In the span of half a minute I was overcome by intense vertigo while calmly at my computer.
When I got up I knew something was wrong: BPPV again, but this time, the worst it’s ever been.
DANG, those crystals!
For anyone who’s never had benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), a first-time episode that’s intense will be frightening AF.
The reason for this is because the symptoms are so dramatic.
The experience could make one wonder if they have a brain tumor or are having a stroke or transient ischemic attack, or even a leaking aneurysm.
I’ve had BPPV many times – but only mild. I’ve even had it many days in a row.
But for the first time ever, I had it at an intense level – and ironically in the past, I had occasionally even wondered what a severe experience of BPPV would feel like, heaven forbid it would ever happen to me. And it did!
Something just felt SO wrong as I slowly walked across the living room.
I felt off-balance and thought about the time my elderly father had one day reported that he felt that his body was pulling to one side (likely a TIA; he was eventually prescribed a blood thinner).
I made a point to steer clear of the staircase to the basement in case I suddenly lost balance.
I also felt this really strange and pronounced “dizziness,” which was the vertigo.
Those damn crystals!
My previous mild BPPV never prevented me from doing anything.
This time, with it severe, I was rendered incapacitated. It felt so awful that I just couldn’t focus on doing anything, even sitting perfectly still while doing light computer work.
At one point I felt a little nauseous while up and slowly about.
I had to shut down for the day. The BPPV had begun at 3:55 PM at my computer, unfolding over about 30 seconds, and I knew that the day was going to end very early.
But I still had to take care of some tasks before getting into bed.
I took my blood pressure just to make sure that this wasn’t a sudden episode of severe hypotension; it was normal.
I also took my temperature to verify that I didn’t have a fever. Again, normal.
I decided to try the Epley maneuver, which I have done several times in the past with pretty decent results.
There are variations of this; the version that I’d always done involved getting on all fours on the floor.
However, this time was a bust. Midway through, while on my knees in the living room, the floor freaking TILTED and I felt like I was going to fall flat over on my side. I had to brace my forearms on the floor to prevent this.
I ceased the maneuver, recharged and attempted it again: same result.
It was around 7:00 when I got into bed.
I sleep in a recliner (sooo comfortable!). Two hours later when it was time to use the toilet I slowly got up, and it was hell.
Overnight, I had gotten up several times to relieve myself, and I’d say by the third time, things were feeling…not so terrible.
Next morning, there was a noticeable improvement – definitely – so much so that I was functional again, able to do computer work and even light housework.
I was ready to attempt another Epley, and it seemed to take the edge off.
Later that day I did it again and it helped a little.
Two days after that I felt perfectly normal and was even able to kill it at the gym (deadlift day!).
