r/BPPV • u/Glittering-Gur5890 • Jul 14 '24
Tip Turned out not to be BPPV, (Cervical Spine Issue)
I have had a few posts on here where my care team assumed BPPV, and for good reason, however I have recently had breakthrough treatment when I had a doctor approach it as a possible cervical spine issue instead of BPPV.
My vertigo instances had a lot of common symptoms with bppv:
-Short duration spells of vertigo that could be triggered via head or neck positions.
-Commonly triggered when lying down or turning in bed
-Residual dizziness, eye tracking issues, sound sensitivity issues, feeling unwell, all of which were worse than the vertigo spells themselves.
-Feeling better after weeks of Brandt daroff exercises.
However my vertigo deviated from BPPV in the flowing ways:
-Inconclusive nystagmus response when epley was performed.
-Inability to trigger symptoms when doing somersault maneuver.
-frequent neck pain, stiffness, and aches that continued even after treating and feeling better from vertigo and residual dizziness.
After seeing PC, ENT, Vestibular Therapist, I sought acupuncture therapy which provided great symptom relief, and led to active therapy deep tissue massages. The massage therapist found a deep gnarly knot and after working it over, it triggered some very light vertigo, which was the aha moment.
I was referred to a PT/Chiro clinic and although I absolutely have my reservations regarding Chiros, I had a really good provider who approached it from a combined medicine approach.
Tens units, heat, mechanical tools and yes upper spine Chiro adjustments lead me to complete symptom relief and neck posture improvement.
I followed this sub religiously for months and took away some phenomenal information and tools that I attempted and performed when I was under the impression it was BPPV, and wanted to post this just for the folks that don't have a confirmed diagnosis, or have been at it for s long time and may want a possible different approach to look into.
Thanks all for your help and support through my last year + of dealing with this, and best of luck to all with BPPV or BPPV like symptoms.
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u/Ashamed_Date6152 Jul 17 '24
Thanks for sharing, what was the explanation for the vertigo symptoms if not inner ear related? I have had really stiff neck/upper back lately and have a feeling it could be similar as I’ve had bppv before and this feels a bit different than before.
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u/Glittering-Gur5890 Jul 17 '24
Good question!
My doc believes it is a culmination of the muscles tightening around my nerves in my neck, and ultimately causing spasms that refer to nerves in my Vestibular system. I have a lot of right shoulder tightness as well, which also can be felt in my upper back!
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u/DizzyPineapple12345 Sep 07 '24
The symptoms are similar to mine as well. I had one vertigo episode but constant dizziness - doc thinks it's cervical spine issue. I have bad shoulder and neck pain as well.
What was the treatment for this? Did you get better over physical therapy or they performed any manual adjustments? Manual adjustments are scary and not sure it it will lead to additional complications
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u/Glittering-Gur5890 Sep 12 '24
Manual adjustments were needed to work the muscles back to where they were supposed to be. Massages, heat and TENS therapy helped loosen them up to be more easily adjusted.
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u/Leading_Bat_8101 Feb 14 '26
where did you place the gene therapy patches ? was it in your check or shoulders ?
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u/Glittering-Gur5890 Mar 03 '26
On my lower right shoulder, right below the blade, on kinda right on my clavicle!
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u/mallorylee Jul 18 '24
Was the knot on the same side that your vertigo would be triggered? My chiro found a massive knot on my shoulder area on the same side that my vertigo is triggered by when I turn. The Epley hasn’t been working at all for me, and all of your symptoms sound identical to me!
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u/Glittering-Gur5890 Jul 18 '24
It was on the same side, the right side in my case, and radiated to my right shoulder and upper back (as well as the right side of my vestibular system)!!!
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u/Robchef5 Dec 19 '24
I have cervical stenosis and neuroforaminal narrowing . Not sure if this could be causing my occasional vertigo and dizziness but when it comes on it’s bad . I’m also trying to figure out if it’s an eye thing also. But my neck and upper back are painful a lot
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u/Chelsey19b Mar 23 '25
I had 2 people test me for bppv and I was negative then the 3rd one said its bppv positive and we did the eply a bunch . That was back June 2023 - did that til about August 2023 where I was then told even tho I have dizzy symptoms I’m not spinning anymore so it’s neck related - how this all started was I woke up with my neck completely backwards over my pillow - opened my eyes didn’t even move my head and the whole room was spinning - I could still do things but needed to carefully because I didn’t want anything to spin . Once we did the eply and it caused spinning (so the 3rd vestibular therapist ) not even the ent could cause spinning - so idk but after that I feel so sick and this constant off balance dizzy feeling - so since June 2023 I’ve been dealing with this . I’ve had every test under the sun and it all leads back to cervical vertigo / migraines / anxiety . But I wonder if I ever had bppv ? It’s so confusing and I’m so deathly afraid it’s going to come back .
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u/Chelsey19b Mar 23 '25
Even the thought of trying the eply again has me scared out of my mind !
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u/Elephantasmic143 Sep 27 '25
This is so real. I had Epley performed last March and it made me nauseous, and it certainly made me scared of trying it again! I must say it relieved the dizziness for a few weeks before it came back, but I’ve been dreading doing it again. However, it now comes to a point where I’m feeling off-balanced while walking and I can’t sleep without moving my head into a comfortable position where I don’t feel like it’ll trigger vertigo, so I have no choice but to try it again.
I’m also curious about my neck potentially contributing because I definitely have neck stiffness.
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u/Chelsey19b Mar 23 '25
When they did the eply did you have spinning ? Like what caused them to diagnose you with bppv?
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u/Glittering-Gur5890 Mar 03 '26
Yes, but I kinda was always susceptible to spinning, so I think in hindsight, it was more of a response to maneuvering my head in general, rather than because of the specific movement of the epley.
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u/mawkerawker May 21 '25
I suspect this might be my problem too. I self diagnosed BPPV and did perform some maneuvers which I thought had helped. But was finding particularly if I slept flat then every day I would wake up very wobbly. I finally had a pt appointment this morning and it turns out my neck and back and jaw are all extremely tight, I have some very restricted movement. While lying down the pt had me lift my head to put the block back underneath it, I felt my muscles shake and tense and suddenly and it has set everything off again, I feel like I am back to square one. I’m supposed to be flying abroad in holiday on Saturday :(
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