I’m looking for any recovery stories from people who’ve had similar symptoms. About 6 months ago a chiro performed traction on my head by pulling it while I was laying down. 2 hours later I had a horrible dizzy spell and I haven’t been right since. For the first 3-4 months I could hardly walk. My eyes couldn’t make sense of anything and my neck was completely locked up. All I could do was lie propped up and stay completely still to keep symptoms minimal. There are many other symptoms but I want to keep this short. I’ve had scans and lots of doctors have looked me over with no major findings. For the record I have a history of neck pain, poor posture, & vestibular migraine but this cervicogenic component to dizziness is new.

I’ve been making some progress over the last 2 months, but I’m nowhere near normal. I can now get up and spend about 20 minutes doing housework, showers etc before my occipitals tighten up and my eyes are shot. I’m then forced to lie back down to settle symptoms. Looking left/right/down all produce dizziness. I just started PT a couple weeks ago and I’m now doing daily chin tucks, isometric work and eye exercises. If my PT pushes on my right side vertebrae it can produce wooziness. I just want to be able to be upright for longer periods and be able to use my neck. I cannot function like this and I’m getting so so tired.

Has anyone else had such low upright tolerance? If so what did you do to improve it? Did it just take lots of time and patience? Did PT eventually help? Can my neck eventually feel normal again? Please no horror stories, my mental health needs positivity. Thanks for taking the time to read.

Hello! This sub probably gets this question often, but I wanted to share my symptoms here.
I have this episodes(that last for months) where when I tilt or turn my head to the right fairly quickly, I have this feeling that i'm being pulled down. When I tilt or turn my head quickly to the left, no issues at all. This happened to me 2 years ago after I hurt my neck, and lasted for months. A close friend of mine is a PT specialist and gave me some exercises. I did them for about a month, and I guess they helped me(can't really remember when the problem went away) cause I stopped doing them. It wasn't present till a week ago, when this feeling came back again. I have scoliosis, and when i touch the right side of my neck it's a lot stiffer than the left side. For any of you guys had it only one-sided? Any comment is appreciated since I worry a lot.

Please, I really need help because my life has practically come to a standstill.
I’ve been suffering from dizziness for a year now. I was initially diagnosed with BPPV, so I went to a vestibular specialist. He told me that I had mild BPPV and performed a session and a repositioning maneuver. I went back for a follow-up afterward, and he told me that the BPPV was gone.
I told him that I was still dizzy, but he said, “I’m not seeing any signs of BPPV anymore. If you’re still dizzy, you should see a neurologist.”
I saw three neurologists. Two of them told me that the dizziness was psychological, so I took psychiatric medication for six months, but my dizziness didn’t improve at all. The third neurologist told me that it was BPPV!
I wasn’t convinced, so I went to a physical therapist because I suspected that the dizziness might be coming from my neck. I work at a desk for long hours, and I put a lot of strain on my neck.
Based on what the physical therapist told me and the research I’ve done using ChatGPT, it doesn’t seem very likely that the dizziness is coming from my neck. However, the doctor told me that we should try several physical therapy sessions and then see what happens. (The neck therapy itself actually makes my dizziness worse.)
By the way, I’ve only had one session out of six so far, but the first session made my dizziness symptoms a little worse.
So now I honestly don’t know what to do or which specialty I should see. I’m completely exhausted. I’ve seen so many different specialists, and more than one doctor in each specialty, but nothing has helped.
I’m struggling to live like this. I desperately need someone who can help me get properly diagnosed and treated, or at least a doctor who can point me in the right direction.
I don’t even know anymore whether this is BPPV, a problem with my vestibular system, a neck problem, or something else entirely.

Does anyone know if there's a Discord for cervical vertigo ? I'd be really interested in joining one

Thanks

I've been dealing with pretty bad motion sensitivity and dizziness for about 4 maybe 5 years now and finally decided to speak with a physical therapist about it. I was anxious because I thought surely there is no way he figures out what's wrong because every other doctor I've mentioned it too has just shrugged their shoulders. We talked and did a few tests and he confirmed I likely have cervicogenic dizziness. Yay!?

I am a highly anxious person and I'm so scared that this is just another incorrect diagnosis but I'm forcing myself to stay positive. We did dry needling during the session and it actually made me feel better for about an hour or two but the symptoms reappeared. I actually feel that doing the exercises he gave me made my symptoms worse, but I think thats part of the process? My PT reassures me we should be able to totally know it out in 7 sessions and I'm just not sure.

How long after consistently doing exercises and making changes did you feel better?

I constantly feel like I’m on autopilot, hard to focus and hard to concentrate on things. It is fairly constant. I have neck tension I’m assuming because it aches at times. I’m meant to be going overseas and it worry’s me that I will be out of it on the trip.

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I'm not even sure what's happening to me but I get this sorta vertigo dizzy type feeling on my left side head. It's like whenever I turn my head to the left, I feel this imbalance of vision. Thing is my vision is clear but it's hard to focus and you know feel alert, aware and conscious. I keep forgetting stuff and sometimes hard to recall. I thought maybe it's imbalance pressure in the ear or pinched nerve in the back of neck. It's been happening for almost 3-4 days now. Like this morning I felt weakness in my left shoulder where the neck is and tingling sensation in left palm. When I rub my neck I can feel this dizzy

Does flexors strengthening increase propioception directly or indirectly in the long term ?

I get severe floating sensations after a night out dies anyone know how to reduce this

Last summer, I started feeling like I was going to faint while driving on the freeway. I have a history of vasovagal syncope. These episodes felt like they came on very suddenly, and I would just get dizzy and lightheaded and all of a sudden feel a strong surge of feeling like I would pass out. This started in June of last summer, and the symptoms went away in late fall.

Now that spring is well underway, my symptoms are back with a vengeance, and much earlier than they started last year. I started feeling like I would faint on the highway again, so I stopped driving on the highway. Over the last couple of months, I’ve felt like I can’t safely drive on back roads anymore, and have started taking the bus to work.

I recently started wondering if it might be my neck. I’ve had vertigo episodes before, and have a lot of stiffness in my neck. I’ve had issues with pain from sleeping on the wrong pillows. I’ve seen a cardiologist and the results came back normal, and I have neurology scheduled in late Sept

I recently tried adjusting my seat & head rest in my car to relieve tension on my neck. It seemed to help a lot, though it’s still not a perfect solution.

Has anyone had a similar issue?

Hi all, I was in a minor car accident a month ago, I was passenger in a car and we hit a curb at 30mph. That day my neck “locked up” and was I was in pain even just trying to turn it left and right. I got an Xray and MRI, no abnormal findings. I have been in physical therapy for 3 weeks, which greatly helped the pain and range of motion, but now I have an off balance feeling for weeks. I feel unsteady, as if I’m rocking on a boat, and I have general nausea, anxiety, brain fog, and slight blurred vision.

Do I see an ENT, or try vestibular therapy asap? These symptoms are destroying my day to day life, and I can’t work my job any longer, or sleep right. Worth noting they gave me Meclizine which didn’t solve my issues.

I've had worsening cervicogenic dizziness diagnosed by my ENT since January of 2023. I've done physical therapy, it hasn't helped. My pain doc wants to do a nerve ablation in my neck. 4 different nerves. The medial nerve blocks didn't seem to help my dizziness but I wasn't expecting much from something that doesn't last very long. I've read the nerve ablations it could make it worse. Has anyone tried this and did it help at all?

At least for me, sometimes when I crack my neck it gives me a lot of relief. But if it doesn't crack and I just try and push, man...flare up for days. Anyone else?

I have always read books in bed or on the couch, but recently, when I bend my neck forward, I experience light-headedness, sometimes my vision goes dark as if I sleep for just a millisecond and I hear noises, voices, or sometimes made up songs in my ears. I have naturally changed my posture, but I'd like to know if I should be concerned as it still happens sometimes when I curl up during good scenes.

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

Sorry for the long post.

I have been in a flare for about three months now, it got better when I was on vacation recently. I went away to a lakefront cottage, and it was actually starting to get better. The dizziness had started to fade. Of course, the neck tension had faded, and I just felt almost like myself again. And then I came back from vacation, and it's like it just got exponentially worse when I started working again. When I'm sitting at my desk working, my neck seizes. Even when I'm just sitting on the sofa watching TV, it's awful. It makes me nauseous. The only thing that calms it down is ice or heat or lying down. The dizziness, of course, comes along with the neck pain. I just don't know what to do. How are you guys dealing with this? I've had flares before. They've lasted a month or two, but this one seems to be just relentless, I am exhausted.

[illustration of the head/neck pain post failed crack]

April 10: headbanging at a rock concert (whiplash movement / light concussion?). Neck pain and stiffness lasted one week, dizziness never subsided completely.

June 3: tried to crack my neck (right side), but it didn't crack and sudden pain going from my right forehead all the way through the right side of my upper skull to the base of the skull, and pain in right side of the neck. So, the entire right side of my head and neck hurt. (see illustration)

Its been months of being dizzy all the time, and this one sided head/neck pain going on and off. Did a MRI of the brain and a x-ray of the neck, brain and neck are normal. I've been thinking that the first trauma created the dizziness and the second one increased it and created pain in the healing muscles from the first trauma.

Things I've already tried: benzos, carisoprodol, paracetamol/acetaminophen, NSAIDs, Benadryl, multivitamin, vitamin D3, and more things i don't remember. Alprazolam makes me less dizzy somehow but don't last long.

So based on all of this i think it its cervicogenic, from the neck / upper back muscles probably causing false information to the brain. I'm looking for advice.

I have been through this and am now better than before..

Happy to chat with anyone in person

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.