BPPV

BPPV is no fun. I had never even heard of it until I blacked out at work a year ago and my head broke my fall. I had a huge hematoma down the back of my head. They called a rapid response code and all these people came running. Kind of embarrassing. They strapped me to a backboard with a neck brace and wheeled me off to the ER. I can't tell you how many bumps there are between the unit I work in and the ER but there are a lot and each and every one hurt my head. I first felt the vertigo when they log rolled me to put me on the back board. I thought it was something that would pass but it didn't. Two weeks later I was still so dizzy I couldn't walk or even sit up. I was on Phenergan and Valium and absolutely miserable. They finally sent me to a neurologist who diagnosed the BPPV. I had never even heard of it and thought the cure he suggested was nothing short of voodoo medicine. But, it worked. They performed this procedure called the Epley's maneuver . It may seem like a simple thing but sitting up and laying back really fast when you are so dizzy is a tad scary. I had to sit upright for 48 hours (even slept that way) so that the crystals wouldn't fall back into a part of the inner ear that was affecting my balance. I still have some vertigo when I look up (they call it top shelf vertigo) and stand too fast. It is a problem at work because all our monitors and pumps are elevated but it is manageable. They aren't sure why I blacked out to start with. It was really hot on the unit and I was slightly anemic but they didn't feel enough to cause a black out. It was probably a combination of those things and the fact that I hadn't slept well the day before coming to work. They like to tease me at work by saying I knocked my marbles loose and when anyone is feeling faint they refer to it as a "Sophie Moment". All in good fun. Everyone was very worried when it happened and I can't tell you how horrible it is to be so dizzy. Thank goodness they have this treatment now. It use to be something you had to live with. I'm just not sure how you did that. I couldn't drive, work, sit up, walk. It was terrible but now they can fix it so for that I'm very grateful.