I paid a visit to the Erie Veterans Hospital yesterday because I’ve been getting dizzy. I’ve been getting dizzy since 1991 or so, but it usually occurred only three or four times a year. A couple days ago I got dizzy four times in 24 hours. Cause for alarm.
The type of dizziness I get can happen any time, and nothing in particular seems to provoke it. Sometimes I hear a little pop, then my head tingles, and the room starts spinning. If I’m standing up, I sometimes start falling over. If I keep my head stationary, it’s not too bad, but if I move my head everything gets whacky.
In discussing this with a friend, he told me of an uncle who had the same thing, and his symptoms were diagnosed as ministrokes. Oh great. Now I’m imagining blood clots stopping the flow of blood in my brain capillaries, the capillaries breaking and my brain dissolving. There goes my intellect, my greatest endowment. How do I care for myself if I can’t work?
If I go to the hospital and I am having ministrokes or transient ischemic attacks, will they hospitalize me against my will? Who will feed my cats? Will they force drugs into me? Should I take the drugs or take my chances and continue with my new diet? I’m thoroughly bummed at this time, and I notice every little ache, pain or tingle.
But wait. Maybe it’s really a brain tumor. Maybe I’m dying. I envision finding homes for my cats, selling all my stuff, hopping in a car and going on a roadtrip to experience the United States as I’ve always wanted to. One last adventure. Then finding a place to blow my brains out before I lose dominion over my own body, both physically and legally.
And knowing the power of the mind, I’m well aware of the potential damage of these imaginative scenarios. You can make yourself really sick by just thinking you’re sick. So I go to the hospital.
The nurse takes my vitals, asks me if I know where I am, what my birthdate is, what the day and year are. I stick out my tongue, smile, perform physical feats on demand. My blood pressure is higher than normal at 147/90 but not alarming to the nurse. I’m put in a cold room to wait for a doctor.
A doctor comes in, listens to my symptoms, and schedules a CAT scan. The scanner is just down the hall so I’m taken there, lie down, and get an average of 1.5 mSv of radiation (Hiroshima was 40 mSv). The doctor never explains the risks of the CAT scan, doesn’t discuss it with me at all. Just takes charge of my body. I suppose he wants to make sure he doesn’t overlook anything. Do I have a choice?
I later learn that an MRI is much less damaging and is the preferred way to view brain tissue. But it’s more expensive. Maybe they don’t have an MRI machine at the VA. I’m relieved to report that my brain is normal. That nagging fear that I might have a tumor has been completely dispelled, so on the whole, I consider it a win trading negative psychic energy for a dose of radiation. Too bad I couldn’t get a tan at the same time.
The new shift brings a new doctor. Okay, so I’m diagnosed with vertigo. It could be a dislodged calcification? which is normally reabsorbed within five days. That can’t be it. Bacterial infection? The doctor wants to give me antibiotics. But I’m not suffering any other symptom of bacterial infection. After further discussion the antibiotic suggestion dies its welcome death.
Now the doctor wants to give me a particular antihistamine that calms the symptoms like dramamine calms motion sickness on airplanes or boats. I’d rather put up with dizziness than take a drug, and now that I know it won’t kill me, I can ride it out without fear. I have removed grains, legumes and dairy from my (paleolithic) diet. I’ve long suspected food allergies, so we’ll see if my new diet has any affect.
I keep redirecting him to cause, and he keeps steering me back to drugs. “Are you sure you don’t want it? Just in case? It’s just an antihistamine like Dramamine.” I reply, “But it’s not a cure. I have to keep taking it. It doesn’t address the cause. Now again, is the problem an inflammatory issue in the inner ear?” I’m looking for the physiological mechanism, and he’s explaining the symptoms. I want to say, “Yo, dude, I already know what the symptoms are. Enough with the drugs!” He talks too fast. I think he’s gone over his allotted ten minutes with me, and he moves on to the next patient.
A nurse takes my blood and I get an ECG. The bloodwork comes back positive, and my heart is fine. Breathe a big sigh of relief. I’m not dying. Why do we humans imagine the worst? Our imagination is a gift, and we abuse it in this fashion. Why not imagine the best and help your immune system along with happy thoughts?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent post, with a capital EXCELLENT. You might add to your reading list, The Balance Within by Esther Sternberg. A bit too science-minded (damn doctors tend to be that way), but a reasonable chronical of the healing powers of the positive mind, intermingled with concepts of modern medicine.
As man has evolved, we have forsaken the gift of thought in exchange for the curse of thought. This is how I feel.
Thanks a lot. And thanks for the book recommendation. It’s right up my alley and has great reviews. I’ve added it to my Amazon wish list.
I know this is an old post and perhaps you’ve gotten more info since may, but I wanted to chime in that I experience bouts of vertigo from time to time (couple times a month).
When I first started having them the doctors checked my ears (no BPPv). They checked my heart. They did a CAT scan and an MRI – all fine. I saw an ophthalmologist who ruled out inter-cranial pressure which might cause “Pseudotumor Ceribri.” They ruled out TIAs too.
Ya know what it is, when all that was said and done?
Migraine.
I get the migraine aura of vertigo, numb face and nausea – but I don’t get a headache.
The final clue (but not always reliable) was that the attacks were coming a couple of times a month around ovulation and the start of my period.
Just thought I’d throw that out there, just in case the info might help.
From a fellow Paleo dieter who gets dizzy and loves metaphysics.
Thanks for posting that, Kay. It might help others who land on this page.
I found out that mine were from drinking too many mochas at Starbucks. When I have one every day I start getting the dizzy spells. Either something’s in the mocha or just the sugar is setting me off. I’m still struggling with giving them up though.
Maybe of no real relevance to the article above, but I’ve been having the occasional bouts of giddiness/vertigo for the past 3/4 years. They only occur when I spring up from a long-term sitting position – usually from working on my PC. The mildest symptom is a feeling of light-headedness that only lasts 10 seconds, but the more intense ones involve some involuntary knee trembling and can last up to a minute. There are no subsequent effects that I am aware of. My blood pressure is OK, but I use maintence BP lowering drugs following a mild heart attack about 10 years ago. I recovered from that without surgery.
As I am now 75, I think that these bouts are probably just symptoms of aging. If I really thought that they were the pre-cursors of something worse, I would seek medical advice.
David, that sounds suspiciously like low blood pressure. Though that involuntary knee trembling is odd.
I found this article about how a woman cured her vertigo with magnesium and water. I have suspected a magnesium deficiency for some time now and have been supplementing. We’ll see how it goes.
Thanks for the post Joanne. I have been experiencing vertigo for about the past two years, once or so every couple of months. However, lately it has increased and has effected me now, while driving, in my gym class, and even just sitting on the couch at home. I decided it’s time to go to the doctors. I have appointments in the next few weeks with an ear doctor, but of course my mind is going crazy thinking the worst…
I liked Kays input too, I have noticed that it happens, around the time of my ovulation and before my period, and is heightened with stress.
Anyway, your posts helped me calm down a bit until my appointments. Thanks.
Glad my post helped, Heather. I think supplementing with magnesium has been helping me. I’m still getting dizzy, but much lighter and doesn’t last as long.
I had all the symptoms that Joanne had and all the same concerns. My first attack was about three years ago. It frightened me terribly. I thought the worst but after a couple of hours it passed. Two weeks later I had another and they progressed from there. In the meantime I lost 40% of the hearing in my right ear. The doctor sent me to the usual specialists who recommended balance/hearing tests, etc., and an MRI. I followed all the doctors orders and after one severe attack or episode as I prefer to call them, my wife called an ambulance, fearing they might be TIA’s. After putting me through all the tests at the hospital they found nothing that would suggest a TIA or any heart condition and concluded it was an inner ear problem of some kind, which I had greatly preferred over the TIA. So it was actually pretty good news. I read online about many possible cures and I tried most if not all, trying to stay away from prescription drugs. Nothing stopped them as I was now having almost one a day. One day at church an 82 year old friend mentioned that he had the vertigo problem since his youth and he often dropped to the floor with them. His chiropractor son suggested quite recently that he try a product, all natural, two small pills a day, that stopped his vertigo in it’s tracks. I asked him to get me a bottle and I am a very excited 80 year old today because it has done the same for me. I haven’t had a single episode since I started taking them. The beautiful thing about them is they are all natural, have no side effects, do not interfere with any drugs and have a multitude of other health benefits too numerous to mention. I don’t know if this blog allows me to give my e mail address should you want more info. If so, it is papajoeu@aol.com. I will glady give you any info I have. It is a miserable condition and I know how desperate people are for help.
Joe