Vertigo: Not fun like the U2 song, yet very treatable!

It all began last November. I was going about my life when one morning while doing stretches before a run, I got dizzy. Real dizzy. I thought it was odd, and tried to brush it off. Until it happened again. And again. It was almost always when I was laying down. The room would start spinning. I also had a “full” sensation in my ears, like they needed to be popped.  And I felt out of balance. Alarmed, I called my awesome internist, who got me in immediately.

She told me she thought it was an ear infection, that it would eventually clear up, and to call her if it did not. I patiently waited, but the dizziness and imbalance were worsening, and since it was happening every time I lay down, it was making sleep difficult. Weeks of dizziness, imbalance and no sleep began to wear on me and then worry and anxiety began to set in.  Since my line of work involves medicine and I work with multitudes of physicians of various specialties, I began to fear it was something more serious and began conjuring up various diagnoses. The good and bad of working in the medical world!  This of course fueled the anxiety even  more, which was fueled by lack of sleep, with a hefty dose of dizziness thrown in daily. One was feeding the other.  Of course I was researching vertigo on the internet and was stunned at my findings.

The treatments I found all involved prescription medications, anti-anxiety drugs and other powerful drugs. People who posted their experiences were depressed, scared, had lost jobs over it, were worn out, and were on drugs that knocked them into a semi-coma! I was terrified that I was going to have to get on some powerful medication.  A friend of mine told me she had vertigo and was on a medication that “knocked her out for 18 hours”…..that was not what i wanted!

I went back to my Internist who said it was time I see an Ear, Nose & Throat specialist. I then called Presley Mock, M.D., one of the best otolaryngologists in Dallas. I was half-expecting him to prescribe me drugs.  I was still afraid it was something very serious. After running extensive tests, Dr. Mock diagnosed me with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), probably caused from the ear infection.   He prescribed Vestibular Rehab.  What the heck is that, I wondered? That’s when I met Connie Thomason, with Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas, who is the most  knowledgeable, wonderful Occupational Therapist who is medically certified to treat this specific disorder through physical rehabilitation.

By the time I met Connie, I had experienced daily vertigo & sleeplessness for almost two months, it had ruined my holidays, and it had taken a toll. I was a basket case. Connie assured me that very first day that it was treatable by a series of maneuvers called the “Canalith Repositioning Procedure” (CRP),  or “Epley Maneuver” named for the inventor, Dr. Epley.  It has an 80% cure rate! I also should add that Connie reinforced to me that vertigo is “extremely debilitating and disruptive to one’s life.”  I could certainly attest to this!”  She told me that people are often prescribed “anti-vertigo” medications that are only a Band-Aid, not a cure. These only suppress the vertigo for awhile, leaving the patient drowsy and feeling  out of it.

BPPV occurs when small crystals in the ear get displaced in the inner ear canal sending false signals to our brain, thus causing vertigo & imbalance. These “ear rocks” are actually small crystals of calcium carbonate.  The goal of the Epley Maneuver is to reposition the ear rocks in the ear canal.  These maneuvers involve a series of specifically patterned head and trunk movements performed by a trained professional like Connie, who closely watch eye movements with each position change.  It is done in the office in about 15 minutes! I was given specific instructions to ensure that the repositioned crystals stayed intact along with some home exercises. The dizziness was gone immediately and the imbalance feeling was gone in a few weeks with the exercises.

Here’s a web site with illustrations of the Epley maneuvers:

http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/bppv/bppv.html

Another very informative web site is the Vestibular Disorders Association:

http://vestibular.org/vestibular-disorders/treatment/canalith-repositioning.php

I have talked to so many people about this safe, effective, non-drug treatment for vertigo and am surprised at how many people don’t know about it, including some physicians.  So, if you are experiencing the terrifying effects of vertigo and imbalance disorders, please know there is help. The VDA website above can help you find a trained medical professional in your area to treat you with the Epley maneuver.

I hope this helps! Have you or someone you know experienced vertigo? Let me hear from you. Share your comments!