Vertigo

[Rich G.]

So... Vertigo. No. Not the song, but the condition. Anyone experience it? It happened to me last week out of the blue. It was non-trivial to say the least. Anyone else experience it? More than once? I'm very concerned that it will strike again at an inopportune moment.

 

[unix-guy]

I work with a couple women who have Vertigo on a semi regular basis. Apparently more common with women.

I know it sucks... I can tell just by looking at them when it's affecting them.

 

[Greg H]

There are several possible causes of vertigo. The one that I am most familiar with is caused by loose particles in the ear canal, that when moved, bounce off the small hairs in the ear canal that are responsible for positional awareness (keeping your balance). These loose particles will sit stationary for a while and then, when disturbed, will bounce off those sensors and wreak havoc with your balance. Over time, the loose particles will be absorbed but until then, one will experience vertigo without warning. This kind of vertigo can be diagnosed by looking in a mirror when you are subject to an attach and see if one eye is moving back and forth (slightly). This is the eye trying to make sense of the information that the ear is giving it. The eye that is moving will correspond to the ear that is causing the problem. There are positional exercises that one can do to move the loose particles to a corner of the ear canal that is not likely to cause problems. They can be found on the web if one looks.
I have not had this kind of vertigo myself but have had several friends that have experienced it. It is reasonably common with people who fly aerobatics but I have known people who have had it who had not been doing anything that would account for it.
But, there are other types of vertigo so this may not apply to you.

 

[ps43203]

I had it before, man it was like a bad trip, lol. No fun, for sure. In my case it was caused by an inner ear infection.

 

[NothingButInitials]

I've had it a couple/few times... always out of the blue. It sucks, but I don't worry about it happening again.

 

[TMac1957]

Once. On a ski trip in B.C., was with a friend and we skied into a big cloud. We were 5 feet from each other and couldn't see each other. As we were standing on some cat track talking about the situation, I kept losing my balance. We split up at that point, I needed some pitch to keep my composure (odd as that may seem)...I skid down under a chairlift and he went some other direction. One of the strangest experiences ever.

 

[coldstar]

Had it happen last year just as I bent down to towel off the dog. Everything started spinning all of a sudden and I just about fell on my head. It would have looked utterly weird to an observer as I slumped against a pedestal and then kinda climbed my way inside my house, as though the world had turned sideways. After I sat inside for about 20 minutes it mostly went away. Oddly, it didn't make me nauseous, but I was totally debilitated while it was happening.

 

[6sfe]

This worked fo me..http://www.dizzyfix.com/

 

[Myshkin47]

Have your Thyroid level checked. I used to have bouts similar to Coldstar's. The ear specialist diagnosed Positional Vertigo. My Dr. diagnosed low to no Thyroid function. Once I started taking Thyroid medication I have not had another bout since.

 

[barhrecords]

There are several possible causes of vertigo. The one that I am most familiar with is caused by loose particles in the ear canal, that when moved, bounce off the small hairs in the ear canal that are responsible for positional awareness (keeping your balance). These loose particles will sit stationary for a while and then, when disturbed, will bounce off those sensors and wreak havoc with your balance. Over time, the loose particles will be absorbed but until then, one will experience vertigo without warning. This kind of vertigo can be diagnosed by looking in a mirror when you are subject to an attach and see if one eye is moving back and forth (slightly). This is the eye trying to make sense of the information that the ear is giving it. The eye that is moving will correspond to the ear that is causing the problem. There are positional exercises that one can do to move the loose particles to a corner of the ear canal that is not likely to cause problems. They can be found on the web if one looks.
I have not had this kind of vertigo myself but have had several friends that have experienced it. It is reasonably common with people who fly aerobatics but I have known people who have had it who had not been doing anything that would account for it.
But, there are other types of vertigo so this may not apply to you.

^^ This

Happened to me out of the blue two years ago. I've never had motion sickness or vertigo at all before that.

The name for it BPPV sometimes called positional vertigo.

The ENT can do a chiropractic type of move that will get the particles back where they belong and it helps tremendously.

But unfortunately for me, it comes and goes no permanent cure I'm afraid. For me, it's worse when the barometric pressure drops.

 

[Rich G.]

Thanks for sharing your experiences, guys. Sometimes it's nice to know one isn't alone in suffering.

As mentioned, my experience was nontrivial. My extreme spinning lasted for about 4 hours. I couldn't walk- had to crawl around on my hands & knees. I was extremely nauseous and ended up throwing up about 5 times before it was all over. I ended up calling 911 and going to the hospital because I honestly thought I was having a stroke or a brain aneurism.