Dizziness brought on by cycling?

[20130814]

Hi,

I am a 51 year old male... in case relevant. I have had an issue with intermittent dizziness for years, have been to docs, tried prochlorperazine for it and the Epley maneuver but they don't shift it.

I've always enjoyed cycling, but am not doing as many miles as I get older. I used to do about 3000 miles a year in my 20s and 30s but these days I use an exercise bike and outdoors, a gravel bike.

In case relevant, I also have tinnitus, have had it since I was 15 and as I get older, it is getting louder.

I'd been having the dizziness (combined with loud hissing tinnitus which seems louder when the dizziness is worse) a lot this year, then between early September this year and the end of October, I didn't use the gravel bike. Over that time, the dizziness reduced a lot and pretty much went away on its own.

At the end of October I went for a 30 mile ride, of which about half was on rough forestry tracks. I also got very tired as I didn't take any food with me, but did take and use 2 water bottles on the ride.

After that, the dizziness came back again and has been back since then.

I will also try not riding to see if the dizziness goes, then go for a ride but on the road, and see if it comes back, and then maybe do another test and see if the offroad riding on forestry tracks with lots of bumps and vibrations might cause the dizziness to come back.

I realise the cause could be due to 101 things, and I know people on this forum aren't medical professionals, but I am asking here, in case anyone else has experienced anything similar / has a magical fix!

I'm being silly with that last bit - but anyway, just wanted to ask and see...

Thanks

Jim

[Nearholmer]

I’m no medic, but thinking about this from an engineering perspective, I wonder if your orientation sensor and accelerometer (ear!) is faulty.

Riding bumpy trails will be (should be) sloshing the fluid about a lot in your inner ear, all that movement being detected by little hairs ….. if that isn’t working properly, you might be dizzy from the mismatch between what is coming from that sensor, and visual sensor data (what your eyes see). Tinnitus can be a function of damage to the detector hairs in the ear too, so could again point to a problem there.

I should visit a professional diagnostic technician (doctor), if I were you.

PS: I’ve got permanent tinnitus, and heavy exercise can make it worse, by increasing blood flow or pressure I think. I never notice it while cycling, but sometimes do once I stop after a hard ride. That worsening abates as blood flow/pressure etc return to normal, so isn’t long-lasting.

[Jdsk]

I'd also recommend talking to a doctor. There's a few common causes and a lot of rare.

What happens... "dizziness" has several different meanings... do you feel lightheaded, or do surroundings seem to move when they shouldn't?

How long does it last, and does it make you unsafe on the bike?

Jonathan

[20130814]

Thank you for your replies.

The dizziness takes the form of feeling dizzy when I move my eyes from side to side and lasts a short while but comes and goes many times a day.

Once or twice it has been really bad so I can’t drive but that has only happened a couple of times and last time was about 18 months ago.

I can walk and ride normally when it’s happening it leaves me feeling queasy and feeling a bit can’t be bothered with things.

Now sitting at a computer it doesn’t happen unless I move my eyes to the side. When the dizziness comes the tinnitus volumes shifts up and down rapidly in sync with the dizziness coming and going.

I did go to the doc and am waiting to see ENT but there is a nine to ten month wait. I had an MRI scan on my bonce but no issues found.

Thanks again

Jim

[Jdsk]

For the ENT appointment I recommend keeping a diary of your symptoms. And writing down in advance the questions that you'd like to ask. And telling them how important cycling is to you.

Does the computer have an LED screen rather than a tube? And have you experimented with the settings and with the colour and intensity of the background lighting?

Jonathan

[531colin]

Are you wearing glasses, particularly varifocals?

[Cowsham]

Sounds ( sorry in both senses[ whoops sorry again ] of the word ) very much like https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/menier ... 20affected.

[gbnz]

but I am asking here, in case anyone else has experienced anything similar / has a magical fix!

@ 52yr's occasionally feel dizzy, otherwise tend to black periodically out for 14-17Hr's now (Nb. Past 6yr's, periodic absolute seizures).

Magical Fix ?

If you want a ride and consider it safe to do so, have a ride. But it isn't worth broken bones, being paralysed, dead or causing a crash and harming others, so if it seems unsafe, walk home. Have only had several 19-31 mile walks home in past 14 months.

Dr's worth speaking with, but have found it more effective to collate data and rely on one's own judgement, having verified background info from medical type services I.e. scans, blood tests or whatever

[[XAP]Bob]

Where in the country are you?

If you can possibly get to see the right specialist then you can get decent answers, but they aren’t everywhere.

[fastpedaller]

I went through many months of similar. I was told it could be menier's disease, but nobody could explain what that is (only a set of symptoms). I was advised to take 'ant-dizzy' pills, but I maintained I wanted to find what was causing it and thankfully I didn't take them. I had a bad 'attack' of vertigo one night and the paramedics arrived and said 'He's got signs of heart attack' and wired me up. They then said 'No, he's heart is good' (as if I wasn't in the room ). They took me to Hospital and after more heart tests and blood tests they said I was a fit as a fiddle. This carried on, and I told the GP 'I keep getting pains below my left ribs when I have these vertigo attacks'. They just dismissed my observation and said "inner ear".
I didn't doubt something was affecting my left ear (indeed the whole left side of my body seemed to be in tension or something). Because of the gut pains my Wife said " try a Nutritionist" (sp?). As soon as I told the very knowledgeable lady my symptoms she said "Daft lot - I reckon you're lactose intolerance, come off milk straight away!"
She was correct, and explained that although I'd never had a problem with milk, intollerances such as this can come on as we age.
I have (before and since) had allergy tests and it doesn't show up! If I have any milk it affects me and cheese makes me fall over (but Lactofree cheese means I can still enjoy home-made pizzas).
OP - It may be worth eliminating milk for a couple of weeks just to see if it works?
I wish you good luck and good health.
ETA an osteopath, physio and the docs said it could be my neck 'angle' whilst riding, and I responded that I felt ok whilst riding ....... There was a clue here (which I saw with hindsight), as I'd sling a bottle of water on the bike and ride for a couple of hours, so no 'attacks' from food!

[Psamathe]

Been asked if I could contribute to OP’s questions so brief return …
Without diagnosing I’d make the following comments:

1. I’ve a fair guess as to what you will probably be diagnosed with and that means it’s very important to learn as much about it before you see the consultant so you can ask important questions.

2. (Without wanting to be discouraging) many NHS ENT consultants are not good when it comes to balance and dizziness. There is a chance that the hospital NHS ENT department might divert your referral to neurology.

3. If you are on a 9-10 month wait you are doing really well. Of course appointments are allocated on clinical need not first-in first out but by all accounts getting to ENT for balance in that timescale is quick.

4. Balance diagnoses and treatments are complex. My guess is that your consultation will likely just request tests (brain CT or MRI then probably some ear function related tests eg putting an eye position detector over you eyes and putting warm then cold air (sometimes water) into each ear to monitor what happens to your eye movement, hearing tests, eye movement tests.

5. Balance diagnoses can go two ways and aspects eg cause and symptoms. This may sound daft but it’s why I recommend lots of study before your appointment eg if PPPD is diagnosed it’s “useful” as it indicates certain treatments but it doesn’t relate to the cause - it can be caused by a lot of different things. Might be that the cause has been and gone and patient is just left with the PPPD or might be recurring or ongoing cause, etc.

6. Who did your Epley maneuve? Had they actually diagnosed BPPV?

7. To learn more I’d strongly recommend Life on the Level - a specialist balance support group who organise bi-monthly online talks from balance specialists https://www.lifeonthelevel.org. Their online meetings are long (generally 2 hrs) and the non-QA bits where a balance healthcare specialist gives a talk are on youtube - and that’s an amazing resource https://www.youtube.com/@lifeonthelevel2655/videos Group setup and run by sufferers (they don’t even have a bank account)

8. One common question to professionals after those talks (probably on the videos) is “What can you do whilst waiting for NHS?” and they do give an answer as generally, if you don’t have BPPV (symptoms for which are pretty specific) there are exercises you can do that at worst will waste a few minutes each day but at best will help but it’s a long term help - but get that from the video talks not me as medical advice on a forum from anonymous people is not a good idea.

9. Consider joining the above support group (it’s a support group, non-medical no money) as one thing they organise is putting sufferers in contact with others suffering similar symptoms.

10. If you can consider private care then there are some, one in particular excellent consultants available. Whilst seeing probably the best consultant in the UK is very reasonable, they will still need the tests (brain scans, balance tests, etc.) and it’s those tests that get expensive. Probably the reason behinedXAP Bob’s “where in the country” question which I’d ask is can you get to Leicester?

11. Private tests can be far more extensive and thorough than NHS tests.

I don’t like posting any details of any condition I may suffer from on an open forum but if OP has any specific questions or anything best way to contact me is through https://www.cyclechat.net/members/psamathe.126954/ or contact on my personal website. (as I no longer frequent this forum after non-mod posting-police introduce new rules)

Ian

[531colin]

OP hasn’t posted here in a while, we may be talking to ourselves.
I downloaded an NHS leaflet from University Hospital Southampton about Brandt-Daroff exercises for BPPV which is recommended for home treatment… think I found it from NICE website.
However, OP mentions dizziness brought about by moving eyes, this is outside my experience…. nearest I have had is feeling dizzy changing from contact lenses to glasses, because wearing glasses if you move your head while keeping your gaze fixed on one point, the image moves; this doesn’t happen with contacts.

[20130814]

Hi everyone, I am really grateful for all of your helpful and informative replies.

Sorry I haven't replied before now, I'm not on my laptop very often and seem to have disabled email notifications on this forum.

I realise my lack of response looks rude so I am sorry about that.

Re. where I'm based - in mid Cheshire, so Leicester isn't too far away.

I did have an MRI scan and no issues were found, but that's as much as I know as the docs are so busy I maybe made the mistake of assuming the "no issues" note on the NHS App meant all was okay on that front.

The point about milk intolerance was very interesting and is definitely something I can easily test.

>> Who did your Epley maneuve? Had they actually diagnosed BPPV?

A doctor I saw thought it was worth me doing the Epley myself since it would be a long wait to get it done by ENT. The process I followed was as per these instructions:

https://www.uhs.nhs.uk/Media/UHS-websit ... 82-PIL.pdf

The dizzy feelings I have are very fleeting but happen a lot when I move my eyes from side to side, but have only had an impact on walking very rarely (maybe once or twice over the past few years) and then it felt more like proper vertigo when things were spinning, a bit like when I used to drink and had a hangover and the room seemed to be spinning.

I've never had any dizzy episodes while cycling - since this new spell of feeling dizzy started in late October I've not been on the bike at all as I have felt too .... bleugh! I think that's not a technical term

>> Have only had several 19-31 mile walks home in past 14 months.

I'm sorry to hear that - those must have been very very long walks indeed!

Thanks again everyone, you are all very kind!

Jim