dizzy and scared

[Shobha]

Hello,

Last night, I suddenly woke up feeling dizzy. Again this morning, I am feeling a little dizzy. This has me very worried.

Have any of you brave ladies ever had dizzy spells that did NOT turn out to be brain mets??

Needless to say, I will be calling my Onc and asking for a Brain MRI asap!

Love and Hope to all!

shobha

[Hopeful]

Shoba,

An article that came out last week may be of some comfort to you:

http://news.bioscholar.com/2011/03/breast-cancer-survivors-more-likely-to-fall.html

"The study findings also suggest that the balance problems may have been related to changes in the vestibular system that were associated with chemotherapy treatment."

Best of luck to you,

Hopeful

[Darlene Denise]

Hopeful, I do have brain mets, however, before they were dx I experienced sudden bouts of positional vertigo. It was determined that it was caused by vestibular damage. I have a slight loss of hearing in that ear now as well. The vertigo still occurs if I lay a particular way or look straight up. My ENT doc thinks the culprit is the carboplatin in particular.

Hope this is something unrelated to brain mets and wish you well.

Stay strong...Darlene

[Shobha]

Thank you, Hopeful and Darlene! I too experienced balance problem about a year ago - it lasted for about one week and then went away completely. But, the dizziness I felt last night has got be really concerned now. Even now, I feel like I am walking around balancing a big pumpkin on my head.

Praying hard that it is just a chemo side effect and nothing more...

[BonnieR]

Before cancer, and after, I have had bouts of vertigo. Especially when lying down. It can be alarming. Please have your dizziness checked out asap but remember that just because we have cancer, we are not immune to other problems. So try not to be scared until further notice. Keep the faith

[Sheila]

I too have had this a few times...each time they call it positional vertigo...it just happens out of no where. I have had brain MRI's to make sure, so it's a good thing to check...I keep Antivert (Rx) on hand now, so if I get it, I take it right away, and it goes away. There is nothing worse in my book, than being dizzy...and also scary....glad you are getting it checked....sending good vibes and prayers your way that it is just "vertigo"

[Shobha]

Thank you Bonnie and Sheila! It is such a relief to know there are causes other than cancer that can make a cancer survivor dizzy - I know this logically but it so calming to hear this from you.

I have schedule the brain MRI for Tuesday - Please pray that it is clean and this dizziness is only due to some other benign condition!

Love and Hope to all,
shobha

[bejuce]

Hi Shobha,

I'm sorry you've been feeling dizzy. I have a gut feeling you'll be just fine. And if it's any consolation, the young women in my support group who were diagnosed with brain meta recently all had migraines or blurred vision symptoms before their diagnosis.

I'll be praying hard for you.

[tricia keegan]

Hi Shoba, just wanted to send good wishes for your mri and hope all results are good!

[fauxgypsy]

This is interesting to me in several ways. I have been dizzy several times and it felt like vertigo, it went away quicker, though. I did have several months of carboplatin. Bonnie, it would be nice if we could be immune to other problems. Sometimes it seems that every new symptom has to be related to cancer. Shobha, let us know how your test turns out. I have been considering asking about a brain MRI. It has been a while and the dizziness and occasional blurred vision are worrying me.

[Trish]

Hoping all will be well with your MRI, Shobha, but I am very glad you are getting it done so rapidly. Looking forward to hearing about the results,
Trish

[Chelee]

I was getting dizzy every time I layed down...especially when I turned on my left side. Then when I would roll over to get out of bed I would see the ceiling moving really fast. Another time I got up out of bed and lost all balance and felt like I was going down hill. I actually couldn't stop myself from going forward rather quickly until I slammed into the wall. (That hurt!) I was scared to death as you can imagine. I had a brain MRI and all was fine. Went to see my Primary doc and found out it was positional vertigo. It's gone now and hasn't come back. Here's hoping you too have positional vertigo. Good luck on Tues., I'll be keeping you in my prayers.

Chelee

[Lien]

I've had dizzy spells for years. Mostly in Spring, because that's when the pollen counts go through the roof here in the Netherlands. They come and go, and nobody ever found a cause. Except for the allergy link. But there's no way to prove this is causing my problems.

Menopause can be accompanied by dizzy spells, and another known cause is small particles in your inner ear. Repositioning your head in a certain way can clear the problem if the latter is causing your problem.

I know it's very hard not to panic once we've had a cancer diagnosis, and I fully understand why your first thought would be that the cancer is back. But it probably isn't.

Hope you get your diagnosis asap and that it is something treatable and totally, utterly, completely benign.

Love

Jacqueline

[suzan w]

Mine turned out to be vertigo...it comes and goes. Let us know how your tests turn out!!

[Shobha]

Thank you all :-). My brain MRI came back clean! My Onc. (bless her) called me last night and let me know that it was just fine.

For me, these three days were very difficult, and only thing that kept me grounded were all the posts above which filled me with calm and hope! I really can't express how much your responses mean to me.

On Friday night when I felt the first dizzy spell, I spent half the night worrying about the future of my two kids (8 and 6 now). If only they find a good/cheap and above all reliable way to detect it.I am so grateful that it turned out to be nothing. Thank you, God.

As Sheila suggested, I am going to keep AntiVert handy now because more than likely this is positional vertigo.

Love and Hope to all!
shobha

[tricia keegan]

I'm so pleased for you Shoba!!!:)

[Chelee]

Shobha,
That is wonderful news. I can feel your relief all the way over here. lol You can bet you just have a case of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV). If it gets to bad to where it really bothers you, see your doctor and they can do what they call the Epley maneuver that will can get rid of this problem. In fact if you google this you can even learn to do this at home. It works because I've tried it.

Anyway...I am just thrilled for you. Always nice to hear good news.

Chelee

[Elizabethtx]

Fantastic news! Hugs those kids and enjoy each day with them.

[Trish]

Great. Thanks for letting us know the good news.
Trish

[BonnieR]

Fauxgypsy, I didn't recognize you with hair! Looking good! I agree with you, it seems to me that if we have cancer we should be given a pass from other ailments. First of all, they scare us to death, and secondly, we deserve a break!

[Mary L]

So glad for the good report!!! Mary L

[schoolteacher]

Shoba, so glad to hear your good news.

Amelia

[bejuce]

Hi Shoba!

I'm soooo happy for you!!! I was thinking of you the whole weekend and kept checking the site on Wednesday until I saw your post. I was so relieved!

Sorry you had to spend a miserable weekend thinking of all the what if's. It's very tough to go through this disease when we have little ones. We want to be there for them for a long time, and any little pain or symptom that we feel throws us in a mind loop that is hard to get out of sometimes. But please know that we're here for each other - we understand what you're going through and feel it with you.

Here's hoping for a beautiful Spring, Summer, and many years ahead symptom free!

xoxo
Marcia

[Jackie07]

Shoba,

Glad to hear the good news. Perhaps Hopeful's posting could be the answer:

http://news.bioscholar.com/2011/03/b...y-to-fall.html (http://news.bioscholar.com/2011/03/breast-cancer-survivors-more-likely-to-fall.html)

"The study findings also suggest that the balance problems may have been related to changes in the vestibular system that were associated with chemotherapy treatment."

[Barbara2]

That's great, Shoba...so happy for you. Good news brings unexplainable relief...have a great spring/summer!

[Shobha]

Thank you, everyone! Really, there is no one else you can understand the insanity we go through over every little ache and pain. Of course, the other side of the coin is when my friends or my husband tell me that it is probably nothing, I just don't find the relief from their words. But, one post from one of you, and I am suddenly much more calm :-)

Marcia - how are you doing? Thanks so much for the wishes and prayers! Wishing you a healthy and fun filled year ahead too! We should try to meet one of these days...

Love and Hope to all,
shobha

[krisvell]

Shobha;
Who Hoo! The best news yet. I am so happy for you.
Kris....