I get many questions about medicating vertigo and people asking for recommendations and advice. Firstly, I can reassure you that a lot of people completely heal and reverse vertigo. They returned to normal. I’m talking to people who may have had three decades of symptoms, chronic symptoms. Some people have very clear diagnoses, maybe they’re told they have Meniere’s or vestibular migraine, et cetera, or BPPV. Whereas other clients will have three decades of symptoms and no diagnosis, they’re just told it’s of unknown origin, it’s idiopathic, it’s psychogenic. All of these vague words are thrown around and they basically don’t know what the diagnosis is. And they’ll say to me, “Joey, can drugs help me? I’m so tired of this. Does Dramamine help? Does Serc help? Does Stemetil help? Does Endep help? Does Sandomigran help?”
And my question for you: Can you listen to your body? For some people, and in some circumstances, it could be useful to temporarily use medication just to help people get a bit of relief to think clearly, to numb symptoms and to help them just get their feet on track a little bit. In order to heal vertigo, we really need to be connected to our body. And we need all the basics, such as sleep and nourishment with a healthy well-rounded diet so that the body has the capacity to actually build new neural templates and heal the vertigo in a more long-term fashion. To completely recover, we have to take the old vertigo neural maps, the dizziness neural maps, which are error signals between the ears, eyes, brain, and body, and we need to rebuild them into neural maps and neural messages between the ears, eyes, brain, and body that now feels steady, feels centered, feel normal.
So when we’re very, very stressed or sickly or isolated, anxious, or depressed, it’s hard to learn, it’s hard to build new neural pathways, the biochemistry of the body shuts down a bit. So if someone is just feeling absolutely imploded, it could be that drugs temporarily help. Is it going to be a long-term solution? Probably not. Drugs tend to suppress neuroplasticity, which means they not only suppress symptoms, but they also suppress all of our capacity to really adapt and change. So it’s generally not a great idea in the long term. So my question for you would be to ask your body. Sure, if you want to try drugs, try them under the guidance of your doctor and literally stop and ask, “Are these side effects worth it? Is this helping me?” Because I do recommend that you look more into the Rock Steady process of healing, which is mastering the art of neuroplasticity.
Part of neuroplasticity is self-study and self-insight, which means looking at your mental patterns, your thought patterns and the dialogue that goes on within your inner world with yourself. In what ways can you treat yourself more kindly? Cut yourself some slack, become your own best friend. The Rock Steady path looks at emotional regulation and how you can actually interrupt anxiety cycles, how you can self-support and reassure yourself. Excuse me. And self-regulation and emotional regulation are such core important parts of overcoming anxiety, depression, and of course, vertigo and dizziness. And so the Rock Steady path will give you these lifelong skills that actually give you the long-term results.
So does Dramamine help vertigo? Do drugs help vertigo? Do medications help vertigo? In the long-term, I would say probably not. In the short term for temporary relief to help you sleep and relax and take a breather, maybe. Always consult your doctor when it comes to medications. And I think if you’re not interested in medications and it doesn’t really match your philosophy, you’d much rather take a natural holistic healing route. Then find a doctor that matches your philosophies and helps you perhaps trial very low doses of medications and wane off those medications as you pick up the skills to support yourself using something like the Rock Steady program, the Rock Steady path. Take a look at seekingbalance.com.au to learn more about my book, the Rock Steady program, and many, many free offerings to help get you on your way.
