The Gaming Den

I have a friend who has an unknown condition where they get vertigo/light-headed to the point of losing consciousness in elevators, sharp turns in a car (normal car movement is likened to a roller coaster for them), and similar situations. They can jump, run, and dance just fine. Fully passing out has been nearly two years ago, when forced to use an elevator thrice in one day, which left them a little weak the rest of the day.

Of the past month or so, they've been noticing a slightly crooked smile and difficulty swallowing toward the bottom of their throat. The free clinic has offered reasons ranging from hypothyroid to some kind neurological concern; but the major suspicion is that whenever the situation causes the vertigo, all of their blood vessels open wide to cause a sudden and drastic drop in blood going to the brain, and it's been causing seizures.

About half a dozen neurologists have been contacted, but due to a lack of health insurance, they refuse to make an appointment unless $2k can be handed up-front.

What can be done? What long-term effects are there going to be?

Emmigrate to Canada(or europe)?
Don't vote Republican?
Hope you live long enough for Obamacare to kick in, and then pick up insurance?
Get a job with insurance?

It could be a zillion things. They could have a tumor in their inner ear that's causing pressure. They could be having mini strokes everytime they pass out. Fuck the options are actually fairly multitude.

I have Meniere's Disease, which gives some of the same symptoms. Problem is, those symptoms are shared with a host of really nasty shit like tumors and MS. Best case scenario, IMHO, is it's something innocuous like labyrinthitis that's a leftover from a cold or flu. But even that has its dangers- like falling over and cracking your head open. That being said- man, you need to get in to a neurologist. ASAP.

It's not a recent development. The condition has been present for their entire life, as far as they can tell (father didn't believe in doctors and thought the issue with elevators was just being melodramatic). Back in college, when life was drastically more stressful, it got more sensitive (fair bit of medical debt from passing out on the TriMet and people calling an ambulance). These days, cars are better handled by physically tensing up when the vertigo gets bad and not looking much out the window, especially the front (where the movement is most noticeable).

Easy test- have somebody look deep into your friend's eyes at varying distances between 2 feet to 6 inches. If the eyes wiggle back and forth rapidly- what's called nystagmus- it's a good indicator of neuro problems. (or being extremely drunk, so rule that out first)

What JigokuBusatsu said. I'd have your friend tested for chronic labyrinthitis first, because this hopefully is cheaper easier to detect and treat. I think motion induced dizziness is a labyrinthitis symptom and my mother had this for years until it was diagnosed. At least in her case, stress is one of the factors that caused acute episodes.