Dizzy Blonde
That sounds like I’m about to make a blonde joke, but no, I’m not a fan. Instead, it is an issue that I have been having recently. When my cousin and I flew to France in early/mid September, I had zero jet lag. Neither one of us were able to sleep on the plane, other than a quick doze for maybe 1/2 hour or so. So we left on the afternoon of the 9th, and arrived in the late afternoon of the 10th (we had a layover in Paris before flying on to Nice.) If you followed along in my October posts about my trip, you know that I had an amazing time, and suffered zero jet lag. What a relief. The first time I went to Europe, on my honeymoon in 1993, I had horrible jet lag. So it was lovely to not suffer.
I was not so lucky when I came home. Again, we were unable to sleep. We got home from the airport at about 5pm, showered, and had dinner. We went to bed a little early, but nothing out of the ordinary. What followed was a week of not sleeping. I would fall asleep OK, stay asleep for perhaps 2 hours, and then awaken, and I was unable to go back to sleep. It was miserable.
About a week after coming home, Maya and I were out walking with Mulder on Sunday morning, when suddenly I felt off balance. Not light headed or dizzy (so the title of my post is not entirely accurate), not like I was going to faint, but rather that the world was tilting, or perhaps the ground wasn’t entirely stable under my feet. Maya had my hold her arm for a bit, but eventually we decided it would be better if we called Ted and had him come pick us up.
The following day or two were OK, but then that Wednesday I felt worse again. It was bad enough that I called my doctor, and I was able to get in to see her within a couple of hours. She did a bunch of tests to see if I had had a stroke or anything, which thankfully were negative. She suggested that it might be jet lag and due to my lack of sleep, and suggested that I start taking a benadryl before bed. She said if it wasn’t better in a week or two, to call her back. So I borrowed a cane from a neighbor, so I could walk Mulder in the mornings without fear of falling. I never actually needed it, but it did give me a good feeling of security, and I enjoyed the experience of shaking it in the air at a guy who blew through a red light, turning right and looking only to his left at oncoming traffic, not right to see if there might be a pedestrian. I had the walk sign. I enjoyed that, though he was so focused I’m not sure he saw me, holing it over my head and yelling, like I imagine my Grandma would have done.
Fast forward several more weeks, and it’s a little better, but still not great. I don’t need the cane anymore to feel secure, but I’m not thrilled that I am still sometimes feeling off. So I called my doctor, and she referred me to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. Of course, the few days before that appointment, I felt almost back to normal, but decided it might be best to keep it anyway. Off I went, and he did some more tests to determine what the issue might be. He surmised that it is likely in fact still a bit of jet lag. He said that there are times when your brain kind of forgets how to balance quite right, and you need to retrain it. So he gave me some simple exercises to do, and told me to take some flonase in the mornings. He said it could be related to the occasional migraines that I get, though I haven’t had one in ages. But for me, those are related to my sinuses, so that seems related. He said to try that, continue with the benedryl, do the exercises, and if it doesn’t get better in a few weeks, give him a call and he would send me off to a neurologist or for an MRI. That was almost 2 weeks ago, and it does seem to be helping. I have very few moments of dizziness now, and I suspect I will not need to see another doctor for this. Fingers crossed.
He joked with me that the lesson to be learned in all of this was, “Don’t go to France.” I replied, “No, the lesson is, ‘Stay in France!'”
18 Comments
Stephany
Medical mysteries are so frustrating, especially when you have to go to multiple doctors and nobody really knows how to help you. I hope this next doctor can offer better insight to what’s going on. At least it doesn’t seem to be a serious issue, but what a frustrating experience.
J
In my experience, doctors often just guess, try one thing, if it works they’re done, if it doesn’t, they try something else. It’s not the exact science that I would have expected, to be sure. I have an autoimmune disease, and the treatment is try this, try that, try something else. Frustrating if you grew up thinking doctors really know what they’re doing.
San
First of all, I am really glad that it seems to be nothing serious… but how unsettling to have these bouts of “dizziness” (for lack of a better word) and not know what is causing it. I’ve never heard something like that being related to “jetlag”.
I mean, I do know the feeling when you get off the plane and the ground seems to be “moving” for a little while. But I am assuming, that’s not it… and usually that wouldn’t last that long.
I do hope that this feeling goes away, but yeah, I agree with Stephany – how frustrating to go to a doctor and they can’t really tell you what’s causing this.
J
San, I agree, I have never heard of this before either. Who knows if the doctor is right or not, or if it’s related to migraine or jet lag or what. Frustrating, but I’m glad it’s getting better, to be sure!
Margaret
Stay in France is the perfect message! I have found jet lag much worse coming back west than going east. (don’t know where you are, but I’m in the PacNW so FAR away from France) This seems like a long time for jet lag to last; however, the body is a complex system and one thing can throw a bunch of other systems off. Hope it’s completely gone soon!
J
Thank you Margaret, yes, that’s pretty much what the ENT said…complicated system, all thrown off. I also live on the west coast (NorCal) so yeah, long way from France.
Melissa
I get vertigo (the spinning head) every couple of months and have done it for 20 years now. Usually, it comes on at night, and I have to stay in bed until it passes (usually within the day, and then I’ll feel hungover for a couple of days). They’ve said mine is benign positional vertigo and is due to calcium deposits in the ears. It could be disruptive when the kids were younger because I couldn’t drive, and if my husband were away travelling, I’d have to call someone to help me. There are some exercises I can do to help it settle down more quickly, but before doing them, I need to take anti-nausea tablets. Once I got out of bed and didn’t realise I had it and ended up on the opposite side of the room from what I intended because I couldn’t walk in a straight line. I had to crawl back into bed. My mum got it once and hers settled down and rarely comes back (sometimes she gets a flare up if she flies) so hopefully that will be your experience too.
J
Melissa, one of my coworkers has that, and it sounds horrible. She goes to physical therapy for it I think. That was one of the things the ENT tested me for.
Meike
The vertigo thing sounds awful. My former colleague had it after a viral infection and she also got some exercises to do but the main message was wait it out. If it’s jetlag related at least there is hope that it will go away again soon? We visit family in Germany every year and I have jetlag every time at least one way. I am glad the kids are older now. It was worse when they were little and would wake up at 2aam and ready for playtime. Now they entertain themselves.
J
Meike, I am not glad that happened, but if it had to, I’m glad it happened here and didn’t ruin my trip!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Ah I feel you. The sleepless nights. The migraines the dizziness. I have those sometimes when I have a migraine. My neurologist also said that a migraine attack is there even the headache is missing. The other symptoms like vision blurry or dizziness. so maybe have a closer look. Maybe that jet leg triggered some migraines.
Hope you feel better soon. And if not that the source can be found rather quickly.
J
Tobia, yeah, those are the type of migraines I get. I never have a headache, no pain, but my vision gets blurry and wavy, and if I don’t take a pill (Excedrin migraine works for me) and lie down in a dark room, I get very nauseous.
Elisabeth
This sounds like such a tough combo – not sleeping well and dizziness. I’m so glad things seem to be improving, but I’m relieved to hear you’re keeping a close eye on things.
I always find jet lag far worse coming home, but it seems odd to have it last quite this long. That said, I had a huge issue with the time change last November. It started me off on 2 months of horrible insomnia – so little changes/shifts in sleep etc, can have a lasting impact.
Praying things continue to resolve naturally and that your medical team is able to support/direct you on appropriate next steps.
As you point out: moving to France sounds like the best solution!
J
I am very surprised that they say it is likely related to jet lag, because, like you, I feel like it should be gone by now, especially as I am sleeping fine. But as Margaret said, our bodies are a complex system, and if things go out of whack, it can take awhile to get back to normal. I’ve been to Europe 3 times now. The first time I had jet lag really bad going there, it made the first couple of days pretty rough. The second time, I don’t remember if I had it, so if I did at least it wasn’t memorable. This time is a doozy!
Ally Bean
I do like your conclusion about staying in France. Of course now that you’re back here, I’m sorry to read about your vertigo. I’m not good with jet lag so I feel for you, but to also have an unbalanced feeling? That is scary. I take Flonase and Benadryl during allergy season here and didn’t know they could be used for other purposes. Now I do.
It’s weird how out-of-sync a person can get and then have to deal with. Always a surprise. Am hoping every day you feel more steady and that all you need is a little time to right yourself.
J
Thanks Ally, that is definitely my hope as well!
nance
I get this! For me, it’s like I’m on a boat, and once in a while, I have to hurry up and sit down because I feel as if I may faint. Is that what it’s like for you? My neurologist says it’s likely part of a migraine process for me, and tied into barometric pressure. Once in a while it’s accompanied by an episode of fatigue, but not always.
It’s awful. I know how you feel. But I love the visual of you shaking your cane.
J
Nance, yes, that is just how it is! Sorry that you have this too. It does feel like it’s related to barometric pressure. I still wonder if it’s connected (for me) to jet lag, or coincidence?
Thank you for noting the cane thing. That was a highlight of this whole thing, and it made me laugh to do it. Sadly, the cane went back to our neighbor yesterday. Sigh.