I often see people say “I can’t have Vestibular Migraine – I don’t get headaches”. In fact, those were the exact words I said to my ENT when I was originally diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic. What a lot of people fail to realize, myself included, is that there are many different types of migraine out there, and some of those can occur without any head pain at all. Vestibular migraine is one of the types that can occur with or without any pain. Also known as MAV or Migraine Associated Vertigo, it is a debilitating form of migraine that can manifest itself through odd symptoms like dizziness, ataxia, and…
My Journey with Vestibular Migraine
I was 30 years old and on top of the world when I became completely debilitated by vestibular migraine. Just returning from a trip to Asia and getting back to work, I was barely sleeping and stressed out. I had been working really hard for the past year to get promoted to a senior product manager at a large watch company. Although I was exhausted, I couldn’t miss any more days so I powered through even when I wasn’t feeling well. I had mild dizziness, a fuzziness in my head, but it was more annoying than debilitating. First I tried my primary care doctor, who just said it was a…
