right round like a record baby

[green]

It's pretty amazing that somehow after all this time, I've never actually made or used a 'physical health' tag. I have my 'my back hurts' tag, but nothing about any other physical complaints, just my pain. Huh.

But then I have to add the 'mental health' tag, because it's tied together.

VERTIGO, my friends, has come upon me once again. (not Hitchcock's kind)

I've had bouts of it over the years (the worst case of it I ever had was shortly after 9/11), and it's always because of some kind of upset in my emotions. If I cry too hard, BOOM, I get dizzy, and the dizziness might last for days. Usually it's manageable, but the previously mentioned 2001 case was debilitating. I could not move from my bed without assistance, and when I didn't get that assistance (thanks, asshole!) I ended up crawling on my knees to the bathroom in order to throw up. Nice, huh? (it should be mentioned that I was in my 3rd trimester and 9/11 was also Dad's bday, and he'd died a couple of months before. so there were many negative factors contributing to my state)

This time around, it's not nearly as bad. (and I am SO grateful for that!) But it has been going on for a few days now, and it isn't getting better.

If it gets any worse, I'll go to the doc and get some Antivert. Or tests. Or whatever. Sometimes it goes away on its own and I really don't have the money for another doctor visit this month. Or more meds. I know there are some exercises I can try at home to maybe lessen the problem, but UGH. They make you dizzy in order to make you less dizzy. I'm trying NOT to be dizzy, you know? :( I'm such a coward.

Comments

[adafrog]

{{{hugs}}}

[green]

thank you, hon. *hugs back*

[montanaharper]

Have you tried the Epley maneuver? I swear by it for my bouts of vertigo.

The super important thing is to do it as soon as you get dizzy and then stay upright for as long as you can, even sleeping upright if possible.

[green]

Yeah, that's scary. It's making me feel it just watching that video. *shudders*

[montanaharper]

Whether or not it works depends on the cause of your vertigo (benign positional vertigo—dizziness when you move your head, even a little—as opposed to other causes of vertigo), but it's really not too bad while you're doing it.

If you Google, you'll find a better explanation, but basically there's microscopic debris in the inner workings of your ear that can get shifted into the space where fluid movement tells your brain what your body's orientation is and that debris can then trigger the feeling of moving in ways that you're not really moving. The Epley maneuver shifts the debris along the pathway of the inner ear, back to where it belongs, so that it stops doing that. As far as I know there's no danger in doing it without a doctor's supervision; if the vertigo is bad it's not likely to make it worse, and my experience has been that it always makes it better.