BPPV – Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo – Does it affect you? This is how it affected me.

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Monday June 9, 2014 is a day Lynne, my wife, and I will not forget. Supper was a little unusual, BBQ Smokies on a bun. After supper I went, as I normally do, to check what’s happening on the computer. After a few moments, I feel a little nap would take the edge off for dancing in the evening. A few moments lying in bed and I feel nauseated. My head was spinning so bad, I could not sit up on the side of the bed, so I tried to slide out of bed. The vomitting started before I could get to the floor. Lynne heard the noise and came to help. I asked her to call for help. I curled up in a ball on the floor, keeping my eyes almost closed as the room was spinning around.

The paramedics arrived. I remember them saying they thought a Gravol intervenous might help. I said to them it would be nice of them to give me a Gravol intervenous so I wouldn’t have to wait 3 hours for it when I got to the Hospital. Thankfully they complied. Then we were off to the Hospital, where I sat 3 hours in the emergency hallway. The Gravol stopped the vomitting, but the whole world was spinning continually.

Finally they found me a bed in the emergency ward. Someone came and took my vitals, to make sure my condition wasn’t related to the heart. Around midnight I was asked if I wanted to try walking. Taking barely 3 steps before grabbing onto something, they decided I should stay the night in the Hospital. Only then did Lynne leave my side, thinking I should be OK while she went home to get some sleep.

In the morning Hospital staff brought me breakfast just before Lynne arrived. I forced a few sips and bites down. Then I asked Lynne to grab me something to vomit into. All she could find was the lid for the breakfast tray. So much for trying to eat. About noon a therapist came with a walker. I could manage not too bad with the walker, as my dizziness had subsided to where the room wasn’t continually spinning. The therapist went away, returning a few hours later. I was released from the Hospital with a requisition for a wheelchair, a walker and a bathtub chair and a prescription for Betahistine Dihydroc.
Later both my therapist and neurologist said my prescription was not their recommendation for my condition. It did relieve my symptoms occassionally. The directions were “As needed”. I didn’t need them often.
That was their prescription for my future.

Imagine Lynne’s reaction. Not only was she not going to stand for a husband being in this condition for the duration, I wasn’t going to stand for it either, if help could be found. Help was found on the internet under Therapy Vertigo Winnipeg. On the first call, Creekside Physiotherapy asked if we could be there in half an hour. I was in bed and Lynne said it would take more than half an hour to get me cleaned up and be there. Did they have another time? That ended up being a couple of hours later.

By this time Lynne had also contacted friends and told the horror story. All offered their support. We asked friends who had offered, to meet us at Creekside with their wheelchair. There I am being wheeled into Creekside.

The Therapist asked a few questions and was shocked. She was ready to deal with a Vertigo that was intermittent, not one that lasted for hours. She shakes me up a bit to see how long it takes my eyes to react to sudden movement. With that evidence she knows what treatment is best. On the eye chart I could read only the 4th line from the bottom. I was asked to see how many steps I could take. Amazingly after just this little bit of therapy, Lynne wheeled the empty wheelchair out to our awaiting friends and their eyes were wide as saucers to see me walking out.

The Therapist gave me some exercises to do and asked me to see her in a week.

We set up an appointment to see our regular doctor. We asked her if the hospital had sent a report. No. She asked if I had seen a neurologist. No. She asked if I had an MRI. No. She requisitioned an immediate appointment with a neurologist and an emergency MRI. A week later, after hearing from no-one about the neurologist or the MRI, we call the doctor. After looking into it, I got an MRI scheduled for 2 months later and an appointment with a neurologist 3 months later. That’s emergency service.

Second visit to see my therapist, a week after my initial visit, she’s amazed at my recovery. Now I can read the bottom line of the eye chart and walk almost normally. I was given a new set of exercises. I asked about dancing.  She said to give it a try, being ready to sit if I got dizzy. Steadily I progressed from one dance – to half the dances – to a full night of dancing. Within the second week I was driving the car short distances, and gradually progressed to normal driving.

Third visit to see my therapist she’s again amazed at my recovery. She has a list of “Tests” that “Normal” people sometimes have trouble with. She tells me, the ones I have trouble with, I should practice.

Fourth visit to see my therapist she asks if I still notice any Vertigo? Yes. So we want to get rid of it all if possible. This means stirring up the crystals that are causing the Vertigo by positioning the head back and to the left or right. That stirred things alright. The body’s reaction is nausea and sweating. Fortunately not vomitting, but close to it. Because the nausea was a close call to vomitting, we decided to forego doing both sides, and next visit we’d try the other side.

Fifth visit to see my therapist we stir up the other side. Almost no reaction. Stomach doesn’t like my position, but nowhere close to nausea. The therapist thinks we have solved the problem.

Meanwhile, there’s a cancellation and I get in to see the neurologist. She is the one who diagnoses that I have BPPV. A cancellation gets me an earlier MRI. My doctor knows we can joke, and says “I hate to say this Art, but your brain is normal”.

From being assigned to what we thought was going to be life with a wheelchair, walker and a bathtub chair, I now use none of these aids. I get the odd blip, for no more than 2 seconds. I am able to continue as if nothing happened.

Since June 9th many have said to me they have Vertigo or something similar. I tell them I received very good care with my therapist, but that everybody’s Vertigo is different.       Seek the professional help of a therapist. In most cases, they will give you exercises      that if you follow the exercises, you can recover, just like I did.

22 thoughts on “BPPV – Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo – Does it affect you? This is how it affected me.”

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