Recovery is possible

My dizziness started after a mountain bike accident — I broke a few ribs, vertebrae T1 and T2, tore my shoulder ligament (acromioclavicular), and “bruised” my lung.

I had vertigo daily for a few months (could barely move in my bed without triggering it), had trouble walking around the block without puking, couldn’t watch TV, etc… and afterwards I was still very sensitive to any movements and visual triggers but without vertigo, I had only dizziness, nausea, excessive sweating, imbalance, unsteadiness, pulsating head sensation, and sometimes migraine visual aura without any pain…

Imaging exams found nothing, VNG showed vertical nystagmus, heart/eyes/ear/hearing/blood exams all normal, etc…

Looking down at the cellphone/laptop would make me dizzy/nauseous after a couple minutes, but I could use it for hours if I kept it at eye level and sited straight… — at least I was able to work and read…

SNRI made my symptoms worse; SSRI didn’t work… couldn’t tolerate vestibular rehabilitation (and it made me feel bad for a whole week every time I tried it).

Neck, trapezius, occipital, and temporal muscles were really tight… pressing the muscle knots would trigger headaches and nausea…

I ended up doing a bunch of different things that I think helped to reduce my symptoms:

  • a bunch of doctor appointments and exams to ensure I didn’t have any life threatening conditions
  • read more than 100 academic papers about dizziness
  • trigger point injection (corticosteroid) directly into the biggest muscle knot in my neck
  • muscle relaxers (20mg cyclobenzaprine daily)
  • Flunarizine (10mg daily)
  • physiotherapy for my neck, back and jaw muscles, with someone who is specialized in treating dizziness/bruxism/tinnitus.
  • daily exercises: started with short walks and progressed until it didn’t make me dizzy anymore, then I did the same thing running, then mountain biking, etc…
  • playing video game for few minutes a few days per week just to get my brain used again with visual stimulus.
  • took the free healing chronic dizziness course by The Steady Coach
  • watched a bunch of videos on “The Steady Coach” and “Pain Free You” YouTube channels which really helped
  • listened to a bunch of interviews with people who recovered
  • applied a bunch of techniques from Pain Reprocessing Therapy
  • learned a lot about Neuroplastic Symptoms
  • theraphy with someone who is specialized in trauma (there are no pain reprocessing therapy providers where I live, but it’s similar enough)
  • breathing exercises (specially “parasympathetic breathing” and “buteyko breathing”)
  • autogenic training
  • etc

It was a slow process, full of ups and downs along the way, but now I’m able to exercise most days of the week (run, bike, swim, play tennis, gym) feeling just some moderate nausea, which gets better a few minutes after I stop... and many things that used to trigger my symptoms 1yr ago doesn’t trigger it anymore.

It’s been almost 1yr since I stopped taking medication, and I kept improving.

I believe I’ll be 100% cured soon.

Don’t give up! You’ll eventually figure out what works for you.