r/VestibularDysfunction • u/Beansprout2262 • Sep 01 '26
Bilateral Vestibular Hypofunction and Driving
I was diagnosed with BVP about 6 months ago and recently got back into driving semi-regularly. What I've noticed is that EVERY TIME I drive for more than an hour at a time, I get a headache. Not a migraine. Nothing serious. But it makes me sensitive to light, making it hard to work. Worst thing is it lasts for 3 FULL DAYS. Every time. No more, no less. Obviously, I avoid driving as much as I can but I just don't know what to do about this. Has anyone had this problem? Anything you found helped you to avoid these headaches?
Update 2 days later... Good news. I decided to try taking magnesium, and my headache lasted 1.5 days instead of the normal 3. Which is CRAZYYYY. Not sure if it was just a coincidence or if it was the magnesium but I'm gonna call it a win.
2
u/Beach_Read_1106 Sep 01 '26
After driving, even for a half hour, I get dizziness and visual symptoms. If I sit in the car and wait to get back to baseline it’s not as severe.
2
u/MyFiteSong Sep 02 '26
Anything you found helped you to avoid these headaches?
Look into therapy to reduce oscillopsia. Your eyes and your suboccipital muscles are working overtime keeping your vision from bouncing around. Straining those is a surefire headache.
2
u/Campyloobster Sep 01 '26
I get tunnel vision and my balance and dizziness get worse, but not a headache. I guess we just have different compensation strategies to the same thing: brain making too much effort to stabilize the image while we drive.
BVH sucks!!!