Anyone getting vertigo after lifting weights or exercising hard?

[JKnotdobbins]

I am on the watch & wait program since August of 2017. I have had 3 MRI’s so far and the great news is that the AN has not grown so I continue to monitor the situation. Hearing is only slightly worse according to my hearing tests so that is also good news. The bad news is that my vertigo & dizziness episodes are happening more and more frequently. My doctors don’t have great reasons why the vertigo is increasing other than it’s just a symptom of my acoustic neuroma.

I just don’t want to get surgery to remove my AN only to learn this is some other problem. I have suffered migraines most of my adult life.  There are also other things like vestibular migraines and secondary hydrops that can cause this kind of vertigo too of course.

Thanks much!

[notaclone13]

Greetings,
For me exercise definitely brings on dizziness and wonky head. After I retired, I decided to start going to the gym on a regular basis to lose weight and get in shape. But after doing aerobic exercises for just a short time, I would get really dizzy and have to stop. I went for a cardiac workup to make sure it wasn’t heart related. When I found out about the AN, everything made sense. I started a walking program and at first I would get dizzy after about 15 minutes. But I kept at it and eventually got to being able to walk for an hour at a time. I once had a particularly scary vertigo attack after a walking session. I felt a little dizzy during the walk, but when I stopped and sat in my car, it got very intense. I keep chewable Dramamine with me at all times and I quickly took one and stood outside my car until things calmed down. After about 20 minutes I felt confident enough to drive home. Now I walk around the neighborhood or on our treadmill, just in case I get too dizzy to drive home.

[Freelander]

I’ve found that slowing down the intervals between doing sets, and resting longer after vigorous activity have allowed my symptoms of lightheadedness to be manageable. Exercise is an essential part of my lifestyle, and learning to listen to my body more, and being patient have allowed me to maintain a decent amount of strength and mobility, despite more intense symptoms during the past 4 years of watch and wait with a tumor that continues to grow. Best wishes going forward.

[kestes]

 I am 6 months out from Gamma Knife radiation and having similar issue.  Walking up a flight of stairs, riding a bike uphill, head movements up and down set off a very short vertigo episode. I have to stand still  until it clears and then I don't walk the stairs, I take the elevator or I walk my bike up the hill and then continue riding.  I don't have balance issues riding my bike.   I can run 2-3 miles and I am still a little wobbly but no vertigo. It is the up and down movement of the head combined with exertion that is triggering mine.  In a support group they said maybe I should look into BBPV which is positional vertigo.  Someone else mentioned they had similar issues with GK but that it cleared in a few months.  Hope it gets better!!

[Freelander]

Hey Kestes,

I'm curious if you started experiencing vertigo, or more of it, after the GK.   I'm still watch and live, and earlier described how I cope with exertion and lightheadedness, especially while exercising in whatever form.    My experience with the dreaded spinning vertigo is rare, and I can count the times I've faced it on one hand.   It's amazing how riding a bicycle seems, for me, to counterbalance the short-circuiting that can happen with the tumor fastened on the vestibular nerve.   I really appreciate that, and noticed it has the same effect on you.

[kestes]

Freelander, no I did not have vertigo before.  I had occasional here and there through the years and I never had issues going up a set of stairs.  It just seems the oddest thing almost as if somehow related to heartrate because the "triggers" are things I do elevating heart rate, but again only stairs and hills and some up and down head movements related.  Running does not do that or biking on straight flat paths.  I know it is a side effect of GK so I am being patient with it.  it does happen sometimes while completely sitting still.  But it is not debilitating vertigo.  Lasts a few seconds to minutes and gone, it does not take me out or make me lay in bed for days.  If I know a "trigger" I don't do that certain thing.