r/cervical_vertigo

As the caption says, how long until you were healed after onset? Time in between, undiagnosed included.

TL;DR 53M, neck strain led to a severe one sided headache, then neck/shoulder pain and reduced range of motion, then dizziness and imbalance triggered by head position and fast moving visuals. Ear infection and vascular causes ruled out. Currently on day 3 of a 5 day prednisone burst with no real improvement so far. Curious if anyone's had this pattern, especially minimal response to steroids, and what ended up helping.

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53M. About two weeks ago I did some awkward, sustained neck flexed work fixing a toilet one day, maybe compounded by a bad sleep position the night after. That morning I woke up with a sudden, severe headache in my left temple and eye socket. I almost never get headaches, so this was alarming. NSAIDs did nothing, and it lasted most of the day.

The sharp pain settled into a dull, constant ache spreading into my left neck and shoulder. I've also had two persistent restrictions since day one that haven't budged: limited range of motion tilting my head right, and turning it left. My left ear started feeling full/plugged too, with some muffled hearing.

Then the vestibular stuff started, which is what I'm most curious about. General unsteadiness, most noticeable eyes closed while standing, worse walking. Not true room spinning vertigo, more an off balance, "not grounded" feeling. Fast moving visual scenes on TV also bring on dizziness in a way they never used to.

Also dealing with nausea, reduced appetite, fatigue, a reproducible trigger point between my shoulder blade and spine that radiates up into my neck/skull base, painless crepitus turning my head, and occasional brief jaw pain episodes.

Seen at urgent care and by my PCP, twice. Working diagnosis is cervicalgia with radiculopathy, referred pain and vestibular symptoms from neck tension/nerve irritation. Ear infection and anything vascular ruled out, labs came back normal. Currently on day 3 of a prednisone burst (40mg) to test if inflammation is the driver. So far, no real improvement in pain or either range of motion restriction. Starting PT soon, and have an orthopedic follow up coming where we'll likely discuss a cervical MRI if conservative treatment keeps falling short.

Curious if anyone's had a similar case with minimal response to a prednisone burst and what ended up working or what imaging showed. Also wondering how long it took for dizziness to settle once the neck issue was treated, and if anyone's had this "not grounded" eyes closed imbalance rather than true vertigo.

Appreciate any insight.

i’ve been dealing with chronic vertigo for 16 years at this point, and i’m only 20. i started my episode like 2 days ago and nothing is helping. i’ve been taking medicine as often as i can, hydrating as much as i can, and sleeping as much as i can and nothing works. i’ve had no relief for 16 years. i’m absolutely miserable at this point and i’ve lost myself in this condition. i just don’t feel like im ever taken seriously and i don’t know what to do

This happened 3 times now in the span of a year and was wondering if anyone has had the same thing? Its always ramping neck shoulder and trap tightness and then at the pinnacle of it, suddenly the whole world spins and i experience intense fatigue for about a week and i feel horrible for about a month ish

Has anyone here with vertigo ever been on a cruise?

I know that cruise ships are huge and many people say that you don’t even notice that it’s moving, but I thought that it might be different for someone with vertigo or it might be more noticeable for us.

I’m just curious because i’d love to go on a cruise, but I don’t want to risk getting on and being wobbly and unable to get out of it.

The biggest boat i’ve been on has been a ferry that’s pretty big, but a little under half the size of a cruise ship and even on calm waters i’ve been unsteady.

I feel as though I’m on a boat a lot of days. I can function and do what I need to do but i have this somewhat constant feeling of being drunk/lightheaded without drinking. Honestly I’ve had this feeling on and off for years, sometimes I can go a few weeks and realize I haven’t felt dizzy at all then other times is sort of constant for weeks at a time. I also have pretty sore neck muscles and occipital areas on back of head are sore to the touch. I also get this strange sensation that’s kind of like a violent spinning sensation where I feel I might go down followed by a elevator/rollercoaster drop sensation in my body. It only lasts a split second at the most, and I’m fine after but usually quite anxious about the feeling. The drop thing has only happened a couple times but I’m curious if this is all related to my neck.

so i decided to buy the mackenzie cervical neck roll and tried sleeping with it with my pillow i put the cervical roll inside the pillow case , and then next day I was experiencing emotional calmness i could regulate my emotions and dont snap anymore, and also i woke up and instantly worked deep focus sessions throughout most of the day this is rarely the case for me. I am also a singer and I noticed my throat tightness is much less than usual.

I tried sleeping with a different pillow (a lower) one with the mackenzie cervical roll and the ,next day i did not get the same benefits i could not regulate my emotions and I couldnt get myself to have deep focus work sessions, I also tried sleeping with the same pillow as the beginning but a lower cervical neck pillow but also to no avail i was not getting the same benefits.

So I reverted back to the specific pillow height i tried in the beginning with the mackenzie cervical roll and i woke up again with the benefits so it seems to be a very specific configurations that helped.

Now that I know my brain fog, mood, and voice are directly tied to my upper neck mechanics and sleep airway, which doctor should I go to now to get diagnosis and longterm fix? Has anyone seen a Sleep Medicine doctor, Neurologist, or a McKenzie Physical Therapist for something this specific?

Hello just wondering if someone can tell me if this sounds like cervical vertigo. I’ve been having vertigo since July 6 and it was sudden onset. It was gradually getting better and my ent said it was vestibular neuritis in right ear. I’m supposed to be doing exercises but I haven’t been (I know dumb me, I’m a very bad procrastinator and mom of 3 so I’m a pro at not doing the important things). Well during my period last week I was feeling a bit more again and then this week since Wednesday I was not good. Yesterday was ok at night before bed (I drove a lot yesterday evening btw). This morning I was sitting after morning prayers and decided to stretch my neck by putting ears down to shoulders and then turning down towards floor. Left side was ok but when I did that on right side…😬 probably not a good idea! After that it was bad. I tried to lie down in one room but felt sweaty and uncomfortable. Then I went to my room only my back, ok for a minute as long as I did some breathing but my mind was racing and I couldn’t stop it which made me more anxious and more dizzy (also my maintenance inhaler dulera causes jitters and that was making it worse too). Tried right side but suddenly had to number 2. Went for that and then took blood pressure which was normal, came back to my bed and laid down and Google told me calm myself and tell myself the jitters were just from the meds, to breathe in slo and out slo and longer etc. I kept doing that and pivoting my brain from trying to think negative or distracting thoughts. Finally I was sleepy enough that I fell asleep. (I did contemplate going to emergency but I wanted to tackle this on my own if possible so I could prove to my brain that we can get through it…can’t go to emergency everytime and REALLY DO NOT want to take meclizine! Makes me soooooo sleepy). It’s been about 3 hours and I woke up. I have not stood up or walked around. Kinda scared. Anyway we’ll see but this started when I stretched my neck…I also get tech neck pain which seems to make vertigo feel worse or more present…? Part of me feels like if this happens again I should just go to ER and see if they’ll do all the tests to rule stuff out? 😭this is so difficult.

Can we also weight train when we are having cervical vertigo? Like does strengthening the traps, shoulders etc help or make it worse?

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Almost daily, the back of my head feels heavy when pressure and makes me kinda dizzy with a distant dull ache kinda at the base of my skull. Sometimes feels like an elastic band around my head. I read that hypothyroidism and haschimotos can cause this. I just started my thyroid meds this week as I was just recently diagnosed. Also I had a clear CT scan. Just wondering if anyone else has also experienced this symptom and what helped you.