Dizzy62: in the US cetirizine is branded as “Zyrtec” and “Reactine”. It is actually meant against hay fever and other allergies. But it has (at least for me) an off label use against vertigo. It blocks the H1 receptors against histamine which can irritate the vestibular system. It has been on the market for decades already without having done any harm to anybody, so by now they sell it OTC in pharmacies. You’d just have to try it. If it should help you then you might check your diet very closely for things containing a lot of histamine. If it doesn’t help you … well, then histamine is not your problem.
About taking a shower: at home I have only a small and narrow shower stall and this is always very uncomfortable, particulary when bending my head. However, if I take an outdoor shower, let’s say at a beach or at an outdoor pool I’m doing just fine. You might want to try this if you have a chance and compare.
My doctor who is a long standing specialist for vertigo (he’s part of a European research group) told me that they believe that if the vestibular system is a bit like a computer that has to process very rapidly a lot of data: visual impressions, auditive impression, movements of all sorts and if this “computer” gets into “overload”, then it creates “discomfort” to signal that it can’t handle it anymore. Which can result in vertigo, nausea, sinking feeling, feeling of weakness, anxiety, etc.
You can overload any given healthy person with stroboscopic lights, rollercoasters, noises, etc. if you just expose the person to enough of it. People like us are (for yet unkown reasons) very sensitive and our threshold for overload is rather low. He said it’s just a theory and they have nothing to prove it, but I thinks it is most likely to be that way.
I always hated flickering lights or any kind of rapid rhythmic back-and-forth-movements, but before it just caused annoyance. Eventually it caused vertigo. I always hated crowded places, for example busy airports. I had always thought this was more a psychological thing. But by now I believe that it imposes a big workload on the vest. system, because you have tons and tons of movements hitting the eye nerve. So many people who approach you, move away from you, cross your path and all that in all sorts of different directions and speeds. The brain needs to “calculate” all that to figure out what it “means” for you. Slow down, stop ? Make an evasive move to the left ? To the right ? Any danger ? With those tons of people very hard work. Then, add all the noise to that, all the voices and noises coming from all sides, you probably know what I mean.
And yes: vertigo definetely creates anxiety. It makes you extremely unsecure. It crushes your self-esteem. It makes you over sensitive to any sign of discomfort, it makes you extremely vigilant. And when you can’t find a cure or even just a diagnosis over a longer period you eventually become desperate and depressed.
So, my best recommendations for you are to try Zyrtec or Reactine. For me it takes a couple of hours to have an effect. So, I usually take it as a precaution in the morning when I expect a “difficult” day, for example when using an aiport.
Also try Dramanine again when in an acute state of vertigo/swaying. For me after about 30-60 minutes it brings a very noticeably relief.
See what happens and go from there. If this doesn’t help, then you might have to go deeper and try things like Topamax, Gabapentin and the like. But at first I would try the “softer” things.
Best regards
Frank