15 December 2006
Benign Positional Vertigo. That’s the technical name for it. I’ve been dealing with this stupid thing on and off for about five years. It’s not painful like the back problems I face. It’s not completely debilitating like the migraines I used to experience. And it’s not as totally scary as the crazy heart palpitation thing that happens sometimes. But, it’s pretty disconcerting. And a little scary. And just darned annoying.
It’s an inner ear thing–no known cause . . . and no practical treatment. Oh, there’s a crazy exercise you can do that might help if you do it a few times a day and a few days in a row. Oooh, and it will make it worse before it might make it better! And there’s a little known manipulation some doctors know how to do, that might help quicker. But, it’s obscure and afterwards you have to stay upright for 24 hours. Untreated–it just goes away on its own. Sometimes hours, days, even weeks later.
In the meantime, I deal. And on days like this, it’s harder to deal—about as bad as it gets. I was fine until early afternoon when I innocently looked up! I was in the attic when it started–I was assessing the holiday decorating I want to do, and I happened to look up at the roofing nails that protrude through the plywood. Bad idea. Getting down from the attic was fun.
So, when the day drew to a close, and I still hadn’t taken a photo, I got the bright idea to try to capture in a photograph, the icky way I’d been feeling all afternoon and evening. So, this does it pretty well.
~MB
