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May 20, 2013
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
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May 13, 2013
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David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
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Jewish World Review
Ask the Harvard Experts: Could melatonin cause my dizziness?
By
Howard LeWine, M.D.
What recurrent episodes really mean
JewishWorldReview.com |
Q: At least once a week, I experience a bout of dizziness. The room spins and I feel like I will fall. It's very sudden and random. The only thing I take is 5 mg of melatonin at night to help me sleep. Have you ever heard of melatonin causing this type of dizziness?
A: The episodes of dizziness you describe sound like vertigo.
Like you, people with vertigo experience a sensation that the room is spinning. Or they may feel that they are spinning in the room. Sometimes it's just a sense of imbalance. Vertigo may be associated with nausea, vomiting, and ringing in one or both ears (tinnitus).
Melatonin is considered to be a relatively safe supplement for short-term use. There are reports of balance and equilibrium problems at higher doses, usually more than 5 milligrams per day. So it's not likely that the melatonin is causing the vertigo. The only way to know for sure is to stop taking it.
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When a person has recurrent episodes of vertigo, I usually suspect a disorder called benign position vertigo (BPV). In this condition, small crystals break loose in the canals of the inner ear and touch the sensitive nerve endings inside. A change in head position sets this off, causing sudden episodes of a spinning sensation.
Another potential cause of vertigo is Meniere's disease. But people with Meniere's don't usually have symptoms that recur so often. Also, the vertigo of Meniere's is accompanied by ringing in the ear and some hearing loss.
A much rarer cause of recurrent vertigo is intermittent interruption of blood flow to the back part of the brain.
Your next step should be to talk with your doctor about your symptoms. If this is benign positional vertigo, your doctor may advise Epley maneuvers. This involves moving the head in a sequence of positions that directs the floating crystals into a part of the inner ear with fewer nerve endings.
(Howard LeWine, M.D., is a practicing internist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston., Mass., and Chief Medical Editor of Internet Publishing at Harvard Health Publications, Harvard Medical School.)
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