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Sympathy for the Dizzy
They say that to understand somebody, you need to walk a mile in their shoes. This time around, a mile would be challenging, but I don't really need that far.
Wednesday morning, I got hit by a vertigo attack -- quite suddenly, while brushing my teeth. That's nothing new: I believe this is my third time around on this particular guitar, and while it's annoying and inconvenient, it's not especially earth-shaking. It cost me some spoons, but I got through a fairly productive day, only crashing when I was done with work.
Yesterday morning, though, I woke up and it was ten times worse than I've ever had it before. Sitting upright was work, standing took real effort, and walking was a slow and careful process. (I mentally pegged it as Davey-grade vertigo.) The dizziness was bad enough that I couldn't even keep food down, suffering two bouts of vomiting before 9am. That got me down to the doctor's office. The conclusion was that, no, this isn't anything different, just a much worse version of the same thing.
(Sidebar: conventional vertigo is caused by, essentially, a bit of schmutz floating loose in your inner ear. Between that and the kidney stone, I'm concluding that all of my ailments are caused by grains of sand in the wrong places.)
Anyway, she prescribed meclizine, which I gather is basically a more modern version of dramamine, and that underscores that, in a fair sense, what I have here is persistent motion sickness. I've never really grokked motion sickness -- having grown up in my father's little four-seater plane, I got trained to deal with *serious* motion quite early, so while I've known it was a thing, I've never really understood incapacitating dizziness. Yesterday, I got to experience it; not a pleasant experience.
It's easing a *bit* today -- say, only four times worse than it's ever been before -- and between that and the meclizine I'm at least semi-functional, if moving very slowly and carefully. But it's taking its own sweet time to pass, so folks should note that my plans for the weekend are now highly in doubt. I'll regret missing Falling Leaves, but unless I feel a *lot* better by tomorrow morning, it's not going to happen...
Wednesday morning, I got hit by a vertigo attack -- quite suddenly, while brushing my teeth. That's nothing new: I believe this is my third time around on this particular guitar, and while it's annoying and inconvenient, it's not especially earth-shaking. It cost me some spoons, but I got through a fairly productive day, only crashing when I was done with work.
Yesterday morning, though, I woke up and it was ten times worse than I've ever had it before. Sitting upright was work, standing took real effort, and walking was a slow and careful process. (I mentally pegged it as Davey-grade vertigo.) The dizziness was bad enough that I couldn't even keep food down, suffering two bouts of vomiting before 9am. That got me down to the doctor's office. The conclusion was that, no, this isn't anything different, just a much worse version of the same thing.
(Sidebar: conventional vertigo is caused by, essentially, a bit of schmutz floating loose in your inner ear. Between that and the kidney stone, I'm concluding that all of my ailments are caused by grains of sand in the wrong places.)
Anyway, she prescribed meclizine, which I gather is basically a more modern version of dramamine, and that underscores that, in a fair sense, what I have here is persistent motion sickness. I've never really grokked motion sickness -- having grown up in my father's little four-seater plane, I got trained to deal with *serious* motion quite early, so while I've known it was a thing, I've never really understood incapacitating dizziness. Yesterday, I got to experience it; not a pleasant experience.
It's easing a *bit* today -- say, only four times worse than it's ever been before -- and between that and the meclizine I'm at least semi-functional, if moving very slowly and carefully. But it's taking its own sweet time to pass, so folks should note that my plans for the weekend are now highly in doubt. I'll regret missing Falling Leaves, but unless I feel a *lot* better by tomorrow morning, it's not going to happen...
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There are multiple potential causes, and treatment options for some of them. (I think I've mentioned that I actually had two different kinds of vertigo, yes? One of which was repaired by the surgery; the other can't be because it's on the same side and another surgery isn't recommended. And a girlfriend's vertigo had a completely different cause from either of mine, for which a fluid shunt has been an effective treatment.) If yours doesn't throttle back in frequency or intensity, it's time for a referral to figure out which of the possibles is the actual cause, and then consider your options.
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Bonine is chewable but lower-dose than the usual Rx.
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Feel better!
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