Tiny- tim again

[Tiny_Tim]

Thanks for all the helpful answers to my recent post about needing more reassurance .Saw Dr today who confirmed the labyrinthitis.Said the Epley manowevre would not be right for me as it is used more for Vertigo. She has given me pills which are actually really only sea sickness ones, but also helpful in this situation .hopefully the next 9 days will see good progress, so that I can enjoy the family wedding .Plenty of rest built in before then !

PS have booked an appt with cranial osteopath tomorrow .I use this for migraine and have found it a very useful treatment .

Tiny- tim

[SnazzyD]

Good luck! The pills are ok because in labyrinthitis the dizziness is due to the same process as motion sickness, except the brain is being fooled by something else.

Interesting about the cranial. I can't have it because it gives me motion sickness for a couple of days.

Have your bought your hat yet?

[piglette]

My brother had the Epley procedure. We only found out about it because I saw it on TV. His doctor did not mention it. In the end my brother went to a physio for it. He could not believe what a miracle it was. The dizziness was slightly different to the pred side effects in that it mainly happened when he got out of bed and he had to wait a while for it to go away. Epley solved the problem in minutes, completely.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to piglette]

Apparently doctors don't like doing it in their practices because patients often puke...

Told that by a friend whose neurologist told her about it after the fairly useless GP finally referred her. The neuro didn't offer to do it - so her daughter, formerly an anaesthetist and latterly a cruise ship doctor, looked it up on YouTube and followed the instructions... Very successfully

[piglette in reply to PMRpro]

I had heard that. So they let someone else do it!

[Marilyn1959 in reply to piglette]

Hey Piglette, Does your brother have labyrinthitis or positional vertigo? Since he has it mostly when getting out of bed sounds like positional vertigo.

I have positional vertigo which also makes me dizzy when I turn over in bed. Usually I manage this by keeping my eyes closed when turning. However when I had a colonoscopy a few months back I forgot to keep my eyes closed. So as I turned I felt the bed go from horizontal to vertical. Shouted out Ohhh Errrr, grabbed a silver disc attached at a right angle to the bed to save me falling off the bed, which in my mind had turned 90 degrees and I was in danger of falling since, from my vertigo perspective, there was no bed underneath me. In the process of my little episode I managed to tie the tubes coming out my backside in knots.

I didn't panic as I knew what was happening but the room was thrown into chaos! The five calm professionals in the room (- yes a complete waste of NHS resources), began to panic flying to my aid, with some running around like headless chickens audibly gasping, wondering what the hell was happening since to all intents and purposes nothing, from their perspective, had changed.

I took back control and simply closed my eyes which is my strategy to stop the dizziness, but I think my sudden stillness and silence worried them more! It only took me a few seconds to regain control but took me ages to reassure them it wasn't a problem. It was vertigo, had it for years and just forgot to close my eyes when I turned. Their faces were a picture. Absolutely Hysterical!!!! 😄😄😄😄 ( just the memory is making me laugh now as I am typing).

Down side was I had to go into recovery and stay there quite a while unnecessarily, despite my protests that I was fine, as quote - "she had a funny turn during the procedure and needs extended monitoring!" It probably didn't help my case that, by the time the procedure had finished, I was cracking up laughing as they wheeled me out!

Methinks I may look up the Epley procedure!!!!!!! If not for my own benefit, for the benefit of others???????

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Marilyn1959]

FIVE? Hope some of them were being trained! Mine was done by 2 - the doctor and the nurse. With a junior member of the expedition - who I was SOOOO tempted to ask to go away as I'd had a very unpleasant run-in with her on the ward when she messed up my discharge papers and when I queried it told me I was "interrupting my coffee break". She did get a superb exhibition from the doctor about how to relate to patients though.

[piglette in reply to Marilyn1959]

Hi Marilyn, yes my brother had BPPV like you. We do not often meet, but we were having lunch and he was telling me the symptoms and that he had seen a GP who said nothing could be done, live with it. As I said I had seen something on TV about the Epley procedure the previous week. He went to a cranial physio and said it was the best thirty five pounds he had ever spent. He was perfectly OK after just a few minutes.

[Marilyn1959]

Oh I am so pleased Tiny_Tim that you now know what is causing your symptoms. Hopefully this has provided you with a bit of reassurance. Also hope the sickness tablets will prove effective. Try tip 1 (in my reply to previous post) to see if it helps manage any dizziness if you don't fancy the Epley procedure the others have mentioned. Tip 1 won't cure but helps to self manage symptoms as they are happening and you can do it from any position in any circumstance. I learnt the strategy on a course they ran at local hospital for self managing vertigo and it has proved effective for me (except when I forget to close my eyes and am having a colonoscopy! see above my response to Piglette's reply)

Hope all goes well at the wedding. We will expect a recount post after the event. Best wishes. Marilyn

[Tiny_Tim in reply to Marilyn1959]

Thanks for this..guess what ! ..Though still slightly dizzy this morning , I have just had the best night sleep in months, not even a loo stop, and nearly 8 hours. Will still have to deal with all the pred/ PMR problems, but this will help to " knit up the ravelled sleep of care" (Will Shakespeare!)

[Marilyn1959 in reply to Tiny_Tim]

Brill XX