Does anyone suffer from benign paroxysmal positional vertigo?

[Beausoir]

Any coping techniques to pass along?

[pitohui]

1. i don't know "maybe"???

if that's when you sit up too fast and you get dizzy or nauseated because of low blood pressure, yes, i didn't know it had such a fancy name

sometimes i also get unpredictably nauseated for unknown reasons or else unpredictably motion sick, even just in a ground vehicle, not just an airplane

i have no "tips" other than to always carry dramamine in case of an emergency where it would become a nuisance to be unable to stop vomiting

oh, and also sometimes drinking a coke helps

don't look for a career as an astronaut

[Beausoir]

2. It's when you get violently dizzy if you lay down, look up or look down.

Vomiting, visual problem, etc.

Even reclining in a chair will bring it on.

[zanne]

3. That must be awful.

Sometimes I wake up dizzy in the morning and it takes about 30 minutes before everything stops spinning around. But it does go away. What do you do for your condition?

[frogmarch]

4. OMG, do I!

I have it, and just had a severe episode last night. I have found that the only thing that helps is an over-the counter drug that's made to stop dizziness and nausea. It doesn't always stop the dizziness completely, but it does keep me from vomiting my insides out. It used to be available in prescription only. I'd tell you the name of it, but I suppose that would be considered giving medical advice.

I've been to several specialists, and they've all said my positional vertigo stems from miniscule granules in the inner ear. I get attacks whenever I get water in my ears, or when wind hits them, or when my ears get cold. What a nuisance.

[Beausoir]

6. Yep. Have you had a Dr. try that manuever where he rotates your head rapidly to try and force those

wayward particles back where they belong?

The vomiting is a severe bummer. I just got my diagnosis yesterday.

[frogmarch]

8. No, I haven't, and I am so glad.

I don't think I could have survived it. Yes, the vomiting is a severe bummer. I've never experienced nausea as severe as that associated with vertigo. It's horrible.

[samuraiguppy]

10. could you tell me the

name of this over the counter med? I suffer from positional vertigo as well..

Used to take prescription antivert when I had health insurance--but I can't afford it now.

[REP]

16. Meclizine

I take it for a Meniere's-like condition (my attacks last months, not minutes, so it's not Meniere's but they don't know what to call it).

[rug]

5. I got it just from reading your headline.

[bertha katzenengel]

7. Yeah, but I can't help. I'm sorry.

Just go slow.

[LiberalEsto]

9. Ginger tea

Ginger is very good for dizziness.

I've had benign positional vertigo (don't know if it's paroxysmal or not) for 24 years. Acupuncture helped me to some degree; prozac helped a lot.

Cover your ears well on windy days when the barometric pressure is high.

Look into getting the Epley maneuver at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Maryland. I haven't had it myself, but might if it gets bad again. Link: http://hopkinsneuro.org/vestibular/disease.cfm/condition/Benign_Paroxysmal_Positional_Vertigo

[Beausoir]

11. Thanks. I didn't know about the correlation to windy days. There is a video about the Epley

manuever and how to "do it yourself" on the internet. I've watched it and it looks ridiculously simple.

Does flying pose a particular problem?

ETA: That was a very good link, btw.

[LiberalEsto]

15. I don't know about flying

When my vertigo was bad, I didn't go anywhere by plane. I couldn't even drive, and riding in a car was misery.


Since I started using prozac about 10 years ago, I rarely have a problem except on a very windy day or during a sinus infection. Driving and flying are no problem.

[hippywife]

12. I probably have

meniere's disease which is pretty similar. What I do when I'm having a bout and I start getting the spins really bad is to focus on something small on the wall, like the light switch. I mean really focus on it and the spinning subsides. Whatever you do, do not close your eyes! :scared:

[tismyself]

13. yes

Cold, wind, pressure - even the down drafts next to tall buildings.

Also get horrible vertigo when walking on really shiny floors or if there is too much horizontal and not enough vertical lines or vice versa. To keep my balance, I have to have nearly an equal mix of vertical and horizontal lines that I can see.

I just alter my life to deal with it.

[DeepBlueC]

14. lie down & don't move until it's over

or take a Dramamine. They do have treatments that involve head movements that will probably make you feel way worse before they shift the crystals to a place where the fluid level in your inner ear is again level & you are good to go. In my case that happens eventually anyhow. Tends to last for a couple, few weeks, starting with an episode or two of full-out vertigo until I remind myself NOT to tilt my head way back for any reason, then episodes of lesser intensity and longer duration. I just cope by remembering how I used to navigate when really drunk, and I get by, not entirely comfortably. I leave my bike at home as well. :shrug: