Ear Crystals & Positional Vertigo

I pretty much lost four days of my life earlier in the week to a......... dizzy spell. I felt like a weak female in the 19th century. You know, those swooning Victorian women? Yup. Like that. à la tedious Mrs Bennet in 'Pride and Prejudice' and Mrs Gamp in 'Charles Dickens'. It wasn't a fluffy bed with loads of pillows I required. A fainting couch was totally needed. 

For the first time in my life, I had an extended dizzy spell. It started mild in the late afternoon, hit really bad at night, and smacked me in the face fully in the morning. My eyes couldn't focus, couldn't read, obviously couldn't even open up the MacBook to clear work. Reading texts on the phone was painful too. I could barely put in an order for bread. Luckily I already typed it out the day before, and only needed to copy and paste onto the text. Nausea was bad, and I had to puke. It was uncontrollable. I also learnt that vertigo or dizziness is worsened when I lie flat. Ugh. 

I tried out both Epley and Semont Maneuvers. Didn't work. Was forced to go to the clinic get an opinion. And after I got out of the car, I also puked into the drain by the road. Very unglamorous. Like I was drunk at mid-day. The doctor said it was likely positional vertigo, and just to observe. When I have no other clinical symptoms except for breaking into cold sweat, nausea and extreme dizziness, it's hopefully a one-off. I've had it before once earlier this year. But that was super mild and it dissipated after a few hours. 

Had to cancel loads of meetings, calls, pilates and all. Didn't even eat on the first day of the vertigo. Couldn't eat. Broke out in periodic cold sweat for a few days. Doing laundry and cleaning the dog's paws were challenging. Taking a shower was scary. I mostly took to the armchair and the bed. That was when I thought I should buy a fainting couch. It was that bad. This episode was debilitating. Needed vestibular suppressants. The intensity of the spinning room decreased only after three cinnarizine pills. Then I continued with the Epley and Semont Maneuvers. Only at this point, then these maneuvers worked, and helped loads with easing the vertigo. Both inner ears are affected. But it feels like the right is more severe. 

This 'dizzy spell' even has an acronym- BBPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo). I do have an inner ear imbalance, especially when allergies flare and the sinuses run amok. I also have motion sickness (surprise surprise). So I'm not that weirded out by this. The crystals in my utricle probably went mad dancing around. It's not Meniere's just yet. I'll have to observe a little more. It could be a seriously delayed reaction to the uhh *cough* vaccine. I had two allergy flare-ups for the weeks after the jab and the third is this extended attack of BBPV, all of which I couldn't discern any obvious triggers. 

If you have vertigo and you're practicing the Epley/Semont maneuver to try to move the crystals back into the utricle, your eyes will involuntarily dart around. You can't hide that. I could imagine me telling friends and all that I'm bailing out on a date because I have vertigo. People who have never experienced it might not believe you. Like, are you for real? Ugh. I royally scared the husband when I turned my head side to side and he saw my eyes roll like a zombie. (Or like a possessed person's eyes in an Exorcist film.) 🙄 

I have no idea what caused this. But any weird movement to the upper cervical spine can affect the ear crystals. This is why I'm not fond of doing inversions (usually in yoga) or things like that nowadays. Unsurprisingly, both Pilates and Gyro instructors are aware of Epley and Semont maneuvers. So they'll tailor my sessions next week accordingly. Had to cancel this week because I wasn't in any shape to read, type texts or leave the armchair, much less step out of the flat for any activity.