Vertigo

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gknoepfler

gknoepfler

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Crazy question. I returned 2 weeks ago from three months cruising on my 32' Trawler. Since returning home, I have experienced slight to moderate vertigo, most prevalent in the morning.
Has anyone ever experienced this. I am thinking that 3 months of rocking might have messed up my little crystal thingies in my ear.
Thoughts?
 
I've experienced that, but it cleared up in a day or two on shore.

There are a lot of directions this could take, lots of info on the web about this.

If it persists consider a visit to your doc.
 
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I have had vertigo several times in the last 15 years. It hasn’t been associated with boating though. One time it was so bad I couldn’t walk and was throwing up. The last time was about 6 weeks ago. Doc gave me a prescription for Meclazine (sp) and it worked very well. If I start getting dizzy I just take 1/2 of a pill and it goes away.
 
Not uncommon. Search for BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo) and "Epley" maneuver to help with it.
 
I had it and the doc did some exercise which cured it immediately. Check the web for instructions. It just takes a few minutes
 
What you are experiencing is probably related to a form of sea sickness, the usual timing is vertigo in the evening but you could be that guy who is out there on the standard deviation Z score (translation: a less common response). I'd recommend you check it out with a doc just in case something else is brewing, though the odds are high it is sea sickness, just to be sure.
 
A day on the boat in the washing machine called Galveston Bay on a windy day brought out the same thing in my wife. She went to a specialist and was prescribed some exercises that after a few days cleared it up. Now and then when she starts feeling a little dizzy, she does the exercises (for the crystal thingies in the ear) lol and it clears it up right away.
 
Glen,

During the three month cruise did you happen to bump you head hard? The reason I ask is at times ahead injury may show up several weeks later.

I know because it happened to me.
 
I have experienced just about the opposite, the admiral to a lesser degree. After a summer on and off (mostly off) the boat once it is on the hard and properly blocked and braced, whenever I get on it for cleaning or maintenance for all the world it feels to me like the boat is swaying and shifting. Even one winter when it was in a building on a cement floor it felt unstable. It is well blocked and braced, two or three keel supports and four jack stands per side. Can't get over the feeling that it is moving. By the way, I have had this feeling on several of my various boats done by different yards in different places. It must be me but it is weird.

pete
 
Wow....different issues with different symptoms and there are more out there.


I have been at sea for months and had sea sway upon returning.


I have had vertigo from the "crystals" movement in the ears and it has come and gone, easy to find and cure from the web...... common in turning older.


There are other distinct causes out there...but until you or a doc diagnosis it, no one post is the "right" answer.
 
I've been known to rock in front of home's computer screen after traversing one or two weeks at sea on ships (doesn't include Alaskan voyages).
 
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And I thought it was just me..... after a week or two on the boat I can be laying in bed at home and swear I can feel a gentle rocking. It's never been enough to make me feel quesy or dizzy though. I kind of like it because it reminds me of happy times.

Ken
 
I call it "land sick". I sometimes get it after a long stretch of rough weather then immediately getting off the boat. It has always cleared up quickly except one time after a week long stormy crossing. I was land sick for 3 days. Staggering about like a drunken sailor, seeing rollers move across parking lots and other odd things.
 
Oddly I usually get it in the shower at home after a long stretch on the boat. Goes away after a day or two. Like Ken I kind of like it too, the lingering reminder of good times on the water. But then I like the sound of water slapping on the hull in the v-berth too.
 
Again the different feeling between sea sway and inner ear vertigo is HUGE



I have been underway for over 3 months straight underway in the very South Atlantic, Southern Ocean and Antarctic waters...none known to be calm for long and on a rolly ollt WWII class icebreaker not known for stability



Could hardly walk down a dock. But never seasick in the slightest.


Inner ear crystal movement vertigo....no standing and massive hurling.


2 totally different feelings for me, and I bet most others based on web research.
 
Often occurs with me. After being on the boat for a long time and then going ashore, I can sometimes feel like things sometimes move like still on the water. The is most noticeable when being still (sitting, lying down). Goes away after awhile.

Same thing happens with my job which can involve spending hours per day in moving equipment with no outside reference. After many hours of that, I feel the same thing for awhile after I get on solid ground (i.e. feels like I'm moving when I'm not). Happens to a lot of people I know in my line of work.
 
With the miserable conditions of the sea sailor over hundreds of years, , many had to be impressed .


They would come back after years but were too land sick to get out of town before ending up waking up on a boat again.
 
It might be worth your while to see a neurologist.
Jim Ferry
Lady Sue
 
Had it too, but not so much boat-related. On rare occations when I stoop down, when I stand up, everything is in a slow roll. Severe enough that i have to sit down. Goes away in a few minutes but i feel physically exhausted for a couple hours after. Fortunately, I don't get it often. Doesn't seem to be associated with rough or rolly sea state in my case, but certainly is inner ear related.
 
I experience the same thing after spending a couple months on our sailboat and it lasted for a few months. I was diagnosed with an unusual condition called Mal de debarquement (MDD). Not much is known about it, but it almost always follows an extended time on the water.

No real treatment, but it usually goes away in a few days to weeks, but can occasionally last longer.

Here's some info: https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/mal-de-debarquement/
 
OK, here is the cure.


I was diagnosed with what they called "Rocks in the head". Loose crystals floating around in the ear. went to the dr to learn the Epley maneuver. It worked.....for 6 months. Repeated and again it worked.....for 6 months.



Then one day coming up the concrete steps to the house, with both arms full of grocery bags, I failed to lift one foot high enough to get to the next step. Caught my toe. The next thing to hit the concrete was my forehead. Knocked me unconscious....but I continued to function according to my wife. With no memory of doing this, I got up walked a few steps and went head first into the flower bed. Got up again and walked into the house and sat down in my recliner. At about that time my brain turned back on. Went to the emergency room and they saw nothing in my head, something several people could have told me for FREE.



I have not had vertigo since (two years).



I suggested to the dr that a rubber mallet, judiciously applied to the forehead, might be the cure for the condition.


There is actually a crack in the concrete where my forehead hit !!!!
 
Ken E. said:
Had it too, but not so much boat-related. On rare occations when I stoop down, when I stand up, everything is in a slow roll. Severe enough that i have to sit down. Goes away in a few minutes but i feel physically exhausted for a couple hours after. Fortunately, I don't get it often. Doesn't seem to be associated with rough or rolly sea state in my case, but certainly is inner ear related.
Click to expand...


Might be low blood pressure.
 
kthoennes said:
Oddly I usually get it in the shower at home after a long stretch on the boat. Goes away after a day or two. Like Ken I kind of like it too, the lingering reminder of good times on the water. But then I like the sound of water slapping on the hull in the v-berth too.
Click to expand...

Yup. Us, too. In the shower and most prominently when closing my eyes while washing my hair.
 
Had the same as many, esp. swaying in the shower, but also severe BPPV to the point of vomiting & hot & cold sweating. One thing not mentioned yet is that the amount of salt in the fluid in your inner ear, governs your susceptibility to Verigo (& seasickness).
Reduces salt intake - never had is seriously again, but still minor wobbles every year or so.
 
Yes just a week ago in the Erie Canal I woke up with everything spinning and vomiting. Laying down was fine. Sitting up 45 degrees or so I could hold out maybe a minute before nausea came back. I was hoping to wait it out, that it would pass. Nope. Third day with no improvement went to ER. Vertigo. Got meds for dizziness and nausea. Feeling a little bit better every day.
Also tried the Eply and half somersault exercises with no real relief.
 
Get to an ear specialist (preferably an Otologist) and stop guessing as to the cause. There are too many different causes of similar symptoms. It can be a very minor occurrence or a sign of a more serious problem.
 
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