Stop the world, I want to get off

[cleolinda]

I have no idea what started this, but: when I woke up this morning, I immediately had to lie back down--things started spinning downwards to the left, and I've been having the same kind of dizzy spell on and off all day long. It's accompanied by severe nausea, probably because it's like having the universe yanked out from under you (from the lefthand side). I leaned down to get something out of the crisper for lunch and nearly keeled over, as a matter of fact. Is it a sinus-related inner ear thing? I have been sneezing a lot lately, which could be spring allergies. I don't know--all I know is, it can stop any damn time now, because I've had to totter around all day gripping the furniture with both hands and with my cell phone always in my pocket in case I Fell Down and Couldn't Get Up.

ETA, from particle_person: "Google to the rescue. It's called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)."

Meanwhile, my poor frail grandmother's shingles are a source of constant, pitiful misery to her. I don't know what I thought shingles were--maybe like hives, only not? Maybe that was my impression?--but as Sister Girl put it, "It's more like a light case of leprosy." I mean, yes, I know that it's a resurgence of the chicken pox, I know all of that, but I didn't know it was so horrible. My mother and my aunt are having to take turns fixing meals for her because she can't get up and do it for herself--they're also having to administer the necessary pills, because my poor grandmother is so out of it (fever, I think?) that she keeps talking about how she hasn't taken "all eight pills" today. Never mind that she's only supposed to take five. They actually had to take the pills away so they could dole them out one at a time, lest she take a couple dozen without knowing what she was doing. My cousin (she and my aunt live directly across the street from Grandma, by the way) can't even get anywhere near her because she's never had the chicken pox. And Grandma won't be able to come for Easter lunch because she's so ill, and I know how much family dinners mean to her.

Sigh.

Comments

[crucioveritas.livejournal.com]

Shingles is the adult verison of the chicken pox. Which is sadly the a herpes strand that is attacking mainly the spinal cord.

*hugs* Poor grandma..

[library-of-sex.livejournal.com]

Poor grandma! I hope she'll be alright soon because it sucks to be in so much damn pain! And I'm sorry you've been dizzy all day. I hope it's nothing serious. Take care, sweets!

[wenchsenior.livejournal.com]

I rarely comment so you only 'know me' from SF. I wanted to comment on your vertigo, though. Is it purely motion-caused? Like, if you lie on your back with your head to one side is the room 'still', but if you then rapidly turn your head to the other side, does the room spin for about 5-10 seconds, and then settle again?

If so, you need to look at the following links to try some self-treatment (positioning exercises). I know they sound hokey, but they truly work IF you just have a blockage in the ear caused by a small particle. Trust me, I know that of which I speak.

http://hometown.aol.com/inventmd/bppv.html


However, if you are experiencing worsening vertigo that is more or less constant, then you need to get to a doctor IMMEDIATELY. It's likely you have an infection of the inner ear and will need antibiotics. This happened to me five years ago and I didn't go soon enough. I ended up bed-ridden with the room spinning for TWO FRIGGIN' WEEKS, and the spinning didn't stop completely for nearly 2 MONTHS. I couldn't even walk (what with the nausea and puking), let alone work. I wasn't fully symptom-free for more than 4 months...the longest of my friggin life. Basically, I lost an entire summer while my brain/ear/eyes re-adjusted (re-learned) how to function together.

Don't screw around with this, ok? It's not fatal or anything but my GOD can it make your life unpleasant.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

I had it last month, and it started the same way. Mine lasted about a week, and it wasn't the other kind you mentioned, it was the Benign Blah Blah variety. I think mine was not as bad, though, since I didn't have much nausea.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

So, Dr. Particle - what is it if you (just sometimes) get dizzy when getting up or moving your head too fast, but it also causes a brief blackout/spots in front of the eyes? Like, not a blackout of the fainting sort, but just black in front of the eyes?

I get that sometimes.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

No idea. Low blood pressure?

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Hmm, could be. Or iron deficiency, maybe? They told me I had that once, but that was when I tried to give blood during Lent and I had given up hamburger (don't ask), so I assumed that my iron was lower than usual because of that.

[wenchsenior.livejournal.com]

I get that all the time, from natural low blood pressure exaccerbated by some meds I'm on.

It's pretty normal, I think. It's worse when my blood sugar's low. I don't know if that factors in for you.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Ah - well, that's probably what it is for me too, then. I think it does happen sometimes when I haven't eaten in a bit. Thanks.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, holy crap, that sounds awful. Thanks for the link--I think it truly is motion-caused, because I've been very careful and not had an episode since this afternoon. And yeah, it generally lasts 5-10 seconds and then goes away once I sit down and stabilize myself. It's crappy, and I feel a little wonky--it's like I have a constant sense of mild dizziness, like if I move a little faster, I'll be sick, but I'm not just yet. You know, kind of the way you feel when you're sick or have a fever. The vertigo doesn't actually set in unless I move quickly, get up, or lean down.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Your friend mamapduck asked me to read this post, because I've been struggling with vertigo for two years, with severe vertigo since Thanksgiving, and I've been going through physical therapy for it.

Having it associated with motion doesn't mean that it's BPPV. The other kinds of vertigo are often induced or made worse by head motion. (Mine, for example, is made worse by motion, and it's not BPPV, it's damage to the semi-circular canals of the left ear, from a severe sinus infection.) There are tests they can do very quickly in a specialist's office to see if you have BPPV. I really hope this doesn't stick around for you and doesn't recur, but if it does, and if it turns out it's not BPPV, there's still stuff that can be done for some other types of vertigo.

As I say, I really hope it doesn't stick around and doesn't recur, but if it does and you want to talk to somebody about nasty vertigo crap, feel free to e-mail me. My gmail is marissalingen.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Thanks--I definitely will if it hangs on. Best of luck dealing with it, for real.

[wenchsenior.livejournal.com]

No, that's true...you can have the "not constant and debilitating but continuously-intermittent" variety that won't respond to the postioning exercises.

God, I really know way too much about this, having had both the illness-induced, and random floating-ear-particle induced varieties.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Some things we should not get to be experts on.

(And trust me, the continuously intermittent kind can be plenty debilitating. Just in a different way.)

[prettyh.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, you are so right. My poor Mom woke up one night in January with exactly the same thing - uncontrollable vomiting, horrible vertigo - and she's STILL got it. I even took her to the ER that night, and they didn't give her anything for it other than an anti-nauseant. We just saw a useless ENT today. Nobody seems to have any useful advice. She's just dizzy all of the time & can't walk a straight line.

LABYRINTHITIS IS THE DEVIL.

[caersidi.livejournal.com]

I still remember my first attack about 10 years ago. It did clear up eventually and was helped by the pills given but my heart sank when the ER doc (I had to call 999 and was taken in on a stetcher) said that it was 'incurable' being a virus. Basically once you have it, it returns like herpes.

I've had recurrances but each one seems to have been milder than the last. Still distressing though.

[wenchsenior.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had the same reaction. Was finally basically carried into the doctor by my husband, praying they could treat me, and no. All they can do is get you stoned out of your mind on motion sickness pills to stop the vomiting and lessen the spinning. Then you just wait for your body to re-learn how to register 'up', 'down', 'right', 'left' and that can take months.

[poinsley.livejournal.com]

My mom had shingles a few years ago when she was in her late 50s and she was miserable for weeks. It can get into all sorts of crevices, ugh.

I've never had the chicken pox, but I have had the vaccine, so I'm not sure if I can get shingles. I hope I don't!

[msilverstar]

I had chicken pox as an adult, when my son (not yet teenboy) got his. It was really itchy but I got an interventionist doctor at the clinic and he gave me Acyclovir, which helped a LOT.

For places that were real problems, like my bra line, I sterilized a needle and lanced the worst ones. I didn't care about possible scarring, I just wanted to stop itching!

I bet your cousin could get the chicken pox vaccine they have now. And do look into Acyclovir!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I definitely will--I'll have my mother look into it, or see if Grandma actually already has it. They gave her some kind of cream as well as pills, I think.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I'm all out of medical advice that hasn't been covered by smarter and better-educated sorts already. Just hoping you start feeling better, and dittos for your grandmother. Rest well.

[christwise.livejournal.com]

That's odd. Someone at work was talking about vertigo this morning and I'm not talking about the boring ass movie. Hmm, hope it's not an epidemic and that you get better.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I love that movie!

[christwise.livejournal.com]

I'm going to ask this in all sincerity: why?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

We are talking about Vertigo, right? I love the music, I love the cinematography--the restored version is gorgeous--and the way Hitchcock specifically uses red and green is really interesting. And I love this kind of sweeping doomed yet modern (at the time) love--I love the scene in the redwood forest, and how weird and dreamy and eerie the entire first part of the movie is, where Madeleine is vague and haunted and doomed in some illogical, irrational way, and then we find out why--throwing Judy into the mix, and this idea of Scottie developing this sick need to turn her into Madeleine when she was actually Madeleine the whole time, and it's more than just Scottie being obsessed with this doll-like dream figure, it's Scottie being obsessed and feeling guilty that he couldn't save her, and Judy feeling guilty and knowing the truth but unable to walk away from him and wishing he would love her for herself. And then you have this ending that's almost out of the Twilight Zone, and it's so ironic it's almost hokey, and yet at the same time it's the only way the story can end that isn't a total cop-out. But then, I love old movies anyway, and several Hitchcocks (admittedly, not all of them) too.

[christwise.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes we are.

Ok. I agree it's hard to fault Bernard Herman. I just thought it was boring. Maybe because I had high expectations: I thought the whole thing was going to be like the trippy freakout scene. I did watch it in a Hitchcock class so it was immediately juxtaposed with more films that I just liked better (I highly recommend The 39 Steps if you haven't seen it already). It seems like one of those movies that has big ideas and is very on the nose about them. One of the reasons Hitchcock was a genius is that he made very commercial films but they all had layers and layers of subtext. Vertigo feels like those movies where hipsters wander around and say deep things and it's all very pretty but doesn't amount to much.

I do concede that it is an important film. Though now, more than ever, I notice when films set up the camera to shoot down spiral staircases and it drives me nuts.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I think it helped that I randomly first saw it on cable one Saturday afternoon--it had just been restored, I think, and it was probably on TCM. And I went into it knowing absolutely nothing about it, not even that it was a Great Movie, which probably helped.

Though now, more than ever, I notice when films set up the camera to shoot down spiral staircases and it drives me nuts.

Yeah, I half-assumed I didn't have vertigo today because it didn't do anything like the weird Hitchcock camera thing, even when I was going down stairs. "Oh, this is more of a horizontal movement, it can't be vertigo!"

By the way, I wasn't trying to be snarky with "We are talking about Vertigo, right?" Since we hadn't actually said the title at that point, and I've been kind of woozy all day, I actually wanted to make sure that was what we were talking about. "Oh, that other movie! Oh, well, that is a terrible movie."

(It's less flashy, but I also love Shadow of a Doubt. Maybe even more.)

[christwise.livejournal.com]

Did it feel more like Frodo looking into Shelob's lair? Hee. Hitchcock has done more evil than he will ever know. I actually just read that he originally wanted to use that trick in Rebecca.

Hahaha I had expectations that were not met which probably didn't help one bit.

I am biased. I wasn't blown away by Psycho but I knew all the twists, right to the end. For those who didn't know I'm sure it was thrilling.

Mmm Shadow of a Doubt was good. It was amusing that, even though I sat near the front of the room, I could feel the tension in the room rise whenever the Charlies got a little too close. I want to watch it again now that I've been made aware of all the Dracula imagery that I totally didn't catch the first time.

Haha, it would have been amusing if I had meant something else completely but no. Hello, welcome to my wavelength.

[pygmymetal.livejournal.com]

I've had that cold induced vertico - my sympathies. :(

Can you all have a later Easter dinner for Grandma?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, of course we could. Although she's apparently going to have this for weeks (sob). I'm just more sad about her lying there on Easter wishing she could get out and go to church.

[starlady42.livejournal.com]

I had BPPV for a few weeks last fall. It cleared on its own, but I got a prescription for the symptoms because the head position that brought it on was a 45-75 degree angle backwards -- which meant that when I laid down to sleep, the room started spinning. The medicine I got has the same active ingredient as Dramamine II (NOT regular Dramamine, though that might work too), so you could try that if you want to ameliorate the symptoms somewhat. (Usual side effects of Dramamine II apply: for me, it's a brief nap followed by the desire to snack on pretty much anything that's not nailed down. Works, though.)

Ditto to the above comment about seeing a doc if it doesn't clear soonish. Mine lasted about three weeks or so, though I didn't have attacks every day toward the end of that.

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

I think my father has BPPV.


The last six months or so, I've had problems with dizziness, too. I saw a neurologist, saw an ENT, had my hearing tested, had an ENG exam, had an MRI ...

BPPV was the diagnosis of the ENT, although that didn't seem to sync with the results of the ENG.

My father (a toxicologist) says my dizziness is most likely drug-related.

*shrug*



Anyway ... I'm less dizzy now than I was a few months ago.

====

I'm sorry to hear about the shingles. :(

[darreldoomvomit.livejournal.com]

shingles = maybe ongoing pain in the nerve group affected = sucks. i got shingles when i was 14 and got them diagnosed right away and still get phantom tingling and stuff 6 years later.

[christigilly.livejournal.com]

Aw! Prayers for you and your g-ma...

[word-herder.livejournal.com]

So sorry about your grandmother. My grandmother dealt with it off and on most of her life, though I haven't heard her mention it for many years now. I wonder if all the chemo treatments she has gone through got rid off it. (Mixed blessing...?)

So that's what it is. I get that weird vertigo all the time. The weirdest instance of it was when I was sitting down, not moving, and I suddenly felt as though I were on the wrong side of my cubicle. I knew the water cooler was behind me, but I felt like it was in front of me. I had to stand up so that I didn't feel boxed in, and it went away.

[callie-girl.livejournal.com]

I've been dealing with BPPV since high school and well, it sucks. I've discovered that roller coasters set it off so going to Knotts Berry Farm and then having to leave after the very first roller coaster cause everything was spinning is no fun at all.

But let me just throw my hat in with every one else who's advising to go see a doctor if it continues. There's not always a lot they can do but in rare cases, vertigo is a symptom of other very serious illnesses (when I saw a doctor for my vertigo, he made sure to check my eyes to make sure there was no sign of pressure from a brain tumor). I'm not trying to be all Sally Panic because 99% of the time, it's just BPPV, but the possibility is there so if it doesn't go away or other things are unusual as well, see a doctor. You or anyone else reading this who has had similar problems.

It's times like this where I'm sorry I watch House, where a minor ailment really means you're an inch from death.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Shingles SUUUUUCKS. My mom had it once, and my great-aunt was really sick with it. *hugs* I hope she feels better soon.

[juniper-75.livejournal.com]

I haven't ever had shingles (actually, I've never had chicken pox) but I did know somebody who suffered from them and found that acupuncture was incredibly helpful. He was pretty skeptical at first but finally tried it after nothing else worked. He felt like it helped after just one treatment, altho I think it doesn't usually work that quickly. Anyway, I don't know if your grandmother would be willing to try acupuncture or not, but I felt I had to mention it. Just in case.

[okaasan59.livejournal.com]

I have BPPV right now, too. I had it last year as well, for about two weeks. I'm thinking this year's episode is the aftermath of a nasty flu virus I had a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully it will go away soon.

I went to my family doctor last year and she wasn't really much help. An ENT would probably do better, but I had an aunt who had the same thing and she told me of some exercises you can do to help relieve the dizziness. You can find them online. (I'm not sure where--I need to google them myself so I can find them again.) Anyway, it involves hanging your head upside down off the side of your bed in a couple of different positions in order to try to get the crystals in your inner ear back into place.

Good luck and try to stay upright!

[ilanka.livejournal.com]

Two things:
a) I had that dizzy thing about a week ago. I woke up and stood up and....the world sat me right back down. Mine was swirling down and to the right though =P It was worse when I laid on my back in bed....My bed tried to flush me, Cleo! I hope you feel better soon, that was miserable.

b) Having had a friend with recurrent stress-triggered shingles...*hug* That can be so horrible. For her, she was in constant pain, as it was attacking the nerves in back and arm. She was taking therapy and meds for it, but constantly seemed on the verge of crying. So I'm really sorry to hear about your grandmother, and I hope this bout subsides soon. Lots of [gentle] hugs for her.

As an aside, can a family dinner be brought to HER? It doesn't have to be the official big one, but if she's fairly lucid that day, you and some of your family can bring some food over and eat with her [around the bed if necessary] to share with her. Just a thought.

[caersidi.livejournal.com]

Long title for a condition. :)

It could also be labyrinthitis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinthitis), which has the same symptoms and often comes after a cold/flu.

[sneaky-minx.livejournal.com]

Oh no! I hope your vertigo gets taken care of some way. Also keep an eye on your blood pressure and blood sugar.

Bless your poor grandma! She's been in my thoughts. I've seen other people suffer through shingles, but I imagine her age probably makes it a gazillion times worse. Poor thing. And she'll have to miss dinner? Gah, that's so sad. I'll continue to keep her in my thoughts and heart!

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

An antiacid, like Tums or Rolaids, might help the shingles. It did for a friend of mine.
Read the warnings on the other meds labels tho. Sometimes there can be conflicts.