Jimmy Stewart starred in the 1958 film, Vertigo, with Kim Novak. It’s a psychological thriller directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. Stewart plays a former police detective forced into early retirement because a line of duty incident caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo (a false sense of rotational movement).
I woke up around 5:30 on Memorial Day and, as I got out of bed, the room started spinning. It felt like I was drunk, but I haven’t had a drink in several weeks, so I knew I wasn’t. I took my blood pressure, and if anything, it was a bit low. I sat on the living room recliner and fell asleep for a couple of hours.
When I woke up, I was a bit dizzy. I went about the next couple of hours without a hitch. We had plans to go to a friend’s house for a late afternoon dinner, so I decided to lie down for a bit around 1:00. As soon as I got flat on the bed, the tray ceiling started spinning like a top, so I got up. After about a minute I regained my composure. I decided to sit quietly in the living room until it was time to go.
I heard the shower running around 3:00, so I knew it was time to get ready. Once again, as I got up from the chair, everything started to spin. I went into the bathroom, took a shower, spoke with Ruth, and we decided to go to the closest urgent care for some medical advice.
It’s five minutes from our house, and I was the only patient. I got in immediately, and the doctor checked me out. He found nothing wrong. My temperature, blood pressure, oxygen level, ears, eyes, nose and throat all looked good. He complimented me on my stats. And then we talked.
I’ve been working out in the local pool for the past ten days. I walk for a half hour, do a hundred squats, fifty push ups, take twenty-five steps up and down the pool stairs, and follow that with a hundred knee to chest presses while floating on my back. It helps loosen my back and rehab my knee. On Sunday, I repeated the regiment twice… once in the morning and another in the evening. In between my two trips to the pool I cleaned out several of the sprinkler heads in our lawn. That required me to bend over, with my head down, for an extended period. Ruth and I also played nine holes of golf.
After hearing my tale, the doctor provided an initial diagnosis. I presented all the symptoms of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, also called BPPV. It’s an inner ear problem that causes a spinning sensation when you move your head. The sensation is called vertigo. It’s sometimes triggered by excessive bobbing of your head. My Sunday was filled with bobbin. I may have shaken one or two of my screws loose.
He drew several fancy pictures on a stat sheet regarding BPPV explaining what may have happened. He prescribed Amoxicillin and a nasal spray. I started using both on Tuesday. The scrips are in case I have an inner ear infection. I’m hoping they do the trick. He also gave me some self care tips.
- Sit on the edge of the bed. Quickly lie down on the side that causes the worst vertigo. Lie on your side with your ear down. (I haven’t figured out which side is worse. I tried my left this afternoon and almost went ass over teakettle. I’ll need a spotter before I try my right.)
- Stay in that position for at least 30 seconds or until the vertigo goes away.
- Sit up. If this causes vertigo, wait for it to stop. (The doctor said closing your eyes can assist with this.)
- Repeat the procedure on the other side.
- Repeat this 10 times. Do these exercises 2 times a day until the vertigo is gone.
While I was there he asked if I’d like the tests for COVID-19 and the anti-body. I decided to have both done. The anti-body test consists of a small blood draw. The COVID-19 test was pretty straight forward. They shove a three foot pipe cleaner into each nostril, one nostril at a time, until it hits your tailbone. (It’s really not that bad. About three inches, in and out, easy peasy.) They secure everything and ship it off to a lab.
I’m going back on Friday for my results and a progress report regarding my vertigo. In the meantime, I’m cutting back on my pool regiment. I’m also contracting for a sprinkler system tune-up. I’m reducing my head-bobbin as much as possible.
I think Jimmy Stewart would agree.
Hope you feel better.