› Forums › Dizzy & possible brain mets question
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doragsda.
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- November 17, 2020 at 3:43 pm
Hi everyone,A little update and some additional questions.
Melanoma ex cellular blue nevus, stage 2b. Diagnosed in January. Was on my scalp. Thankfully it seemed to be localized and was surgically removed.
Started feeling dizzy in March. Dizzy spells continued and got worse as the year went on. Constantly dizzy now.
Scans are all clear. (CT and MRI). Been referred to ENT – they’re doing a bunch of tests on 11/30. I did have a VNG which came back as normal, and the dizziness was OK for the day or so after they blew all that hot and cold air in my ears for the test. Not sure if that was just coincidence or not.
I did have an ‘incident’ in 10/8. I took tramadol for back pain, ended up in the ER. Thought I was having a stroke. Almost lost consciousness. I was in bed reading at the time. Felt insanely dizzy, like I never have before. Everything kind of morphed in on itself and pulled to the left. Felt as if my brain kind of morphed in on itself as well. Felt my eyes going back in my head. Fun times. I was just about able to call for my wife and by the time she made it to the room I was “OK” in the sense that I wasn’t losing consciousness anymore, but the dizziness was still there. Went to the ER, CAT scan was fine. They put it down to a mixture of Tramadol & my current dizziness.
I’m really hoping it is just some inner ear thing, but incredibly worried obviously. I’m concerned they’ve missed something. I’m constantly dizzy and feel foggy.
Did anyone with brain mets feel like this? There’s no headaches or pain, foggy and dizzy all the time. It is awful.
Thanks,
sj.
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- November 17, 2020 at 3:45 pm
My CT with contrast in July was fine, had an MRI in August which was fine, and the CAT scan in October after the incident was fine too.Wondering if I should request another MRI or is there another type of scan I should ask for? They seem to think it is vestibular.
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- November 17, 2020 at 9:24 pm
Thank you Cindy. Yeah I don’t have any headaches really ( I do have one right now but I think it’s just from tiredness. Didn’t sleep too well last night. First headache I’ve had in months and it’s not bad at all). No nausea at all either thankfully. Actually since my surgery in November on my nose & then to remove the tumor in January I haven’t had any migraines or headaches at all really. Everything has been fine except for the dizziness. Hopefully it is just vertigo and hopefully the ENT has more ideas. The paranoia in me is worried it is brain mets but the scans are clear. I think I just need to relax lol.
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- November 17, 2020 at 9:16 pm
I’ve never had dizziness with my brain tumor or (Schwannoma) or melanoma met. My last craniotomy flew out my Eustachian tube though and fluid is visible (causing hearing problems) on a CT. I eventually need to have surgery to fix because it can’t maintain pressure snd constantly having my eardrum drained is not sustainable. I think more likely, if you had progression or fluid it would show on a scan. Need,Ed’s to say no one wants to do surgery on me.There are a lot of causes of dizziness in fact, tremodar makes me dizzy. I find a strong dose of Tylenol works better. I bet the ENT will have some ideas.
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- November 17, 2020 at 10:24 pm
Sorry to hear about your symptoms. I have three people who are close to me who experience the same yet none have any association with melanoma nor any other tumors. None are related to each other. The oldest had extensive head trauma but the other two have not. They range in age from 56, 59 and 80. None have migranes nor headaches and for the two younger persons, it is associated mostly with driving. One will not drive on a highway because she experiences this when she is entering or exiting the highway. The other has it occurring when driving next to a truck or being in a fast lane. He experienced a bad case of vertigo about 20 years prior. Luckily the dizziness, although more frequent seems to relieve itself within minutes. The oldest person has it most severe in that it is most frequent, lasts for 3-4 days at a time and although no pain but feels tremendous pressure on the head and face. Her dizziness is not associated with the room spinning but just being unsteady on her feet. All three people are super frustrated with their symptoms. The oldest one has seen extensive medical specialists and undergone many tests without success. She has resorted to naturopathic means and finds that ginger candy sometimes helps. She is also doing some special excercise to help. I described these to possibly alleviate your melanoma connection concern. From my knowledge on the subject, it can also be due to your surgical intervention or other vestibular or neurological issues. Sometimes anxiety has a huge roll in it as well. I came across few articles which you may find of interest and which maybe helpful.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4094744/
https://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/central/migraine/occipital_neuralgia.html
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/15227-vestibular-neuritis
https://www.neurosymptoms.org/dizziness/4594358005
I know this is a lot of information but it maybe of assistance in solving your mystery and hopefully making you feel better.
Melanie
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- November 20, 2020 at 2:14 am
My wife had dizzyness with her melanoma brain mets, but they have to be impinging on specific parts of the brain to cause this, and would almost certainly be visible on a MRI. My wife was actually diagnosed with vertigo, but after it progressing for several weeks and getting to the point where she could not walk, I took her to the ER where they finally did a MRI and saw two brain mets.I think an important clue for you is the dizziness resolved temporarily after they blew out your ears. That certainly sounds vestibular.
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