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Dizziness when bending over - any help appreciated !

Dechi

Senior Member
Messages
1,454
2 days after I saw my doctor, I got a call from the hospital to make an appointment for a brain scan. I got the appointment just 2 days later !

Now I’m a little scared, this is incredibly fast for such an appointment around here. I think my GP might think I had a stroke. She talked about an angiogram but they decided to give me a brain scan. I’ll let you know if they see anything on the scan.
 

Timaca

Senior Member
Messages
792
In the meantime, I would recommend compression *stockings* (not just socks) and either adding more sodium to your diet or using an electrolyte drink.
Do you use compression stockings? If so, what kind and what is your experience with them? I'm considering trying some, or some compression athletic wear....just trying to evaluate what the options are. Thanks for any insight you have!
 

Dechi

Senior Member
Messages
1,454
Did you have the appt today for the brain scan @Dechi? If so, how did it go?! I was thinking of you today and wishing you well :hug:.

Thank you @Gingergrrl ! I did have my appointment but I won’t know anything until I see my doctor next week. If it had been something serious, I suppose my doctor would have called me, or maybe not since she already knows she’ll see me soon. I’ll keep you updated.

In the meantime, I have started taking my blood pressure a few times a day and I have found that it’s already low when I sit, and as soon as I get up, it gets lower. If I stand up for 1 short minute, it gets even worse and when I lie down for only 1 minute, it becomes normal.

Here’s an example :
Sitting : 90/62
Standing 1 minute : 82/63
Lying down 1 minute : 109/70

I had low BP probably all my life and was living fine with it but never to the extent it gets now when I get up. However, in the last two years, I had gained weight and it had gotten higher, in the normal range values. I am slowly losing the weight I gained by eating better, and it seems to have brought on my low BP again. I always had dizziness as a symptom before, but never to this extreme level.

I stopped nimotop, because it is known to lower blood pressure (it never did in the 3 years I took it but I don’t want to take the chance). I also stopped something called « Promensil », made from red clover, that I had started taking recently.
 

Timaca

Senior Member
Messages
792
I wear the full length stockings at home, and when I have to go out (aka to the doctor) I wear the shorter socks. I also wear the toeless kind, which I find to be more comfortable.
Hi Zebra~ What brand do you use?
 
Messages
36
I get dizzy when I bend over but I was told by my doctor that I now have a heart condition linked to my ME so it looks like that is what is causing it. One of the first things my doctor did was arrange for me to have an mri on my neck which didn't show any problems with my neck.
 

lenora

Senior Member
Messages
4,913
I have always had dizziness as one of my main symptoms, but for the past month, it has gotten to the point where I can hardly function.

Every time I bend over, even if only for a few seconds, I get very dizzy and weak. I can’t go out of the house anymore and I have no care taker so I am getting really scared.

I had been tested for dysautonomia 2 years ago and the test showed mild neurally mediated hypotention. Now I feel it has gotten a lot worse and I plan to get tested again in the hopes they can offer medication. But this will take months. My doctor is a regular GP just and has no clue what to do with me. I‘m seeing her in two weeks and would like to ask for specific help but I don’t know what.

Any ideas you have will be appreciated as I am getting desperate and wondering how I can live like this for long.

Hi Dechi.....I would like you to know that I have a friend who also suffer from extreme dizzines. It started one day when she bent over to pick up a file. She immediately went to a neurolgist, was given the usual tests plus an MRI which showed.....exactly nothing! It seems that she has a case of dizziness, no known cause, and it's something she has to live with. Life is a bit dangerous for her. First off, she's 73 and lives alone, will sometimes get up at night to go the bathroom and even though she's up against the wall to get there, will sometimes fall. Nothing can be done, although the neurologist thinks it may pass in time.

There are all sorts of things that can go wrong in the body, especially as we get older. I know that you're of the younger set, but that's still no guarantee that things don't happen.

In your place, I would definitely see a neurologist. If you have to have a referral, ask for one. If you feel that you're letting your GP down, don't feel that way....they understand and, to be quite frank, I'm surprised that she didn't recommend one for you herself. You'll still use her as your GP but, as you get older, I would definitely look for an Internist that you can get along with easily....they and your neurolgist will be the two most important people in your world. Neurologiy doesn't always mean the worst thing in the world, many a small illness responsible for great suffering has been discovered by one. If you're in a small place, you may have to travel to a larger city....there are often places where you can stay overnight for a free or lower fee, but you must ask about them. Never, but never hang up the phone without getting another phone no. to call. It requires great tenacity to work through the health field of today (to a certain extent, it always has).

An MRI should clear this up and your energy spent worrying can go into other things. Sometimes meds can help, it may take time to find the correct one, but good health is worth it. You want a check-up (and out) by a neurolgoist, followed by an MRI. I say "followed" b/c sometimes they're hampered by insurance cos. You should have an MRI with and without contrast. Hopefully, he'll order one of the brain and the entire spine for you and any other problems can also be ruled out. If you have a problem with anxiety, please tell either his office or the doctor upfront. There is plenty of help for it. You'll learn how to navigate the medical system as you get older....this is just to get you started. May you have better health. Yours, Lenora.
 

Dechi

Senior Member
Messages
1,454
Update : I had the brain scan results and they were normal. After a while I returned to my baseline, so I suppose it was a crash from having spent Christmas away from home. Although I had other health problems after that, at least the OI was nore under control.

This episode lasted 4-6 weeks.
 

lenora

Senior Member
Messages
4,913
Hi, @Dechi.

I'm sorry this is happening to you. I've been through this as well.

In your post you mentioned you have mild neurally mediated hypotension and that you'd like to have follow up testing, since it's clearly worsened.

In the meantime, I would recommend compression *stockings* (not just socks) and either adding more sodium to your diet or using an electrolyte drink.

Here is a link to Dysautonomia International that endorses a particular electrolyte beverage and recommends the appropriate compression stockings strength.

http://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/page.php?ID=36

I sometimes remember to gently lower myself (like a dancer's plie) rather than bend over or at least grab a hold of something solid before bending over. Easier said than done, I know. ;-)

Best wishes,
Z

Hi Zebra....That's a help to me about the electrolyte drinks. May I ask you for the name of them...I am low on sodium, have to have blood work every 2 wks. (for that and other problems) and dang, I hate those compression stockings & I have Congestive Heart Failure, so need them. Thanks....Yours, Lenora.