Gosh hard to say. Memory of it is all a blur as at some point I slipped into sleep. Iād say at least 30 mins if not several hours.
I do think that one can āover thinkā this - as with most things!! I have pretty much given up trying to find a name for my beast - just trying to concentrate on living with/around it!
Iād suggest you give Dr. Google a rest and get on with the real world, James. I do think that personality has something to do with how we experience thingsā¦if you are inclined to be high strung, I believe the anxiety can intensify your reactions to symptomsā¦and here we go round on the merry-go-roundā¦
My personal opinion is that this is why the calmative meds help. Just try to teach yourself to mellow out and go with the flow - as Mellybob seems to have done. Youāve come a long way, just try to relax let the body heal itself.
Yes, absolutely.
I think I have two contributing personality issues , one is a tendency for anxiety (I used to freak when my sports car got a tiny scratch) and the other is I like to know WHY.
I absolutely now believe that all these changes we are experiencing are natural - you donāt end your old age with a balance system as good as it was when you were 20, and your hearing is unlikely to be as good.
The difference with us lot I believe is that we may have become chronic sufferers from this for possibly two reasons or a combination:
- We have a tendency for anxiety (but stress is good for compensation apparently)
- Weāve experienced a step change or several step changes in our audio-vestibular system. The steps are big enough in combination with our anxiety levels (and step changes will put us on guard) to put the brain into migraine state, so we need to calm things down.
I now strongly believe we should only take enough meds to prevent migraines, but beyond that should expose ourselves to the dizziness and other uncomfortable feelings so that the brain has the chance to work that all out on āourā behalf.
Clearly there may be something else at play here and maybe there is a neurological health element too, but suspect thatās for a small minority.
Iām sure the same goes for tinnitus. A year ago I had terrible tinnitus, and recently its started to get much better - has my hearing gone back to where it was 2 years ago? Probably not, but the brain has compensated and Iām not having to deal with all that useless noise anymore.
I had a bad vertigo attack sitting at my desk at work.*earthquake type" was literall holding onto my desk for a good couple of minutes before my brain reset itself to normal balanceā¦scary stuffā¦
Yes it is scary.
But what if its explained by a natural change in your vestibular system - maybe it was just stretching a bit, or the you moved your head such that the fluid could move into a part which a bit more saggy than it was when you were 20.
These are just sensations in the end of the day. Assuming its just natural āagingā of our vestibular system, its completely benign and nothing to worry about. Until you are used to them its blumin annoying though!
I take heart in knowing that MAV is relatively common, so its probably just reflecting a process which happens in a lot of people.
I find the earthquake type the most frightening - especially when driving!!! So far I have been lucky and been able to pull over, but my biggest fear with all of this is that one day I may not make it to the side of the road!!!
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My biggest drawback is the wanting to know WHY!!! Been a problem for me all my life!!! Otherwise, I have kind of learned to roll with the punches - for the most part.
For the most part, I donāt notice the tinnitus unless I take a moment to ālistenā for it - or when it ramps up a bit - often later in the day. I have even learned to live with the deafness (granted, Iām not in your shoes and understand that you need a better quality of hearing to persue your music and singing), - it is only inconvenient in a crowd or with background noise, and my life is pretty simple.
You are perfectly right about balance deteriorating with age - I see it among my peers, who have no conscious dizziness, but often still tend to lean to one side a little and stumble over things they never did before!
I think that stress comes in many forms and whilst we certainly need a certain amount of stress for a balanced life - sometimes it goes way over the top! Again - I think personality can play a role there.
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Yes, my later career simply had almost perfect ādistilledā stress, bottles of it ā¦ its not healthy at that level.
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im only 37 now your scaring me james and mazzy lol 
Itās clear this crap can strike at almost any age. I think itās about the amount of change in your system and then your reaction to that change, not how āoldā your system is. If that makes sense.
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ive always been a sensitive soul one that would normally do a bruce lee move if someone tried to rock my bubble haha! MAV sucks but it wont beat me,i will win this war
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No worries, Mellybob, youāve got a long way to go to get to my 68 years!! 
I was still partying at your age, and had no problems with liquor and Meniereās! Was hosting a party once (small town - we had to make our own entertainment!), and had a vertigo episode about half an hour before the people arrived. The only way was to lie flat and quiet for the hour or whatever duration, after which I just got up and joined in like it had never happened! You bounce back much better when you are young!!! Fortunately the Meniereās did not cause the CONSTANT āoffā feeling like this MAV thing!!
Just enjoy your life and try to work around it! 
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We are blessed with some wicked people on this board!
Just sayinā
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I didnāt realise you had menieres mazzy I thought you just had MAV,yes we have to learn to live our lives around this rubbish!
The thing Iāve begun to realise is: this is life! Itās just well hidden what marvels our brain does on a daily basis. Itās only when things go a bit awry you realise the basis for the miracle of being able to walk effortlessly on two feet.
It canāt help that when we are young we spend a very big part of the time dancing and skating and jumping and swimming.
When we get a bit older we start to exclude some of these activities for reasons sometimes of safety but often because of changes in social environment and fear too.
Iām not saying Iām going to be a break dancing grandad because obviously some physical limitations occur, but we should be aware just how much time we spend in our youth MOVING and TUNING the vestibular system.
Itās not all about losing the potential to do things. Sometimes we simply arenāt stretching ourselves as much anymore and for far less time.
A vestibular patient who lies in bed will NEVER get comfortable again sadly.
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Yep - started with the vertigo episodes around age 20ā¦and still around to tell the tales!
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oh thatās crap mazzy, have you had any remission periods with no symptoms?
Oh yes. The Meniereās is different in that the episodes, lasting anywhere from 1- 5 or more hours come in āgroupsāā¦lasting several months. Then it seems to go for months or yearsā¦and then itās back. I was free for many years, with just the odd day/week here and thereā¦until Dec. 2015, when it returned with a vengeance. Lasted about 4 months and seemed to goā¦and then it came back totally different with symptoms just like MAVā¦which I had not even heard of at the time! I do think that mine is a branch of the Meneireās treeā¦but it certainly sounds a lot like others here have. Seems to be sleeping for several months now, just rears itās head now and again 
The worst back then was not getting a diagnosis of any kind for about 10 years! By that time I had lost a lot of hearing in the affected ear - and was operated on very quickly āto prevent further deteriorationā of the hearing. However, it didānt stop the symptoms 
Beth did you use Betahistine? Any luck with that? Itās part of the UK health service Meniereās regime.