Life has been insanely busy since coming back from the Oregon yoga retreat. I’ve been covering classes for vacation and sickness (tis the season), and also picked up a couple of new clients. Plus I was buy with the RYT300 planning our March yoga retreat in Ojai. My plate was very full!. A few weeks ago I was spending my first free afternoon at home and doing all those things you do when you have a free day: binge watching youtube videos; catching up on emails; household chores. I also did some cardio, followed by a 40 minute home yoga practice. Upon completing savasana, I got up and headed to the kitchen when the room suddenly spun. And kept spinning. Violently. I felt like I was literally on a rollercoaster ride. Thankfully the sofa was by my left side and I flopped ungracefully into the sofa, and sat anxiously waiting for the room to stop spinning. After about 30 seconds I was finally feeling somewhat steady, but also extremely motion sick. I hastily made an appointment at the doctor the following day. Diagnosis: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).
What is vertigo?
Some of us may be conditioned to believe that vertigo is the fear of heights. This isn’t true. That’s actually acrophobia. Vertigo is the sudden sensation that you’re spinning. There are few different types but the one I have is Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, which causes brief episodes of mild to intense dizziness. I can personally attest that it can be pretty intense. If not for the sofa being nearby that Wednesday I’d have been a heap on the floor. BPPV is usually triggered by changes in the position of your head. This might occur from tipping your head up or down, when you lie down, or when you turn over or sit up in bed. For me laying down and turning to the right is a huge trigger.
Symptoms of vertigo
Symptoms of vertigo are usually brief, but as I’ve found they can happen often. The signs and symptoms of vertigo can include:
- Dizziness
- A sense that you or your surroundings are spinning or moving
- A loss of balance or unsteadiness
- Nausea
- Vomiting
How does Vertigo feel?
Well like you’re inside a tumble drier or on a rollercoaster would be my description. The violent spinning can be quite disconcerting. Thankfully, I’ve only had two episodes where I’ve had to stop and just sit down, before I fall down. On Wednesday I was super close to vomiting, and that episode left me nauseous all night. Other episodes include the room just moving a fraction more than it should after you change your eye gaze. Things that make my vertigo worse currently:
- Laying down
- turning my head to the right quickly
- Going from seated-standing quickly
- moving to the right
- rolling over in bed
What causes BPPV?
Basically, ear crystals. Who knew? There are parts of your ear that monitor head movement. One of these areas has small crystals. These ear crystals, for some unknown reason, decide to dislodge themselves and travel around the ear canal brushing against the fine hairs monitoring motion. The dizziness comes as the brain gets conflicting information from the ear and the eyes.
Is there a cure or medication?
In a word no, not really. It seems to be a “your mileage may vary” when it comes to the cures for vertigo. There is no medication for vertigo, but some find motion sickness medications help. I’ve never found any of these help my motion sickness, and most just make me super tired so I’m holding off on these as a last resort.
There are Canalith repositioning exercises, including the Epley maneuver, that have had mixed results. I’ve been reluctant to try them so far as it can induce the nausea. Coincidentally it’s also the ‘test’ my doctor did for the BPPV and when I discovered for me it was the rotating my head to the right side that caused the vertigo.. For now, I’m just doing less physical activity, and I started taking a homeopathic remedy. Ironically the vertigo got better when I pulled a muscle in my back recently, forcing me to do less.
So when will this go away?
Symptoms of vertigo can come and go, and I’ve found this to be true. I went a full day and half recently and thought it was gone, then it came back with vengeance inducing my second bout of gut-wrenching, vomit inducing dizziness. What is eventually supposed to happen is the brain decides that the ears are unreliable as monitors of movement and instead chooses to ignore the messages from the ear and instead rely on the eyes.
Looking back in my medical records I had a vertigo diagnosis about 8 years ago. Just some bouts of dizziness whenever I taught BodyPump. I would get it for sometimes during the chest track, lying on the bench and turning my head to the right to look at the class It disappeared after about a week, and I thought nothing more of it, until recently. Episodes of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo can disappear for some time and then recur. Damn!
So far I’m still suffering with bouts of vertigo. It has lessened but I’ve been listening to my body and doing LESS. I’m a great believer in the Universe giving us what we need. I was doing too much, and was beginning to spin out of control. I needed to slow down. Now I have to, because otherwise the World around me spins out of control.
Questions
- Have you experienced Vertigo?
- What’s your remedy for motion sickness/nausea?
- Have you had any unexpected health issues recently?
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Rachel
Having chronic vertigo definitely sounds like it can be a hindrance on daily life. I get motion sickness very easily, so I can somewhat relate to the milder symptoms of dizziness and disorientation. Thanks for educating me on the more specifics!
Di Hickman
I get motion sick easily too. Ironically not on rollercoasters, is the slow movement that does it for me, or circling
Sarah
This is a really interesting read, I’m sorry it’s something you suffer with though. 🙁 Until a few weeks ago I thought vertigo was to do with heights! When I was out with my friend, she collapsed and said it was because she had vertigo but I wasn’t sure what it was or what I could do to help x
Di Hickman
Oh no sorry about your friend. Hope she’s ok. Yes common misinterpretation of vertigo, and I used to think that too!
Ashleigh dougherty
Feeling dizzy constantly must be horrible to experience! Thank you for raising awareness.
Di Hickman
thanks!
Jennifer L
I’ve never experienced vertigo before but i can imagine it’s awful. My friend suffers from it and she has to take extra precautions on what she’s feeling and her surroundings too.
Di Hickman
Yep. For the most part it’s gone, but I felt the familiar spinning when we were walking over a bridge last week.
Cassandra Rose
I’d had minor experiences with vertigo and it can be seriously scary. I’m curious about how the homeopathic remedy is treating you. Someone close to me is currently suffering from this after having surgery so I’d love to share any pointers!
Di Hickman
For me it helped. Im not gonna say it outright worked as I was doing other things too (resting mostly) but I think it helped.
Dalene
I think I have experienced vertigo like twice before and never again to the point of falling down, and even lost consciousness for a couple of minutes…I do not know of a remedy though ’cause I haven’t felt that again but for nausea, I go for sweet stuff; from sweets to sweet drinks and my nausea is gone!
Di Hickman
Ha it’s weird with the nausea how different things work for different people. Some say dry crackers, for me it’s buttery toast. I had a friend that swore by Mars bars.
Bethany
Ooo I’ve never heard of this before, thankyou so much for sharing this as it’s spread so much awareness already. It’s definitely something to look out for (the symptoms).
Di Hickman
No problem! Yes it can be one of those things where people say “oh you look fine”.
London Mumma
Thankfully I have never experienced Vertigo before, but I imagine it must be quite scary for a person. Glad there are few things that can help keep it at bay.
Di Hickman
I admit I used it as an excuse for a few days off 😉
Anosa
I remember once after doing yoga I suddenly felt the room spin and I too sat for 30 secs before everything came back to focus but had no motion sickness, my doctor said my body just forgot to recalibrate. It was scary 30 seconds I can’t imagine suffering that every single time
Di Hickman
Yeah it was NOT fun! Thankful that mine seems to be easing a great deal, and I can function somewhat normally again!
kartika nair
I usually have it when I’m traveling in bus to higher places like mountains or on swings . Nausea is the main symptom .
Di Hickman
Yep I can get it traveling too. Buses especially but also cars if I am reading (directions etc)
Jenny
Goodness what a horrible condition, I’m so sorry to hear you suffer from this.
Di Hickman
Thanks, touch wood it seems to be easing a great deal!
Kaz | Ickle Pickles Life and Travels
This is such an informative post – I have never suffered, thank goodness. Kaz
Di Hickman
Fingers crossed you never deal with it!
kirsty
It must be awful feeling so dizzy and sick all the time. My mum had episodes of vertigo years ago and she really didn’t look to great, I do hope the symptoms ease up a little bit for you. For sickness I find dry crackers helpful.
Di Hickman
Yep I had a lot of toast that week!
bryanna skye
I experience this occasionally and it really is terrible – so sorry you have been going through this so often, and I hope it gets better for you x
Di Hickman
thanks!
Dogvills
My mom has this and when she does, it makes her just lay in bed the whole day. Moving makes her feel nauseous! I hope you find relief with this condition. It would be scary to have an episode and put yourself in danger.
Di Hickman
Yep I think I was more upset with the nausea than the dizzyness.
Rebecca | AAUBlog
I have never experienced vertigo, it sounds so awful and really debilitating. i am quite into homeopathic medicine, so hope that remedy works for you
Di Hickman
It can be pretty terrible. thankfully I’ve only had a couple of pretty bad experiences, most have been minor in comparison.
rose sahetapy
I experience vertigo oftenly. It’s completely unpleasant experience and quite scary, especially when I had it in the place I could not lay my body or sit down. As it happens the best I could do is stay still without change my body position until the vertigo is gone.
Di Hickman
Same for me Rose. Just taking that minute or two for things to settle, then moving SLOWLY to ensure it’s gone (for now)
Mike
Great post, I never really knew what it was outside of the old “fear of heights” that is so often shown in film and TV. Hope yours is manageable.
Di Hickman
yeah it’s weird we tend to call vertigo the fear of heights, that’s actually acrophobia…