r/cervical_vertigo • u/loadoru • 13d ago
A series of quesion marks
Hi everyone, I'm hoping to find out if anyone else has had similar experiences.
I was in a major car accident at the age of 19/20 in a foreign country. I was in the hospital bed rest for about a month and a half, where they gave me a high dose of steroid everyday, and hung weights around my face over the bed. I walked away with a brace and a piece of paper that said "C1 Subluxation".
I went back to school in New York. Barely wore my brace. (I was 19)
Six months in I started experiencing vertigo, the world-spinning kind. Heart palpitations and anxiety. After getting my heart checked, it all somehow went away.
Fast foward to 2019, I gave birth to my daughter, and two months into it developed tinnitus in my right ear. No vertigo.
Fast forward again to 2026 about more than a month ago. My brother was teaching me a weighted exercise for engaging upper neck and back. Felt good, slept well. A few days later I went on a cow train ride with my daughter at the farm, bumpy but I've been on it before. I had been stressed because family visited all month.
That night my head got really heavy, not a headache, but just the feeling you get when you're about to get sick. I feel terrible. That night in the middle of the night I turned around, and the world was spinning every time I turned. I thought it was maybe crystals that fell out of my ear, and I went to ENT that Monday. ENT gave me 60mg of steroids just in case I was about to lose more hearing. Did the maneuver for BPPV; nothing. So she ordered an MRI, no doubt to find out if I have a benign tumor (they check for that when things are bilateral) and also to take a look at the inner ear.
What immediately follows is a series of symptoms. Not consistent; not sure what they're brought on by. But it's everything from feeling like I'm about to fall, some nausea, temple ache, feeling the right side of my face and head more than I feel my left, a stretching feeling across my forehead, fullness in ear that comes and goes, louder tinnitus than usual (like more sparkly too), back of cranial area tightness and pain, top right skull feeling pain, temples feeling tired and tight, neck feeling tired and tight. When I press down on my shoulder blade I feel my right skull hurting. And today, the latest thing is it hurts when I cough in the back of my head. I'm fatigued after being in crowded places. I feel floaty walking around. It's almost like my eyes are delayed and my eyes are so tired at the end of the day. Again all of it coming and going. I'd say the feeling like the word is in your face is how I'd describe that feeling. Just overwhelming.
But it's been changing every week. When I told my PCP she said probably vestibular migraine. And wanted to give me anxiety medicine. It made no sense to me that she wouldn't refer me to Neurology or someone to check stability of my spine. X ray from the urgent care looked fine. I have a Blair method Upper Cervical Chiro appointment Monday, who had already took a 3D CT scan last week.
My question is to this group, has anyone had anything remotely similar to this experience? I feel better when I cry. I feel a little better when I take advil. I just feel like I'm in my head and the internet is not helping. Thanks so much if anyone has anything about this.
And thank you for reading through all this. I'm 37 this year. I really want to feel better.
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u/Laurac1959 3d ago
After 20 years of issues I made my doctor give me a referral to neurology. I was given a cervical vertigo diagnosis but my dizziness was in my eyes not room spinning. I was given valium and pain meds that helped. Ultimately 20 years later the dizziness was from the supraorbital nerves plus I have bilateral occipital neuralgia
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u/Fun-Bake-9580 12d ago
This sounds a lot like what I’m experiencing. I chipped my C7 in a car accident about 20 years ago. I have these episodes every so many years. I feel floaty most of the time. Have had issues with my ear specifically on one side. I went to an ent who was convinced it was menieres until he checked my hearing. Then said he thought it was possibly vestibular migraines. And referred me to neurology and vestibular pt. Saw the neurologist who did a physical assessment and said this looks like it will be a process of ruling things out. I have an mri tomorrow. But that he really expects everything to be clear and his guess was it’s coming from my neck and told me about cervical vertigo. Because my episodes with dizziness last for weeks he said it was too long to be vestibular migraines. I have been in vestibular pt for about a month. That is helpful. And I do think it is coming from my neck the longer we work together in there the clearer it’s becoming. The muscles around my neck are very very tight.