BPPV

On Tuesday morning, I woke up around 7 am.  I sat up on our bed and put my feet on the floor, as usual.  Suddenly I found the room spinning around me. After a while, the spinning seemed to slow down.  I thought perhaps it would go away. But as soon as I tried to move, it started again.  When it didn’t seem to get better, I lied down on my bed again.  Even as I put my head on my pillow, the room continued to spin.  If I lie very still, it seemed to slow down.  But as soon as I tried to move my head, the spinning would start again. It has never happened to me before.  I was so scared that I didn’t know what to do.   I did the only thing I know - I woke my wife.  

She called a friend, Dr. K.  He asked a lot of questions.  Headache? No. Can I move my arms and legs? Yes.  Coughing? No. Muscle aches? No. Chest pain?  I felt nauseous, like car sickness, sea sickness.  …  He said the symptoms sound like BPPV (Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo).  A crystal gets stuck inside one of the three canals at the labyrinth of my inner year.  The fluids in the canals help my brain sense the orientation of my head.  When the crystal blocks the movement of the fluids, my inner gets a bad signal that does not match what my eyes see, and the proprioceptive senses of position and movement returned by sensors from my skin, muscles, and joints.  This results in my finding the room spinning around me. 

Dr. K guided my wife to search for BPPV manoeuvres from the Internet that can be used to confirm BPPV, which one of the 3 canals is blocked, and use gravity to flush out the blocking crystal.  My very smart wife found those manoeuvres and performed some of them on me.  I felt a bit better.  But the room still spins whenever I move.  

Dr. K said if I can go to the University Health Service (Clinic) he could check on me.  After resting some more, perhaps 3 hours after it started, I managed to get up, brush my teeth, and dress, with my head looking straight ahead.  I turned with my body, slowly.  I had to ask my wife to help me put on my shoes because I was afraid to look down.  We managed to get downstairs, get into a taxi, and get to the clinic.  

EEG tests show that my heart was OK.  That was a big relief.  The discomfort in my chest was probably due to the nausea rather than anything with my heart.  Dr. K performed manoeuvres similar to those that my wife performed on me.  He couldn’t detect the involuntary “dancing” of the eyes which would have confirmed BPPV.  He thought my wife might have succeeded in flushing out the crystal already.  All my symptoms point to BPPV otherwise.  There was nothing to be done.  I just have to wait for the residual dizziness to go away, which may take some time. 

One day later, I am almost back to normal. Some dizziness remains, particularly when I move my head quickly.  Otherwise, I am walking around, doing house chores, eating, drinking, reading, working as usual.  I wonder when I can go running again. 

On Saturday, I ran 28 kilometres, up and down Tai Mo Shan.  3 days later, I couldn’t get out of bed.  Such is the frailty of human life - at least that of my own.  

I want to thank my wife for being there, for staying calm throughout, for finding help so quickly, acting so decisively, and sorting out accurate information so effectively and performing the manoeuvres correctly; Dr. K for diagnosing quickly and accurately, answering our numerous questions so patiently, and giving us the information plainly;  the nurses and other staff at UHS for taking care of me; the taxi driver for his understanding and patience; my boss Dr. N for offering help immediately and personally; our children for their support, even though they are far away.  Most importantly, I thank God for putting so many angels around me.  There is still much to learn from this episode.