day I was finally correctly diagnosed with WG at Johns Hopkins. If it wasn't for that technician I don't know when this would have been diagnosed.
Good luck TO YOU AND do not give up!

[LisaT]

I think the uh-oh feeling you describe mishb is like the feeling I described as the world wobbling. Same feeling of headache without the severe pain--yet. I'm going to book to see ENT now that I've got this week's test results out of the way. Thanks for everyone's experiences and advice!

[drz]

Wegs gave me vistibular hypofunction which is loss of the balance mechanism on the side where I also lost all my hearing. This made the world seem unsteady. Vestibular rehab helped me learn to live with it. i still wobble a lot when walking from loss of balance.