Unresolved Dizziness

Everything began after I started my new job. Prior to that, I had never experienced any dizziness. My work involved looking upward for 2–4 hours a day, 5–6 days a week. About 1–2 months into the job, I experienced my first episode of dizziness. It came on suddenly and was moderate—around 5–6 on a scale of 10.

A few weeks later, I had another episode that lasted 5–10 days. When lying down with my head on a pillow, I felt fine. However, as soon as I started moving, I experienced a floating sensation or dizziness. The same occurred while driving—when my head was resting on the seat, I felt normal, but when I lifted it or looked side to side, the dizziness returned.

My first medical consultation was in Belgium, where I was diagnosed with BPPV (left ear). I underwent the Epley maneuver with a nurse and later repeated it several times at home, but it had no positive effect. I did not experience nausea, vomiting, or other related symptoms.

Later, I had another episode lasting again 5–10 days. During that period, I was in Prague for work and visited a hospital, where the diagnosis was cervicogenic dizziness. After that, I returned to my home country and saw a neurologist. He conducted various tests, including a brain MRI and a cervical spine scan—both came back clear. He concluded the issue was not nerve-related and suggested it could be due to stress. He prescribed me Vertigoheel (Vertigo-N), but the medication had no noticeable effect.

I also visited an ENT specialist who examined my ears and confidently ruled out an inner ear issue. He suggested that the dizziness could be linked to my cervical spine. An orthopedic doctor later echoed this opinion but attributed the dizziness to stress and anxiety. He advised me to keep the vertigo medication on hand and take it when symptoms arise—but again, this did not help.

One consistent thing I’ve noticed is that I can usually sense when an episode is about to start. My head feels heavy or foggy the day before.

I eventually saw another ENT doctor who strongly believed the cause was job-related. He suggested that the neck posture required by my job was putting pressure on my cervical spine, possibly compressing the capillaries and affecting blood flow to the brain, resulting in dizziness. He also advised me to stop weightlifting (I’m passionate about bodybuilding), as it might increase strain on my neck and shoulders. He recommended switching to lower-impact activities like jogging.

After hearing from several doctors that my cervical spine could be the source of the problem, I decided to try physiotherapy. We did both manual and machine-assisted therapy. Although I started feeling better shortly after, I can’t confidently say it was because of the therapy, as I was already nearing the end of my latest episode.

In summary, I feel stuck. Some doctors say it’s stress or anxiety, others believe it’s inner-ear related BPPV, and others focus on cervical spine issues. No one can give a definitive answer, and I don’t know what the best course of action is or how to properly heal.

If you have any information you can share, I would greatly appreciate it. I’ll also make sure to keep you updated on any developments.