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!
What causes BPPV?
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!).
