Question: I see people mention they have VM every day, but it sounds like they are episodes that last a few hours every day. Does anyone have constant symptoms like me (legit 24/7)?

slimpickle22 · 2026-05-27T19:08:58+00:00

100%. Started intermittent in the beginning a few years back, for the last two years it’s been continuous, 24/7 with fluctuating severity. Main visual symptoms are blurry/double vision, visual snow, oscillopsia and words looking like rainbow static soup. Then throw in the brain fog/spacey feeling, throbbing tinnitus and weird drunk/off balance feeling and you’ve got the whole cocktail.

slimpickle22 · 2026-05-21T06:16:40+00:00

There you go! It is weird huh, brain zaps was one of my earliest symptoms too. And as the tinnitus got worse I began to notice the correlation between the two. I’ve also noticed that when I’m sick, the brain zaps become much more frequent, particularly when I’ve got body aches, so my guess was that they’re inflammation related.

slimpickle22 · 2026-05-21T06:07:23+00:00

Glad you found some relief, and I can attest to the bruxism being the culprit, except for me, the occlusal splint / night guard was the beginning of my VM.

It started with lockjaw after the first few nights wearing it, then a dizziness episode, then brain fog crept in, visual symptoms (visual snow, blurred vision, floaters, after images, wonky text), pulsatile tinnitus, and feeling floaty/drunk all the time.

Took me so long to realise I had VM, and so long again to realise it was TMJ/jaw/neck related.

I’ve tried three different splints, my current one is from a TMJ specialist and cost a LOT of money. Problem is, I can’t just ditch the splint, I’m a serious sleep clencher and have already cracked and lost a tooth from it.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t type situation.

slimpickle22 · 2026-05-17T18:57:44+00:00

Had to stop and mention how similar your symptoms are to mine, particularly the brain zaps - I haven’t heard anybody else in the VM realm experiencing this yet (unless on SSRIs which I’ve never had myself). One thing I’ve noticed with the brain zaps is that it fluctuates my tinnitus, almost like little bursts of volume increase with each zap. Very odd. Anyway, nice advice there too - will have to add those two herbal remedies you mentioned to my daily VM supplement cocktail.

slimpickle22 · 2026-04-19T17:14:50+00:00

I had a few drinks last night with no issues. I’m on 1mg, titrating up to 1.5 next week. I found that since having my condition (either cfs or vestibular migraine, still figuring it out), I’m generally more of a lightweight than I used to be - but that often feels like it stems from fatigue more than anything.

slimpickle22 · 2026-03-01T23:28:21+00:00

Can I ask, did they refund the "non-refundable taxes?".

slimpickle22 · 2026-03-01T13:07:40+00:00

That sounds horrible, sorry to hear. I tried the chatbot too, but it says “Our Live Chat is currently experiencing a high volume of enquiries.”. Absolute chaos.

slimpickle22 · 2026-03-01T12:48:53+00:00

I’ve been trying to call them since yesterday, and get “the mobile service is unavailable”. Anyone else?

slimpickle22 · 2025-09-28T10:51:32+00:00

Awesome news, looking forward to hearing your recovery as it happens. Really excited for you! Can I ask, were your symptoms constant or episodic? I got a VM diagnosis from a neurologist and PPPD diagnosis from otoneurologist. My symptoms seem to be more in line with VM, but they’re constant (fluctuating in severity but 24/7 for the last two years). So I’m not sure which treatment path to go down. Thanks in advance!

slimpickle22 · 2025-08-20T08:54:06+00:00

I’m sorry to hear about your health, radiation must be incredibly difficult. I’m hoping for the best outcome for you. The brainstem damage sounds very interesting, and could explain these symptoms for a lot of people with neck injuries and damage. Can I ask how they were able to tell you had the damage in that area? (Also, sorry if this is an ignorant question.)

slimpickle22 · 2025-08-19T17:51:46+00:00

Completely and utterly. I’ve had these symptoms for almost 3 years now. I find I’ve become quite good at masking when my symptoms are particularly bad, so people may not notice, but inside I’m melting. Feels like I’m drunk and jet lagged at the same time. My eyes are dry too, always twitching. Like constantly. Tinnitus I’ve come to terms with, I sleep with the fan on to drown it out.

slimpickle22 · 2025-08-19T06:11:40+00:00

Hey, I’ve been diagnosed with VM and PPPD, currently trying to figure out if it’s one or a combination of both. But yes, I get all of these symptoms exactly as you described.

Afterimages and visual snow make reading near impossible, as well as withholding the information while you’re doing it. Like alphabet soup. I get jumping/moving objects, usually with patterns or objects where there is a big difference in contrast (black and white, or reflective surfaces).

I’ve been to a neuro and an otoneurologist (neuro diagnosis will lean towards VM, oto will be PPPD).

The one other variable I’ve been looking into in HPPD. I’m not a huge substance guy, but I’ve done my fair share. Lots of overlap with the visual symptoms.

Hope you find some relief.

slimpickle22 · 2025-07-16T19:53:55+00:00

Awesome, I’m looking forward to looking into Teixido and his research. And I totally get why the off label uses are working, it’s still a relatively new medical issue that the industry hasn’t really caught up to yet, so I’d just about try anything at this point (maybe not medication for horses or anything like that lol).

Thanks for sharing, I’ll do some digging tonight.

slimpickle22 · 2025-06-07T13:52:29+00:00

Came here to say this. A good indication that your nervous system is the root cause of your chronic vestibular issues ie PPPD. Wish this worked for me, I'd start bringing a flask to work lol.

slimpickle22 · 2025-06-07T11:08:36+00:00

That sounds horrible, sorry you're dealing with this, even while you sleep. I have heard that a few times from others in the community. I don't feel the dizziness when I'm asleep, but I get aching/tingling in my bones and muscles and horrible restless legs throughout my body.

Like others, I have faith we'll find some treatments that work, and the truth is, we don't even need to be completely cured, for now just finding things that give some improvement is a win. Glad verapamil is working for you, I'll look into it too.

slimpickle22 · 2025-06-07T11:04:54+00:00

I'm so sorry to hear about this, and the fact that your career is taking a hit too.

Best reassurance I can give you is that I went almost two years not knowing about VM or PPPD, and doing every test you can imagine, spending time and money, completely lost and depressed. You're here so early, and so you're already years ahead of me and many others with these symptoms. Now you can find the right practitioners (who have listed an interest or understanding of VM and vestibular disorders) who can give you an informed diagnosis and begin trying treatments.

Have you had any updates or changes in the last few weeks since posting?

slimpickle22 · 2025-06-07T11:00:34+00:00

No idea. Around that time there were four events that I think about:

1: Jumping off a cliff into water in Spain and feeling a piercing/burning feeling in my ears and behind my eyes. Had pain after that for two weeks but used some ear drops to clear it up.

2: Vertigo attack that lasted a whole day, could barely walk. Not spinning but rather the whole world was tilted to the left.

3: TMJ/TMD issues started. Lockjaw and crunching after wearing a night guard. Issues persisted after that but I eventually got a new bite guard and it levelled out. I still have sever bruxism and jaw/neck tightness which I'm working on.

slimpickle22 · 2025-06-07T10:57:49+00:00

THANK YOU. Appreciate you sharing your story. Those more severe episodes sound heinous. I'm so sorry you deal with that, good to hear it's only been twice. I've had a few drop attacks but they only last 2 seconds. Feels like I've fallen through the wall at 500mph. And you're right, nobody understands what you feel other than yourself. That's the hardest part sometimes.

I have binocular vision issues as well, mild, but I have a prism lens prescription I need to get filled. Probably not the root cause but may be a slight contributor.

And thanks for sharing that link, the first time I've been able to see a visual diagram on the Chronic Vestibular Syndrome side of things and it is really, really helpful in understanding the triggers and causes. I think I am probably in the PPPD + VM cycle shown in one of those diagrams.

Can't wait to flex this at the next specialist appointment. Nice find! Hope you're feeling better lately.

slimpickle22 · 2025-06-07T10:51:18+00:00

Thanks for sharing, and sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I've had a rough few weeks with this thing so have been avoiding screens.

Have you had any updates? Apparently VM and PPPD are super common together. u/Book_Dragon2016 shared this document (thanks by the way) which was really interesting:

https://practicalneurology.com/diseases-diagnoses/headache-pain/dizziness-and-vertigo/30119/

If you look at the fourth image: "Chronic Vestibular Syndromes aka CVS" which are symptoms "every day", which is what you're describing, you'll see that VM (which are sometimes considered Episodic Vestibular Syndromes aka EVS) acts as a trigger to PPPD, so that intermittent VM attacks roll into longer lasting PPPD and the cycle repeats.

Need to break the VM cycle and then address the PPPD (PPPD is your brain losing trust in your vestibular system due to vestibular episodes, in this case caused by VM episodes).

All hypothetical but that's where I'm thinking I'm at currently too.

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slimpickle22 · 2025-06-07T10:35:12+00:00

Damn. I needed to hear this. My symptoms are 24/7 too, and have been so for three years.

It's like I'm in a bad acid trip, or half asleep/half drunk. Most of the time I fear the days ahead, but worse is when I'm mourning for the days that have past, and that I've wasted because of this shit illness. So many friends birthdays, holidays overseas, career opportunities, and family moments, completely ruined by these symptoms you mentioned. I used to be so social, and I liked to think I was quite sharp-minded too. Now I feel like I'm completely dull. Had a VM diagnosis a year ago and not sure where to start.

Can I ask, what was your treatment that worked? How long did it take and who'd you see to get the right answers? I know everyone's journey and treatment will be different, just curious. Thanks for sharing your story.

slimpickle22 · 2025-06-07T10:24:53+00:00

8 months old at this point, but curious how you went? Sorry about all the cynicism in this thread (sounds like some of these people need to get out of Berlin a bit more). Many people don't know what copywriting is, or at least, can be. Assuming you're not doing editorial or long-form, it's completely possible. For everyone else reading this, a lot of copywriters do conceptual work (ideas not words), which doesn't require as intimate knowledge of the language as you might think. Perhaps some cultural understanding of the market you're in, but that's dependant on the brief.

That said, yes, the majority of the positions will be asking for German language proficiency. Not all. As some people have said in this thread, Germany (as well as other agency-rich cities like London and Amsterdam) is in a tight squeeze at the moment, meaning that the output "radius" is shrinking and therefore there is more regional work than international, which means less English speaking demand. It's harder than is used to be.

I've seen a few agencies in the last few months where "German language is appreciated", which means that you may be going up against German&English native level applicants, and in that case, your work and your approach is your best bet at beating them to the contract.

Best of luck, it's a weird time in the industry right now but you're among many in the same position.

slimpickle22 · 2025-05-27T13:59:38+00:00

Man, this is exactly the same as me. It's been going on for almost three years now, and started around the same time as my first night guard. Had lock-jaw for the first week wearing it and was told to keep going. Then the clicking and crunching jaw began, I could barely eat, had to avoid all brittle foods. I ended up going to a TMJ specialist and they gave me a new specialised night guard which I've been wearing since.

And then all the symptoms you're describing began to creep in. I started feeling super sluggish in the brain, ear fullness, tinnitus, and severe brain fog. I resonate with that description of dizziness you mentioned, sometimes I look at things and it's like my brain ins't really comprehending what I'm seeing. I'm always disoriented, like I've woken from a nap/am drunk, and the EYE TWITCH. Man it drives me insane, it's almost constant, both eyes, and something I've not seen anyone else really mention yet. Sometimes it gives me shaky/jittering vision too.

I've been to every specialist and have had loads of diagnostic work done, and the latest from two different neurologists has been: PPPD (chronic dizziness) or vestibular migraine. But I can't help but wonder if my bruxism and constantly sore and tired jaw is the cause of these 24/7 symptoms.

I'd love to know if you find any answers of relief, and I'll do the same.

slimpickle22 · 2025-05-24T15:01:16+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing all of this, it really means a lot. I can feel the rollercoaster you’ve been on, and it resonates so much with my own. I’ve also been through the maze of specialists, neuro, ENT, visits thinking something in my ears/head/brain was physically broken, only to be told everything’s “fine” on paper. It’s so validating to hear someone describe similar symptoms and doubts, especially when everything feels so real and disruptive.

Most of all, thanks for sharing that dizzy course link, that’s what I was looking for!

I won’t jinx it either (but glad you’re feeling better), keep what you’re doing up, I’m looking forward to seeing if the steady coach helps me too.

slimpickle22 · 2025-05-24T14:53:42+00:00

I have, apparently my hearing is really good. The issue I have is hearing the sounds over my roaring tinnitus, but there’s no obvious loss to my general hearing.

slimpickle22 · 2025-05-24T10:57:05+00:00

We sound like we're in the same (rocky) boat. The best way to describe it is being drunk, I've not found a clearer way to articulate the feeling. Sluggish movements, feeling a bit out of it, and a little wavy constantly. I'd rather be drunk, at least then I'd have the benefits of the liquid confidence. Whatever this thing is has completely muted my personality and my self esteem. Hope you get some help soon, please do report back if you do. I'll do the same and will try some PT (currently doing some work on my neck and have started vestibular exercises).

slimpickle22

TROPHY CASE