Dizziness over last 18 months

I’m afraid I have no experience PinkCosmos, but wanted to wish you and your husband well and to bump the thread in the hope that someone knowledgeable will come along.

Could also be related to heart block, basically an electrical problem in the heart. I have partial heart block, will probably need a pace maker in the future and sometimes I feel dizzy. It will show up on an ECG but doesn't affect BP as far as I know.

Thanks both. Hoping that the doctor will send him for more tests

I hope it goes well. It could be stress related.

I had this last year. My Dr was brilliant. First visit to him he took an ECG, saw something, phoned A&E to expect me.
Long story short. When I saw him after it was all over ( including MRI) I asked him why he had acted with such speed.
His answer: you could have had a brain mass. I didn’t.
With respect to OP I think your Dr could do better.

Has the GP done any blood tests? I suffer regularly with dizzy spells particularly when my underactive thyroid is playing up or my B12 has gone low. Have they checked for those or iron deficiency?

Hello PinkCosmos
Sorry to hear you DH is going through dizziness, it’s not a nice thing to suffer, I’ve suffered with Ménière's for a few years now, comes and goes. Have a read of the symptoms, and maybe mention it to your GP. I hope your DH get the answers to his health concerns soon. Take care & good luck.

if it were me i would try to see a different doctor next time.

My husband developed a diagnosed condition called labyrinthitis which causes dizziness and and is ear related.Linked to balance within the inner ear.It can also cause sickness.He was prescribed tablets to ease the symptoms.
Best wishes hope you find a solution.

My auntie suffered from vertigo. That made her feel dizzy.
I think the possible brain mass and possible heart problems need investigating.
I agree that the doctor could do better.

It’s possibly Ménière’s disease, I’ve suffered with this for over twenty years.
Meds are Betahistine 3x daily which seems to keep it at bay except if I have sinus or head cold problems, I then take Prochloperazine for the nausea/sickness.. not pleasant at all .
I do practice the Epley manoeuvre which helps to move the build up of crystals in the inner ear ..
Hope your husband gets a diagnosis soon .

A doctor is obviously the first person to see when one suffers from dizziness. Yours does not seem to have been that helpful, which is sad. I would check eyesight and ears. Ear crystals can cause problems which are often resolved using the Epley Manoeuvre, ( a series of head movements). I was told to make sure I drank enough water and my Blood Pressure tablet strength was checked. Meniere's is something quite different !

I had this some years ago, straight to mri scan, that led to 10 years of treatment. yes your doctor should do more. ask him or her to do a scan

I have had dizziness for years and falling a lot due to balance. I had an mri scan and found to have small vessel disease
Which I had never heard of anyway the dizziness was caused through high blood pressure I’m also on statins and blood thinners. I’m 79 so I think it is an age thing but have to exercise as well any exercises to keep the blood flowing. I hope this might help .

A couple of years ago I was having falls and am a bit wobbly anyway as bad coordination. They did all the blood tests and put me on iron supplements. I also had cataracts removed from both eyes which helped. I'm 78 and arthritic so very creaky but do walk daily. Not had falls since,thank goodness. My mum had Alzheimers for the last 10 years of her life but that was until age 99. I worry about that but although my memory for things and even words now and then is bad I am hoping I'm not there yet I swim daily too as apparently exercise helps the brain stay younger as well as the body.

Has he had his vitamin D checked?

Dizziness is a common symptom of vitamin D deficiency, along with fatigue and brain fog. If you are feeling dizzy all the time, it is worth checking your vitamin D levels.

Pink Cosmos - first of all stay off Dr Google!! While it may have a few nuggets of verifiable and solid information, there’s more mis-information and falsehoods and quack stuff posted by companies and charlatans wanting you to buy their useless stuff. Do not open any links!

Reading that stuff just makes people crazier and more worried and confused. Stick with your Doctor and follow their advice.

From personal experience I have vertigo, my dizziness is not blood pressure related.

I second what Gundy says... STAY AWAY FROM DR GOOGLE!!!
Get the eye test, go with him to the GP.. he might just not be comminicating well with the GP.
The fact that your husband basically disregarded the advice the last time speaks volumes!
And please stop scriptwriting, that helps no-one and will just add to the problem.

A lot of personal experience here. This could very well be BPV, which is where the crystals in your ear get dislodged and they have to be moved back with various manoeuvers. This is something a GP can easily do and he can do it himself. If you look up the Epley manoeuvre And establish whether he is having the symptoms, BPV vertigo is when your head in a certain position either to the left or the right dependent which ear and everything spins. When it’s observed by professional, they will see something called a nystagmus , which is where the eyes sort of judder - it can be connected to other physical issues or just something that comes and goes, but a GP or an osteopath or physio can diagnose it or rule it out. It is one of the worst horrible discombobulating things to live with so tell him to get back to the GP or find another professional- it could be other things within the ear and dizziness can be a symptom all sorts of things, but there are specific types of dizziness which you they attribute to specific conditions.

Suggesting that your husband has his eyes tested is a good idea, as dizziness can certainly be caused by wearing glasses of the wrong strength or not wearing them if you need them, or not being able to adjust to bifocal lenses.

Some forms of flu leave you with dizzy spells too, as do lots of ear problems.

The doctor may well want you along too, not because she knows very well that a wife is more likely to remember when exactly her husband developed any symptom rather than the man himself doing so.

Are you going to tell her that your DH didn't bother doing the exercises or taking the medicine as prescribed, or try to insist the DH admits this? One of you should mention it.

Stress can certainly cause dizzyness and memory loss.

If the doctor suspected something really serious she would have sent your husband for tests the first time she saw him, so please don't wory about her wanting you there too.

After eighteen months your poor husband really needs to get to the bottom of this.
Hasn’t he been referred to an ENT consultant as a first step?

A few hospitals up and down the country have specialist balance clinics with clinicians and consultants who specialise in balance and vertigo problems and, as there are diagnostic machines in the clinic, they are more likely to be able to unearth the problem.

There is likely to be quite a wait on the NHS so your husband might be prepared to be seen privately. It shouldn’t be too expensive. I wish him luck.

Another cause of dizzyness/lightheaded feeling is atrial fibrillation. It can be intermittent so won't show up when at GP. However, if a person has been having dizzy spells for a while, he should be referred for tests, not just prescribed medication which may not be correct unless cause has been identified.

I have a friend with long standing dizziness problems. She has been under investigation for two years with eye tests, hearing tests, hospital tests. They found a lesion on a brain scan, which couldnt be identified so decided to monitor it annually. The monitoring happened a couple of weeks back and they have decided it was caused by a mini stroke several years ago. She is now on anti-stroke meds, statins and a regime of walking for half an hour a day, plus balance exercises.

It could be this or it might be that. GP should have a guess, not Gransnet!