Vertigo from massage?

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House Beauty

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Hi all,

Have you ever heard of vertigo starting after a massage?

I am new to massage and I have had a very sore back so had one myself recently. It wasn’t what I expected as mine are very slow and relaxing..

But the day after I had it I got so dizzy I walked into a door and I’ve been in bed all weekend as the room has been spinning. I’ve never had it before. I had no idea it was so dreadful. I’ve been vomiting and feel sick and although the worst seems to be over it’s not going completely.

I’ve done the Epley manoeuvre twice and thankfully it got me through the worst of it but was terrifying to do it as I could see the room going round in fast circles like I was on a rollercoaster.

I’m trying to get a doc appt today but hoping someone knows something about it and whether it’s related to massage??
 
At first I wondered if you had a healing response to the massage , but I doubt that really. Have you mentioned it to your masseur?
Poor you , how I feel for you with vertigo it is a horrible and scary experience. Are you any better and have you seen the doc?

The massage you had sounds like a very vigorous swedish or sports massage... not for the feint hearted. I wonder if you neck and head was moved a bit too fiercly during one stage of it and that has disturbed your balance mecanism in your ears.

Sometimes it may have no defined reason or you have maybe come into contacr with a virus whilst receiving a treatment and that has caused it.
Either way you need medication to get it under control and your prompt acrion of epley manoeuvre may have saved a longer bout of it.

Get better soon,
You are so kind and helpful to all of us fellow geeks, it is a shame an enjoyable treatment has turned into a bad experience.
RosieR
 
Gosh this sounds awful. I am sorry.

It sounds like you had a deep tissue or sports type massage. These symptoms are possible but rare after a massage - iincluding self massage. They more commonly occur out of the blue without any connection to massage and the symptoms may be connected to your sore back issue. If you have a massage again, mention it in the consultation so that the therapist is mindful of any vulnerabilities.

I hope you managed to get a doctor's appointment.

It's important to have your neck "straight" on your shoulders. Imagine you are wearing a soft neck collar. Position yourself with pillows or cushions to hold your neck steady and not let your head flop to the side. Try and elongate your shoulders, pulling them away from your ears gently and slightly flatten your neck bones so that your chin is neither tilted upwards nor downwards. You may find that lying on a tennis ball under your neck (or two tennis balls - one each side) brings relief.

As self care try getting some heat to your neck to relax and ease any tight muscles. One of those gel hot cold packs would be perfect, or a wheat pack or a part filled hot water bottle wrapped in a towel. Not too hot and only for 20 mins. Too much heat or for too long may make things worse.

Try and deep breathe slowly from your stomach. Deep breathing in your chest keeps everything tight and can set off problems, so put your hand on your diaphragm and consciously breathe so that your hand lifts up and down. Just try 10 slow breaths. Count as you slowly inhale and try and exhale for longer. The ideal is 10 breaths counting to 7 on inhalation and 11 on exhalation. If you can't manage that don't worry, just do what you can. Have a rest after 10 breaths and check in with your body to see if this feels helpful. You can do this for 2-3 minutes but no longer.

If heat and deep breathing feel helpful you can try some gentle stretches to release tightness in the muscles which support the neck. Tight neck muscles can cause dizziness. Overworking and over treating muscles can also cause dizziness so just do the following stretches once a day unless otherwise directed by a qualified physical therapist who has examined you in person. (What causes the problems is being in pain and flinching, so stay within your tolerance, it's not "no pain no gain" but the opposite).

Lie down flat on your back. No pillow. Centre your head so that you face the ceiling. Put your hand on your face and gentle adjust your head to find "neutral" - your neck spinal bones continuing from your back without any kinks or changes of angle or direction.

Stretch your SCM. Turn your head to the side. Place your hand on your cheek and gently press your ear to the mattress. Go to the limit of your flexibility, until you can feel the stretch but it's not too uncomfortable. Breath slowly and deeply. Count to 15. Release. Repeat on the other side. Check in with your body. You can hold stretches for up to a minute but I'd suggest 15-30 seconds would be about right for this sensitive area.

Stretch the Scalenes. Keeping your face pointing to the ceiling, rotate your head to take your left ear towards your left shoulder. This is sort of a side bend for the neck. Place your left hand on your head and gently traction your head to increase the stretch. Hold for 15-30 seconds. Repeat other side.

Stretch the upper trapezius. This is easier to do sitting up. Turn your head until your chin is in line with your armpit. Put the opposite hand on your head and encourage your head down to "try and sniff your armpit". Hold for 15-30 seconds. The stretch is from the side of your neck behind the ear, down the outside edge of your neck and along the fleshy muscle that moves when you shrug your shoulders. Hold 15-30 seconds. Repeat other side.

Finally, you can treat your SCM for trigger points. The SCM is the ropey muscle from the ear to the collar bone which jumps out when you turn your head to the side. To find the SCM, turn your head to the side and grasp the cable like structure in your neck. Turn your head back a little until the muscle held in your fingers softens. It may slither out of your grip so repeat this until you are gently but firmly holding a soft muscle. Explore this muscle, discover where it attaches under the Occipital and trace iit down to the clavicle.

Once you've learned where iit is, gently but firmly press/squeeze this muscle, working systematically down the length of the muscle. Work systematically from the head down to the clavicle. The muscle should be soft under your fingers, so remember to slacken off your neck (this is much easier to do lying down). If you find a tender spot, stay holding it applying firm but bearable pressure for 8 to 12 seconds. If anything is very painful, stay on the spot but ease off the pressure until it's bearable. The very tender spots are trigger points. You can work the trigger points once or twice for 8-12 seconds. No more. If you feel anything throbbing or pulsing under your fingers, move slightly away from that spot. Treat both sides. You can do this every 3-4 days if it brings relief. Always stretch afterwards.

If when you are self treating your SCM for trigger points, you feel your symptoms increase, this is a positive test for SCM issues. It means that treating the SCM is likely to be helpful.

I do hope you feel much better really soon. In the meantime, sip drinks with added lemon juice and black pepper, and eat (or drink) ginger as these are reputed to be helpful for dizziness and nausea. A tablespoon of cider vinegar (with the mother) in a hot drink with a teaspoon or two of honey will also help to stabilise your blood pressure and blood sugar. Lots of people swear by cider vinegar so it's worth trying it to see if it helps. It's a bit of an acquired taste, you might want to try making yourself a lemon and honey drink with an added ginger teabag and slugging in a teaspoon of cider vinegar (with the mother) to cover all the bases and disguise the taste of vinegar.

Sending hugs and warm wishes
 
Get better soon x
 
Hi all, thank you for your replies and wishes.

Will update soon. Much better, just done a lot today and answered some posts and now need to rest again. xx
 

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