Hello. I am reaching out to the community to see if anyone has found any relief for VM prior to their diagnosis? I won’t bore you with the symptoms, as it seems typical VM. My appointment isn’t for another 3 weeks. I can manage the discomfort during the day but when I lie down to sleep, wowser!
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Janet from Canada
Is your GP/local doctor open to you trying say Amitriptyline to see if that helps? It’s a pretty common medicine and well known.
There is no scientific test that confirms for sure you have MAV so if you have the symptom spectrum I would see whether this is ok with them.
Amitriptyline is prescribed for more than just MAV, indeed any kind of vertigo. Show your doctor this web page:
Thank you. I am trying to see my GP before my ENT appointment but she is very busy as well…I am calling every morning to see if there are any cancellations. If there are, I will surely show her this. She is very responsive.
Thanks again
No problem. Yeah we have the same issue here. I remember a time when you could see the GP same day.
She may be more comfortable giving you Stemetil in the meantime but I don’t think Amitriptyline is significantly more risky, both are vestibular suppressants.
Good luck!
Thanks again. Has anyone had success with sleeping pills (OTC)? I’m hitting my rock bottom! I may just camp out at my GP’s office until she sees me! 
Amitriptyline is your friend again for sleep assistance. :). But yeah, sorry, not OTC.
Thanks again.
Janet
Omega 3 fish oils help, going for walks and exercising when you feel restless or extra “funk” that day helps tremendously, distracting yourself and turning the “what if” switch off always helps as well. We are all here for the same reason and getting hit by a MAV truck definitely sucks. However, know that giving yourself time to heal, time to rest and reflect, and building yourself up is always best. Good luck and I hope you can find some relief soon 
-Kelsey
Thanks Kelsey. I am very active (cycling is easy and doesn’t cause any issues). I’m a pretty positive person, no other health issues. I do take omega 3 and magnesium. Just an awful waiting game until my appointment.
If you have any neck muscle tightness/pain, I recommend a moist heating pad at bedtime. NOT the kind you plug in (in case you fall asleep!) but one that can be microwaved and it cools down on its own. Mine has tiny beads in it and can wrap around my neck nicely, especially for side sleep. It relaxes the muscles and heat seems to generally make me tired as well.
Thanks so much Jess. I will try that.
keep active during the day - even if it’s only minor activity, like cleaning the house, or tidying up, or going for short walks. give yourself a list of tasks to do, within reason that you can actually do depending on your current state.
give yourself a certain time during the day to do CONSTRUCTIVE research or thinking about your condition. and the rest of the day - do something else.
Anything containing Valerian does help you sleep - tea or tablets. it’s a traditional herbal remedy. but if you take a lot it may make you feel woozy or even dizzy the next day, so i stick with teas. any herbal teas for calm/relaxation are good.
I tried melatonin, but found it to be not really more effective than herbal teas, and with more side effects. (note - all medicines seem to have dizziness, anxiety and nausea as side-effects when you are suffering from dizziness, anxiety and nausea!!)
meditation - get a free meditiation app on your phone or find something on youtube, get the headphones on, and…b r e a t h e… there are lots of free resources out there. some of them really helped me a lot when i thought i would never sleep again.
give yourself a list of good habits and bad habits:
bad habits might be googling your symptoms at bedtime - don’t do it!
good habits might be reading a funny book or listening to something funny in the evening - even if you can’t quite bring yourself to laugh, it prevents you from getting anxious or gloomy.
gentle exercise is good - stretches, that kind of thing. like DIY yoga.
breathing exercises/diaphragm breathing is good during the day too.
PS i don’t know if you have bad tinnitus, but when mine was bad, for some reason i found it much easier to sleep on my side than on my back (which seemed to make it worse).
Thank you so much for your kind response. I am all over most of this already but will look into the Valerian! Two and a half weeks to my appointment!!!
Cheers!
@JayBee Hi there. If it is worse when you lie down then Stemetil/Prochloperazine might help you if your GP is willing to prescribe it. I know this has already been suggested. I take it as a ‘rescue’ medication if I suddenly feel more dizzy than usual. My mum has the problem of vertigo when she turns over lying down and she thinks Stemetil is really good. It also makes you tired (well, it makes me tired).
Thanks Sarah for the reinforcement on the Stemetil. I’m calling my GP every day in case of a cancellation.
Janet
Janet, have you asked a local pharmacist? NewbieChris mentioned Travel Calm tablets aka “Hyoscine Hydrobromide” might help.
Btw I was dizzy mostly on but occasionally off for 6 months before I hit the drugs. It was the increasing frequency of vestibular attacks that convinced my neurologists to prescribe a prophylactic. I think they sometimes like to see how you get on with non medical approaches such as stress management first. Unfortunately my case escalated.
Thanks James. Alas that isn’t otc in Canada 
. I can handle the rocking when I lie down, but it’s the stabbing pins and needles and "whirring"in my head that continues on for a good hour or two. I’m a very active woman who started feeling a little dizzy after walking 10k last July and thought I just needed to eat a bit more. Then I started getting this little pins and needles in very tiny spots for short periods of time. Then I had Bppv and everyone thought what I was feeling was just the “hangover”. A couple more BPPV’s and it’s May and getting worse…then I start to get referrals to specialists. My first ENT appointment was scheduled for 6 months away!!! But I was able to change that to 2 weeks from now. And neurologist in September. Headaches. Tight cap on my head. Feeling that my face is frozen. Pins and needles. Ear pinching. All different intensities and not all the time. Although there is something going on all the time!! And the constant rocking feeling. The one great thing is no nausea.
For that I am grateful…just like I am grateful for this forum.
Thanks again.
Janet
Oh gosh the rocking! I’m glad to say that has gone. For now. I hope.
Hang in there it will make itself at home then eventually leave!