"Nick Has an Exocet" (nickallain)
11/09/2018 at 22:35 • Filed to: None
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"Nick Has an Exocet" (nickallain)
11/09/2018 at 22:35 • Filed to: None | 3
| 10 |
I’ve been under the weather with 1) vertigo and 2) a cold. You’re probably familiar with how a cold works. You get a virus, things suck for a bit, and you get better fairly quickly. Vertigo is... evil.
The form of vertigo that I have (BBPV) is caused by calcium crystals float into a part of the ear where they aren’t welcome (basically bouncing off the little hairs in your ear’s gyroscope.
BPPV is positional vertigo, which means my head movements affect whether I’m dizzy or not. I can sit still, looking forward, left, or right just fine. If I look up or down? All hell breaks loose.
What kind of hell? First off, the room spins diagonally. Second, my eyes do this:
That’s right, my eyes twitch around - and yes, you can feel it.
How fast does it go away? On it’s own? That could be months. I saw an ENT last week, who referred me to physical therapy this week. They can help get it resolved faster (usually days or weeks). But there’s a catch.
As sucky as is it to not be able to look up or down, the PT can be even more dreadful. It involves moving intentionally between positions that induce the worst gut wrenching dizziness in an attempt to move the crystals out of there like a game of Perplexus.
I had a PT spend about an hour and a half working on me yesterday. This morning was the first morning to do the exercise by myself. I ended up nauseous nearly all day - partly from lack of sleep from my cold - partly because I was playing marbles with my inner ear.
Until I fix this, all work on my cars is stalled. I can’t look down enough to look at wiring on the Exocet. I also have an international flight in 15 days quickly followed by 2 domestic flights leading up to Christmas. I can’t help but think that none of this would have happened had I taken a few extra vacations days and not had work stress me about moving my raise to next July.
Here’s the PSA portion:
People with vertigo don’t look sick. They look totally normal. But if someone tells you they have vertigo, understand that they are probably having problems doing things you take entirely for granted: washing their hair, shaving (seriously, try to do this without raising your chin), getting items out of cabinets, tying their shoes, etc. They’re not dying, but they probably feel like they are. Give them some slack.
gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
> Nick Has an Exocet
11/09/2018 at 23:04 |
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yikes. do you get any reli e f if focusing on something far away?
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Nick Has an Exocet
> gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
11/09/2018 at 23:18 |
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Not really. The only relief is not moving my head up or down. Basically, it’s fine staring forward, left, or right. If I look up, down, or lay on my left side, it’s hell while the crystals tumble around. Things slow down after 30-60 seconds as they settle.
WilliamsSW
> Nick Has an Exocet
11/09/2018 at 23:24 |
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Ugh. That sucks. Hope the vertigo goes away as quick as possible. I know people that have had it and it’s miserable. Good luck!
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Nick Has an Exocet
> WilliamsSW
11/09/2018 at 23:25 |
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Thanks! Heres to hoping!
Chariotoflove
> Nick Has an Exocet
11/09/2018 at 23:55 |
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I had a little of what you describe weaning off some meds. Just enough to say you have my sympathy.
shop-teacher
> Nick Has an Exocet
11/10/2018 at 03:39 |
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Oh man, that sucks. A buddy of mine got that so bad once, he was in the hospital for a couple weeks. Constantly barfing from motion sickness. Then one day it up and went away, and never came back. That's been about 20 years now. Hopefully that will happen for you!
MoCamino
> Nick Has an Exocet
11/10/2018 at 07:52 |
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Yep, that sucks a lot. My wife gets the same thing once or twice a year. I went to the PT with her to learn how to help her with the exercise. I always feel bad doing it but I know it’s the only way she will get better. Did they tell you not to lay down flat for two days after doing the exercise? It sucks to sleep sitting up but it helps her get better faster.
TheRealBicycleBuck
> Nick Has an Exocet
11/10/2018 at 10:34 |
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Sorry to hear that. My wife dealt with this for several months, but she was never bad enough for her eyes to twitch. When she got out of sorts, we would do the Eppley maneuver, she’d spend some time relaxing, then she’d be good to go for a few hours as long as she was careful about how she moved. I know how bad it can be, so I hope things get better for you soon.
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Nick Has an Exocet
> MoCamino
11/10/2018 at 11:35 |
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Yeah they told me to sleep with 2+ pillows. I think the advice changes based on which canal the crystals are in.
brianbrannon
> Nick Has an Exocet
11/10/2018 at 12:30 |
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I had that and found a grafic showing the movements. Doing them for one ear made it worse and for the other ear made it better. It only took about a week to
get rid of it