A Symptom Of Migraine And Its Comorbidities
Fatigue is common in many other conditions besides migraine. Some of the more common conditions that have fatigue as a symptom are fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, multiple sclerosis, depression, and sleep apnea. I myself suffer from a couple of these conditions along with migraine disease. Its no wonder why so many of us suffer from fatigue when it is so prevalent with these migraine comorbidities. I am an inquisitive person by nature and I like to read all sorts of studies and research papers on the things that I am experiencing. I recall a study I read on fatigue and it said something like 70% of people that experience headaches have fatigue as a symptom and of those 80% suffer from chronic migraine.
Dizziness And Vertigo May Be Side Effects From Medication
So many drugs can cause dizzy spells that there are too many to even list, says Whitman. That said, high doses of blood pressure medication can cause dizziness, especially in older adults and in people who have started a dose thats too high for them,” says Whitman. “In my dizziness clinic, I tend to start people on ultra-low doses of medication. Sometimes, less is more.”
Check to see if any drugs youre taking may include dizziness, vertigo, or loss of balance as possible side effects by speaking with your pharmacist or physician. A careful review of medication lists, and looking for opportunities to decrease dosages, can sometimes yield surprising benefits, Whitman adds. Dont think that you shouldnt take a medication just because dizziness could be a potential side effect. Most people dont experience the side effects a drug may cause.
Sudden Or Severe Abdominal Pain
The big worries: Sudden abdominal pain could signal that an aortic aneurysm a bulge that develops in the aorta, frequently in the abdominal area has ruptured. If the aneurysm ruptures, the pain tends to be sudden and severe and typically centralized around the belly button, says Richard Desi, M.D., a gastroenterologist with Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. Alternatively, sudden pain can indicate a perforated viscus , often due to an ulcer. Intestinal ischemia, which happens when blood flow to the intestines slows or stops, starving tissues of oxygen, can be a culprit, too. Its more common in older, sicker patients who have heart failure or atrial fibrillation, says Brian Putka, M.D., a gastroenterologist with the Cleveland Clinic. Each of these conditions is life threatening, requiring emergency surgery.
Not all heart attacks are alike
Did you know that you can have a heart attack without feeling any chest pain? Heart failure and heart disease dont show the same signs for everyone, especially women.
The heart is a muscle that contracts to pump blood throughout the body. A heart attack occurs when the heart muscle doesnt get enough blood. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle. When there isnt enough blood flowing to your heart muscle, the affected part can get damaged or die. This is dangerous and sometimes deadly.
There are many risk factors that contribute to having a heart attack, including:
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Chest Pain Under Strain Get It Checked Out
In older white males, we know chest pain may be a sign of heart attack. But we havent gotten that same sort of education with women, Baechler says. Women fear breast cancer more than heart disease, but they are more likely to have heart disease. In fact, heart disease is the No.1 killer of women in America today, causing more deaths than all types of cancer combined.
If you lift something and have chest pain that youve never had before, get it checked out. You should also see your doctor about any new chest pain when you walk upstairs or exert yourself in some way. This is particularly important if the pain goes away after a short period of rest. Women are more likely than men to have atypical symptoms of a heart attack: shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, extreme fatigue, a cold sweat, or pain in the arms, back, neck, or stomach, Baechler says. Get these, and any of the more traditional symptoms, checked out.
Why Should You Care
Even survivors with mild initial symptoms can have persistent symptoms that last for a month or more after infection with COVID-19.
Top 5 Symptoms of Long COVID
If you are experiencing lingering symptoms after being infected with COVID, or you feel worse or develop any new symptoms, you should contact your healthcare provider. The American Lung Association has also launched a Long COVID online community to offer additional support.
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Demographics Of Cohort 1
Gender and ages were not significantly different between the CFS and HC groups within each cohort after Bonferroni corrections . Cohort 1 was younger than Cohort 2. Shortness of breath was present in 56% of CFS and 12% of HC in Cohort 1. The queries accounted for 0.63 of the expected variance in the MRC Score. CFS had significantly higher MRC Scores than HC . The frequency distribution for MRC Scores showed that over 80% of HC had scores of zero. The 95th percentile was 2 on the 5 point scale. MRC Scores were zero for 35% of CFS subjects, then between 10% and 20% for each score of 1 and higher. The Cohort 1 receiver operator curve indicated high specificities but low sensitivities for all scores. Optimum sensitivity and specificity were found with a MRC Score of 1 . When the 95th percentile for the HC group was used, a score of 2 gave sensitivity of 54% and specificity of 97%. Positive MRC Scores were defined as 2 and greater.
Walking: Abnormal Gait In Me/cfs
For more than 20 years, researchers have been studying the walking pattern, or gait, of people with ME/CFS. They’ve found several abnormalities. According to a study published in the Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation, differences between people with ME/CFS and healthy people include:
- Slower walking speed
- More time spent on the foot during steps
- Fewer steps per minute
- Smaller swinging movements in the hips, knees, and ankles
Earlier research had noted that gait abnormalities started right away, and thus weren’t the result of those with ME/CFS getting worn out quickly.
But how do these gait issues relate to balance? Certainly, it’s possible for the way you walk to throw it off. However, it’s not clear whether gait issues contribute to balance problems. In fact, some researchers have hypothesized that gait abnormalities could be caused by poor balance, possibly due to irregularities in how the brain controls the muscles or other neurological abnormalities.
Also, a 2016 study in Clinical Biomechanics suggests that gait issues may be directly tied to the inability to maintain balance when first starting to walk. Still, we don’t know what the cause-and-effect relationship is between gait and balance. It’ll take more research to know for sure how they impact each other.
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Treatment For Mnire’s Disease
There’s no cure for Ménière’s disease, but medicine can help control vertigo, nausea and vomiting.
The 2 medicines usually recommended by GPs are:
- prochlorperazine, which helps relieve severe nausea and vomiting
- antihistamines, which help relieve mild nausea, vomiting and vertigo
The aim is to get the medicine into your body as soon as possible, at the first sign of symptoms.
You may also need treatment for:
- loss of balance
Distress is common in people with Ménière’s disease, as it’s a difficult and unpredictable condition.
A GP can offer advice and support if you’re finding it difficult to cope with the effect Ménière’s disease is having on your life.
You may be offered:
- relaxation therapy including breathing techniques and yoga
There are also support groups and organisations, such as the Ménière’s Society, that can provide help and advice.
After A Heart Attack: Why Am I So Tired
In this exclusive excerpt from A Womans Guide to Living With Heart Disease by Carolyn Thomas, author of the award-winning blog Heart Sisters, Thomas explains how fatigue took her by surpriseand how she learned to cope.
For my whole life BHA , I can hardly remember feeling real fatigue. Oh, sure, Id feel sore after working long sweaty days on our fruit farm as a teenager. Or sleepy after pulling all-nighters in college. Or out-of-my-mind exhausted trying to cope with a colicky infant and a teething toddler as a young mom. Or tired at the end of a stressful day juggling last-minute deadlines throughout my public relations career. Or maybe even pleasantly achy after my running group finished our long Sundaymorning training runs.
But generally speaking, on a day-to-day basis, Id never felt the kind of severe fatigue I experienced AHA . I wasnt expecting that fatigue like this was heading my way. I wasnt simply exhausted, I was becoming quite distressed by all of this exhaustion. What was wrong with me? Why wasnt I able to pull up my socks and just feel normal again?
Heart-Healthy TipYour heart deserves a specialist. Just as a cancer diagnosis results in a referral to an oncologist, someone diagnosed with advanced heart failure also needs a specialist.
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Dizziness With Chest Pains
Suffering from chest pains alone is serious and when theyâre accompanied by dizziness there may be something very wrong. I say this because these two symptoms mixed together almost always means there is something wrong with your heart and could mean you areâor will soon beâsuffering from a heart attack.
If you experience dizziness mixed with chest pains and shortness of breath you should seek medical attention immediately.
Heart attacks can be fatal, but if caught quickly enough they can usually be treated. Time is certainly of the essence in this rather serious medical emergency so donât delay if these symptoms are something you are experiencing.
What Kind Of Physical Therapy Works To Reduce Vertigo
It’s called vestibular rehabilitation, and it is a relatively new form of physical therapy. Not all physical therapists are trained in the practice. Typically the exercises consist of movements that initially make the vertigo worse and balance tasks that are quite difficult. By doing these repetitively, the balance system in the brain learns to function better. Common exercises include moving the eyes from side to side, rotating the head from side to side, rotating the head from side to side while walking down a corridor, and things like this.
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Further Information About Vestibular Migraine
Please contact us for further information about vestibular migraine or to chat with a member of our team. Further information about vestibular migraine is also available at vestibularmigraine.co.uk .
If you have found our information helpful, why not become a member. As well as supporting our work, we’ll keep you informed about the latest management/treatment options for vestibular disorders and what research is taking place. Find out more about membership.
If membership isnt for you, please consider making a donation towards our work so we can continue supporting people affected by endolymphatic hydrops and other vestibular disorders, as well as funding vital research into these conditions. Donate Now!
Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is a group of symptoms that occur when your blood doesn’t circulate properly, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Doctors don’t totally understand the condition or why it happens, but they know that when a person with POTS stands upright, more blood collects in their lower body, causing the heart to beat faster to pump blood up to the brain.
Some people with POTS describe it as having sudden fatigue attacks, while others say it’s like having waves of sudden extreme fatigue and nausea or extreme fatigue “out of nowhere.” It can present differently depending on the person, but other symptoms might include:
- Feeling lightheaded or dizzy when standing, or fainting
- Nausea and vomiting
- Muscle cramps or muscle pain
- Headaches
- Feeling shaky
- Sweating a lot
POTS tends to run in families, and there’s a link between POTS and having highly mobile joints , per Johns Hopkins Medicine. If you think you have it, see your doctor, who can run a test and make a diagnosis.
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms
Although she followed her diet strictly, she still felt tired. Then in 1998, five years after her initial diagnosis with chronic fatiguesyndrome, the dizziness started.
“I have constant dizziness,” Jones says. “When I look at things, everything is always moving.”
Jones sometimes has dizzy spells that are worse than others where she feels off balance and has to grab onto something. Her symptoms are sporadic in that she often can go a few days without feeling severely dizzy, but then experiences several dizzy spells in a short amount of time.
“With chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms come and go,” Jones says. “I also have muscle aches, headaches, sore throats, and TMJ to name a few,” she said. “I sleep with a night guard to help prevent my jaw from locking while I sleep, although it still happens from time to time. My teeth will ache, and I even went a whole year unable to chew on one side of my mouth.”
Another symptom of chronic fatigue syndrome that plagues Jones is sleep disturbance. She often wakes up during the night for no reason on an average of 15 to 20 times and can remain awake for hours at a time. She underwent a sleep study to find out the cause, but was unable to come up with an answer. It still takes her at least an hour to fall asleep at night.
Jones also experiences problems with her joints and has elbow pain as well as pain in her thumb joints and knee joints. Her list of symptoms goes on to include
- temporary memory loss,
- lightheadedness.
How Big A Problem Is This
Because there is no agreed definition of post-COVID fatigue, it is impossible to give exact numbers of how many people experience it.
Estimates vary considerably worldwide. One review of 21 studies found 13-33% of people were fatigued 16-20 weeks after their symptoms started. This is a worryingly widespread problem.
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Fatigue During Prodrome And Postdrome
As part of a migraine cycle, I almost always experience extreme fatigue symptoms. It presents itself like an energy-sucking beast that just wont let go. It seems as if my knuckles are dragging on the floor and the total body exhaustion keeps me from anything close to normal functioning. I often feel the effects of fatigue in the prodrome and postdrome phases of an attack. I guess I dont notice it as much during the aura or pain phase of an attack because I am preoccupied with other aspects of the event. During an attack, it is hard for me to stay focused on more than one main thing at a time, and most of my concentration gets thrown into my self-care routine and getting the medication I need to help ease the attack.
Surgical Procedures For Meniere’s Disease
If the incidences of vertigo are not controlled by medications, surgery may be recommended. Surgical procedures can eliminate the frequent spells of vertigo that occur in Meniere’s disease however, no surgery has been found to improve the hearing loss.
The decision about which operation depends on the patient’s age and health, medical condition, and hearing status.
Endolymphatic sac, or shunt, surgery strives to decompress the inner ear fluid by making an incision in the endolymphatic sac. The procedure is safe, and the recovery is usually quick. In our experience, endolympahtic sac surgery has a rate of cure of vertigo of about 70 percent and a risk of hearing loss of about 5 percent.
Vestibular nerve section is a highly effective operation that relieves vertigo attacks while preserving the hearing. In this operation, the balance nerve is isolated under the microscope and cut. The operation provides excellent relief in most patients, with minimal side effects.
Vestibular nerve section is performed through an incision behind the ear. The balance nerve is identified as it travels between the ear and the brain. Under the microscope, the balance fibers are separated from the hearing nerve fibers and are cut.
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Pots: A Little Known Cause Of Extreme Fatigue
Everyone knows what being tired feels like at the end of a long day. But some people experience fatigue so severe and so seemingly random that its hard to describe. If that sounds familiar, there could be more going on than daily stress.
While there are many causes of fatigue, one of them is frequently missed and misdiagnosed: postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome . Physical medicine and neuromuscular specialist Tae Chung, M.D., answers questions about POTS and extreme fatigue as one of its symptoms.
Upper Cervical Chiropractic And Vertigo
As a result, it has been postulated that the upper cervical misalignment gradually causes a lesion to form on the Eustachian tube. This tube is responsible for draining fluid from the ear. Thus, fluid is retained in one ear, and the one-sided symptoms of Menieres begin to occur. Since it takes years for this process to happen, doctors and patients alike rarely connect the present symptoms to the past injury.
Upper cervical chiropractors use gentle and precise adjustments to correct misalignments of the top vertebra of the spine, which happens to be in very close proximity to the ears. With this misalignment corrected, the body has the chance to heal, and symptoms that are related to the injury may clear up over time.
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