There I was, around noon time, anxiously waiting in my kitchen for my oyster seed delivery to arrive, so I could head up to our summer cabin to plant the baby oysters before the tide came in.
Then out of the blue, the room started spinning. I grabbed the counter to keep from falling and barely made it to the couch, feeling my world collapse…
I didn’t start out wanting to write a column on old runner medical issues, but here I am, with another issue from left field that I hope by sharing with you, will help you prepare and deal with future health issues you may encounter.
Shortly after collapsing on the couch, my wife arrived, “Hey, your oysters are here!” I replied, “I’m sick, put them in the fridge!”. And so began my journey with vertigo.
The spinning continued until the following morning. I could lay down, but any movement like sitting up or trying to stand invoked a burst of dizziness and nausea. I couldn’t look at my phone, watch TV or read. I felt like a prisoner to my couch.
Luckily, we got an appointment with my family doctor that afternoon. Having heart disease always is a complicating factor. After checking me for stroke, head movements to trigger ear crystal movement, an EKG to check my heart (abnormal since I just had a heart attack), she referred me to the hospital ER.
The ER doctor was great, and fortunately, my Cardiologist was on call at the hospital. Between the two of them, came a plan of ruling out stroke or cardiac issues by way of a CT scan and blood work. The CT scan was good, but I still had excess heart muscle enzymes in my blood. So they decided a MIR was needed and possibly an angiogram on my heart. Meaning I would have to spend the night in the hospital.
Of course my biggest concern at the time was the fate of my oysters. they had to get in the water as soon as possible. So we hatched a plan, come to find out, my cardiologist, who also grows oysters, missed out on the Kimoto oyster seed sale, so my wife took the seed over to his house and his neighbor planted them since we were preoccupied at the hospital. Whew! I was feeling better already!
The following day, the MRI and angiogram proved inconclusive, which was good, but still no idea how the vertigo happened in the first place. My dizziness was gone and I was discharged with a referral to a vascular PT for follow-up.
Two days later, I woke up with everything spinning again! Holy Crap!
Another trip to my doctor, and she got me in to see a vascular PT right away. After doing all the tests and head movements in his arsenal, my PT was stumped. I was showing all the classic symptoms, but not responding to any of the normal treatments.
I hate being “Special”!
I left with some daily exercises to do, a dizzy head and confused.
Here I am, 10 days into this and I am feeling better. I’m now more light headed than dizzy, though I still don’t walk straight. But I can futz around the house and do things, so that’s good. I feel this thing will work it’s way out in the next few days, so there’s hope.
I still have a couple of appointments coming up, including an ear specialist. There may still be a chance we figure out the root cause of my vertigo.
My wife tells me she’s heard much worse stories from friends who suffered bouts of vertigo. Some with nausea and vomiting for 1 to 2 weeks, one who was dizzy for a month!
Have you or an acquaintance experienced vertigo? Please post in the comments, I would love to hear other stories.
-Herb
I had a similar sounding incident in May of this year, and have learned much since then. Dr. Joe Damiani on youtube talks a lot about cervicogenic dizziness, vestibular issues, etc. No instant fixes but at least familiarized me with some of the potentially relevant considerations to discuss with my Dr.