Unexplained Weight Gain and Occasional Vertigo

I think your role is to support her, and perhaps to offer to attend an appointment or two with her. It can be extremely helpful to have a second set of ears and someone to take notes.

I think she has to go well beyond GPs and ENTs for weight gain and vertigo - seeing an ENT makes sense, but she didn't get answers. I would urge her to call a major teaching hospital with multiple top specialties under one roof, and get an evaluation under various disciplines with all of the specialists talking to each other and reading each other's notes. My husband just had a very rare condition that took a long time to diagnose - he had symptoms of certain things, but not all that you would expect - so we had to keep digging for answers. We had a phenomenal experience at a major Boston teaching hospital and I can't say enough about how extraordinary the partnership was.

I think she may need another look at her thyroid issues - I know plenty of people who've had their thyroids removed for one reason or another, and just because they are on medication doesn't mean their problems go away. And I'm not sure she's got the right caloric intake and the right balance of nutrients - whether she's not keeping track or whether she's using any reduced calorie sweeteners, for example (even the natural ones which often have other things mixed in during processing). But there may well be other things no one has considered, and she needs some people to think outside the box in a collaborative way.

Has she had her hormones checked? I'm geussing so where she had her thyroid removed.

So I'm guessing she saw an endocrinologist for that. That would be the only thing I could think of for weight gain.

With my hormones changes around my cycle, I get a type of migraine (sometimes silent) that produces vertigo. Silent meaning I don't always get a headache, but my body goes through some weird changes. My father had them too.

So I would suggest a neurologist. Nothing showed up on my MRI or cat scans either, but migraines (it's part of the aura) don't.

I had a friend that couldn't lose weight. She reported only eating 1200 calories a day. She came to my house for lunch once when I made tuna. She wanted more mayo to add to the tuna. She probably added 600 calories of mayo she wasn't including in her calculation.

Is she sure she is tracking everything?

I'm curious as to what kinds of food she's eating. For example, there's a trend, a fad, going around called "cloud bread". It has no carbs, just eggs, cream cheese and baking powder. People are raving about it because it resembles bread (allegedly) and has no carbs. It's also not healthy. Cream cheese isn't a good option. But people are eating huge amounts of it. If she's eating non-processed food, but consuming 1500 calories of kale, she could be starving her body of nutrients.

Is her weight solid, or it is fluid? Is her abdomen distended, or is it all-over weight? Are her ankles puffy? Has she seen a rheumatologist? Is she drinking lots of water? Is she drinking any diet sodas or diet drinks?

Has she talked to the pharmacist about side effects of the meds? And has she seen her endocrinologist for a thyroid med update and follow-up? If its been awhile, she should.

For the vertigo, there's a simple remedy that helps many (not all) people called the Epley maneuver. You can look it up. It has to be done just right, but it's helping many, many people who have vertigo. It can be done at home, and it involves no expense.

I have benign positional vertigo. I was diagnosed after going through tests in which they spun me in a chair and dripped water in my ears while they watched my eye movements. I think they first tested me, in the office, by quickly flashing a light back and forth. Both of those tests made me extremely dizzy. My eyes would rapidly go back and forth so quickly I wasn't aware of their movement. Has your friend had tests that would rule out various causes?

I've always become dizzy from time to time. I'd rest and it would go away in a couple of days. In my youth, I was diagnosed with Meuniers. I don't remember if I had tests.

I've had physical therapy during which the therapist performed the Epply manuever several times before the dizziness would go away. During the first session I was given eye exercises. Because they increased the dizziness, the therapist started using the Epply maneuver. We did it several times with each of several appointments. The dizziness would return in several months. I've learned to not do several movements that consistently started dizziness. Bending over so my head was lower than my waist and also quickly turning around causes me to be dizzy. Bending over caused dizziness to last several days and required physical therapy to stop it. The dizziness caused by quickly turning lasts only a few minutes. I often feel slightly dizzy.

In my youth I was diagnosed with Menieres. Have you or your friend researched causes of dizziness? If not, I suggest that reading about various causes for the various kinds of dizziness will help.

I've had several whiplash injuries and my neck vertibrea are rigid and less curved than is normal. Some of my dizziness may be caused by that. If so, the cause of dizziness cannot be found by testing.

I doubt that the weight gain is caused by whatever is causing the dizziness. It may be a part of becoming less active in an effort to reduce symptoms. More likely, weight gain would be related to thyroid issues. My daughter took meds for low thyroid function and continued to gain weight and be low in energy even tho the doctor increased the dosage. Recently, they ran a different test and learned that she needed much more or perhaps a second medication. The tests she had been receiving didn't accurately show thyroid function. Since she has no thyroid there may not be a different test to help.

I suggest you help your friend write down the tests she's had and what she's been told. Then choose two doctors (an endocrinoloust and one specializing in dizziness issues) and continue to work with them. All too often we go to different doctors hoping one of them will find an answer. This rarely helps DiagnosI often take repeating visits so that the doctor can try different things. I didn't learn I had bpv until I saw a specialis to which my ENT referred me.

There are many different things that could cause the vertigo, Meniere's disease, Vestibular Neuritis and Labyrinthitis, etc. But I don't think those would account for the weight gain.

I started gaining weight when I hit 40 and it was/is frustrating. I eat healthy exercise (not extreme) and have been having trouble losing it, so it could be age and genetics.

She should see an Endocrinologist and keep on the doctors the help figure this out.

she probably needs to see an endocrinologist.
and an ENT for the vertigo- she probably has some fluid deep down inside her ears.
it sounds as if she's doing everything right. sometimes you just have to keep looking to find just the right medical professional. i wore myself looking for a doctor who could help me chronic fatigue years ago. it was a wacky chiropractor who was finally able to get me straightened out despite my skepticism.
maybe instead of 'directing' her it's simply your job to support and encourage her on her journey.
khairete
S.