Rocks fall, feldman vomits

[feldman]

I sometimes rib Mr. F about the tricksiness of his back injury.  When he's up for it, he can help carry a couch, but has also been known to throw his back out toweling off after a shower.

Rotational forces are wicked.

I rolled over in bed this morning and the bed started rolling me like a hungry crocodile.  I'd likely dislodged otolith gravel in my right ear.  Hence, I spent the day keeping my head very still so as not to inadvertently hit the big red vagal VOMIT button.

Bad news: there's a correlation between getting migraines and getting this kind of vertigo.  Age of onset is usually in your 50's, but for migraineurs it's around age 40.  And flipping in bed is  common rotational move that can trigger it.

Fucking rotational forces.

Good news: This maneuver helped get the rocks back into the proper place in my ear.  Go Dr. Carol Foster!!!  Harnessing rotational forces!

Of course, the first few times I did it, the last move totally punched the big red button.  But I've done it three more times so far and the vertigo gets better each time.

Rocks fall; rocks have a strange twisty journey; rocks come back home.

Yay women scientists!  Yay internets!

Comments

[cofax7]

'd likely dislodged otolith gravel in my right ear. Hence, I spent the day keeping my head very still so as not to inadvertently hit the big red vagal VOMIT button.

BPPV! I had that last summer. It SUCKS.

Thank fuck for the numerous helpful doctors who posted Youtube videos of the Epley maneuver. And yeah, I had to do it three times a day for a week or so. As it is, the vertigo recurred at least once, and then went away again.

Now I'm still dizzy much of the time, but it's from a neural disconnect between my ear canals and my optic nerve, as a result of a poor reaction to inner-ear surgery, and nothing to do with BPPV. On the down side, the Epley maneuver won't fix it. :-(

[feldman]

I thought of you in the throes of this, and I'm so sorry you've had such a pernicious case. This is scary. I had mild vertigo from a medication in my twenties that lasted a month and it was amusing compared to this.

I woke up to pee and did the half somersault again, partly to work the kink out of my neck from sleeping all propped up as directed.

Some of our clients have similar dizziness from optic vestibular disconnects, and find improvement with vision training. I'll look into details about the specialty if you'd like.

[umadoshi]

Yikes! Oh, bodies. They do the most ludicrous things sometimes. :/ I hope the vertigo is banished completely soon.

[feldman]

Today is much better, and I'm glad I've had scheduled days off to deal with this. I'm still doing the half-somersaults every few hours and will be sleeping the next few nights propped up like John Merrick.

Bodies are such ridiculous grab-bags of evolution.