BPPV Vertigo/dizziness

(Richard M) #1

I have have had dizzy spells for 4 days and have become disoriented at times. Each day it gets longer. I have a hard time focusing and become very dizzy. I can’t walk straight and need to lay down. Tonight it has been going on for 2 hours and not much improvement. When it happens I take salt and drink a lot of fluids. What triggered it tonight (I think) I had a couple of beers. Before, when it happened, I had no alcohol.

I went to a PA yesterday and was told I had Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). Has anyone had any symptoms like this and/or BPPV? Does it go away? If so how long did you have it? What did you do to get rid of it. The medicine that was prescribed was Meclizine.

#2

This has nothing to do with diet. It’s the crystals in your inner ear that sometimes get dislodged. Easy to self treat once you get the hang of it:

You have to make sure you stay in each position long enough to move the crystals. It feels awful!

(Robin) #3

Is it inner ear?

(Robin) #4

I forgot about that! Thanks for the reminder.

(Robin) #5

I also frequently do the pose that is like the beginning of a somersault and holding that. Drains my ear. There’s a name for that too, but can’t remember it.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #6

My father had something like that towards the end, and meclizine really helped—he was in no shape to do any kind of physical manipulation.

So if you can manage without medication, that’s a very good thing, and you’ll have the med as an effective backup, if and when needed.

(GINA ) #7

Me! I have it right now. Mine came on overnight. I was getting over a cold (or flu maybe, wasn’t tested for anything but covid), and woke up one morning thinking I felt better and would go back to work that day. Then I rolled over to get up and thought I had fallen out of bed. I could barely walk to the bathroom. I was sure I had developed a brain tumor.

I had a video appointment that morning with some kind of service my insurance company has us signed up for and that doctor said it is fairly common after the flu or other viral illness. In this type, the ‘tunnels’ in your ears get inflamed. She called in labyrinthitis. She prescribed meclizine and said it should clear up in a few days. I got a second opinion from Dr. Google and it checked out. The meclizine didn’t seem to do anything for me so I quit taking it.

The vertigo did not clear up and I started feeling pressure in my ears, the left one in particular, so I went to my real doctor and he found an inner ear infection. I am on antibiotics and the vertigo is slowly getting better.

There is nothing ‘benign’ about vertigo. It was absolutely debilitating. I couldn’t drive, I was holding on to couches and bookcases just to get to the bathroom. Every time I turned my head I had a wave of nausea. If I dropped something on the floor, it just stayed there because there was no way I could bend over to pick it up. All I could do was sit still in a chair. Even clicking through Netflix and seeing the boxes go sideways made me sick. It was absolutely awful.

After just a day on the antibiotic it started getting better and has continued to improve. I notice it now when I look up over my head or move in more than one direction at a time (like if I stand up from sitting and turn around, or stand up and start walking too quickly).

Good luck getting rid of it. It is absolutely awful.

#8

There isn’t just one cause of vertigo. And meclizine is pretty useless if you have BPPV. You have to move the crystals out. An infection or labyrinthitis is another story.

(Richard M) #9

Haha. I had the same paranoia reaction

(Richard M) #10

After reading your post I believe that is what I have an inner ear infection. Thanks. No chance, until Monday, getting any medicine.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #11

Sorry you had that experience. A middle-ear infection is a dreadful experience. BPPV, on the other hand, is called “benign” because it doesn’t arise from a pathological source and is far easier to deal with than your type of infection. The problem with a video appointment is just the sort of thing the video doctor missed. It took an in-person visit to catch the infection. And of course, meclizine isn’t going to work on an infection. At best, it may relieve some of the symptoms, but they will persist until the infection is cleared.

(Richard M) #12

That is what I like about this website. Somebody has gone through the same thing you are going through(not just eating) and I get an honest answers and a lot of great reply’s. This is website is more than just eating healthy. Thanks everyone.

Merry Christmas.