Gyroscopic Head Rush

Since Christmas, I’ve had almost debilitating dizziness, especially if I roll over onto my left side while I’m sleeping. The disorientation and sense that the room is rapidly swirling around and around wakes me out of a sound sleep and is scary, especially when I don’t know what is causing the symptoms. I had called the first week of January for an appointment with my GP, but as it so often goes, the first available was Feb. 11, today, and I went to the office with marked hesitation. Last night, I watched a movie on Lifetime in which the female lead was suffering from a slowly-bleeding aneurysm, and I decided that would probably be my diagnosis.

When the doc came into the room, I described the symptoms, including a place behind my left ear that felt bruised from inside my skull. I prefaced my remarks with “you’re going to think I’m crazy,” but the doctor just laughed and told me he knows exactly what the problem is: a form of labyrinthitis.

Sure, okay, that’s a joke, right?

According to the doc, there are 3 little "gyroscopes" in the brain that help us to keep our balance. If one (or more) is not functioning or off-balance, we become dizzy, disoriented, and suffer from vertigo, a side condition of which is vomiting, I've discovered. There is a way to reorient these parts of the brain, and I had the first treatment today, with two more to follow by Friday.

My doc is an osteopath, which means he doesn’t go for the prescription pad first, but thinks more organically; hence, he's treating the symptoms physically before fobbing me off with endless rounds of antibiotics. Additionally, he commented that I’m about the 10th case he’s treated in the last several months. He says that often the symptoms are diagnosed as an inner ear infection, for which antibiotics are prescribed, and the patient cannot figure out why the condition doesn’t improve, often after multiple doses of antibiotics. However, I don't have any symptoms to suggest an inner ear infection, so it's probably not.

It was awful to induce deliberately the extreme vertigo, but by the third time we went through the process, it was less intense than when we started. Hopefully, by the time we complete the final treatment, the gyros will have reset and I will be symptom-free.

A side benefit is that my vision was clearer on the drive home than it’s been in weeks! I’ve had blurred vision, as well as difficulty reading, along with the vertigo. After the treatment, I can see clearly and the outlines of objects outside the windshield were clear and crisp for the first time in weeks.

By Friday, I should be totally over this and able to buy -- and read -- another batch of new books for the weekend.