Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Ever Had Vertigo?

I had an "interesting" experience over the holiday: an episode of vertigo. On Christmas eve, in the morning, I started feeling dizzy as I was helping my daugther get up and get dressed. So I laid down in bed so it would pass. But instead of getting better, I got more and more dizzy. If I opened my eyes, the room would seem to spin. Then the nausea came on. It got so bad that I was sitting on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet with my eyes closed, trying not to move. If I turned my head, I would feal nausea immediately. So I realized that I would need medical attention... and asked my wife for help. Fortunately, Jane's mother was in town visiting us so she could watch our daughter.

My wife drove me down to the urgent care clinic and of course the first thing they said was "the wait is about two and a half hours". I think I gave them a look like "you have to be kidding". As it turns out, a neighbor of ours worked at the clinic and it's possile she helped me get in earlier because I think I only waited about an hour. The doctor asked me some questions, looked in my ears, had me follow a light with my eyes, and abruptly asked me "do you prefer a shot, pills, or a suppository". I chose the shot for the quick action. I was done and went home and the dizziness and nausea finally passed. The doctor also prescibed some anti-nausea drugs, which I took. Then I slept for the rest of Saturday and all of Saturday night. My wife, daughter and mother-in-law went to my parents house for Christmas Eve dinner...

As it turns out, a co-worker of mine here at Lectrosonics also had very similar symptoms. Her doctor told her that it was probably debris in her ear. I came to the conclusion that it was a virus, possibly flu. Here's a description of vertigo and the possible causes. The vertigo itself went away and hasn't come back, although my wife has mentioned she's felt some mild dizziness since then. But the "cold" or flu itself had me a little bit down a few days before the vertigo and more than a week after.

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