What to bring up to a doctor?
Hello!
Backstory:
- My family has a long history of vertigo. Women in my family typically get ocular migraines while men typically suffer from dizziness and tunnel vision. I am a transgender man on HRT, and when I began HRT in 2019 my ocular migraines became vestibular migraines instead (got my first dizzy spell around 2020-2021, lasted for 2 weeks, lost like 15 pounds because I could barely eat the whole time). Obviously there is some sort of hormonal relationship here related to estrogen and testosterone.
- No one in my family has been able to find effective treatment.
- My dizzy spells pair with a nystagmus where my eyes drift to the right and I am constantly having to "reset" them. It is exhausting and I spend a lot of my dizzy spells either with my eyes closed or being asleep.
- My dizzy spells are impossible for me to predict and I have no idea how long they will last. There is no precursor event I can identify. There is no "trigger food" or change in pressure, and there is no correlation with when I have been taking my testosterone (I take it once every two weeks, and have also gone through periods where I cannot obtain my testosterone and therefore do not have it for 2+ months, none of which have correlated with a dizzy spell). It is also not stress related, as I had a pretty severe episode of stress in September that did not correspond with any dizziness.
- Meclizine and dramamine have both been ineffective. The epley maneuver is occasionally effective, but has been losing its effect on my dizziness over time. At first it was very effective, but now I can't seem to notice a difference before and after performing the maneuver.
- My vertigo seems to be happening more and more frequently over the last year or so. I am having to call out of work more often, which is extremely frustrating. They used to happen maybe twice a year, but they have been happening closer to monthly now.
- I have brought all of this up to my doctor, and she is recommending that I go to a neurologist as she has no recommendations on her end that she can give me.
Does anyone have any recommendations as to what I should bring up to a doctor, what other types of doctors might be effective for me to go to, or any other information at all that they could share with me?
u/Rhet0r1cally — 20 hours ago