Is my vertigo caused by my insomnia/what can I do to fix it and the insomnia?

by Melody
(Arcadia, CA, USA)

I've always been an insomniac but it's only been REALLY bothering me for the past 1-2 years. Honestly, I can't even remember what it feels like to feel rested anymore. It takes me forever to fall asleep and little to wake me up. A lot of times I wake up in the middle of the night and again, it takes SO LONG for me to fall asleep again. Every day I wake up feeling exhausted: my eyes hurt/are tired, I yawn all throughout the day, and I can't fully concentrate in my classes. Not only has it taken a toll on my schooling, but on athletics as well; I ran college track last year and I'm speed skating now--my days are demanding physically and I'm not performing as well because I'm tired all the time.

Now what's not only bothering me and also causing me some worry is my vertigo. It's happened several times in the past 8-10 months and I can't find any explanation other than not being able to sleep well. The vertigos just come out of nowhere; sometimes I’m just looking down and the dizziness just hits me and the world spins rapidly for like 2 seconds. It throws me off balance and I either need to sit down or just stand there and not move. 2-5 minutes pass before I feel okay enough to get up and start moving again. The longest has been 10 minutes. Other times I'm just lying in bed and things just start whirling, which confuses me because I'm not even moving and I'm dizzy! The only way I can describe them is that they're like a "thunderclap"--they come out of NOWHERE and just resonate throughout my body.

I have, I'd say, a pretty good medical history: no high blood pressure, cholesterol, never broken anything, no allergies to anything, no asthma, not diabetic, no history of heart attacks/strokes, no major surgeries...etc. Plus I'm only 19, have been a vegetarian for my whole life, and am physically active 5-7 days a week.

There are no medications I'm currently taking; I used to take valerian in high school, but found that I became too dependent on that for sleep. Also, it stopped working for me after a while and I couldn't sleep even while taking it. There were a couple weeks in February where I took high doses of aspirin and ibuprofen because I badly sprained my wrist and had really terrible shin splints (more specifically, compartment syndrome). But I stopped because it wasn't helping with the pain nor inflammation and I suspected it was giving me some minor stomach bleeding since I found tiny amounts of blood in my stool while taking the pain killers.

I've never smoked and almost never drink alcohol. For the past 12 months I've maybe had like one teacup's worth of alcohol. And most of that would probably be red/white wine--not even beer or vodka or anything of that sort.

I don't believe I have any family history of vertigo or terrible insomnia. In fact, as far as I know, everyone in my family can sleep anytime, anywhere. They're almost like the exact opposite of me.

Treatments I've tried for insomnia are mostly natural ones; drinking warm milk, not going on the computer/watching TV 1 hour before going to bed, no exercising several hours before bed, drinking chamomile tea, eating valerian root, taking high doses of calcium/magnesium, warm baths, and even swapping beds with my parents just to see if a change of environment would help. As for my vertigo, I really don't know how to treat that at all. Help!

Insomnia And Vertigo

Melody, thanks for getting in touch concerning your insomnia and vertigo. It sounds as if you have tried everything bar medication for your insomnia. The only other thing you might find beneficial in this situation is hypnotherapy which might offer a non-medical option for you.

As for the vertigo, it sounds as if you have benign positional vertigo from the description although there are many causes for vertigo. This is a disorder of the inner ear where crystals form in the utricle, part of the inner ear balance mechanism. This can cause dizziness, balance issues, nausea, feeling generally unwell, falls and collapses. It is the cause of dizziness in about 20% of cases under the age of 50 years and 50% over the age of 50 years. It can be treated with anti-nausea drugs and something called the Epley manoeuvre and needs to be administered by a trained doctor or health professional. This is a non-drug treatment, which has a success rate of about 80%.

You have been taking high doses of calcium and magnesium which could have an effect on your inner ear balance mechanism so I would try to avoid this.




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