Vertigo

Me, Vertigo Free

Last week vertigo came back.  I had ten days of vertigo once I got home from the hospital in October. Good news is it’s now gone and I feel even stronger and freer this week. Here is some of what I’ve done to ease the dizziness and nausea.

First thing I pay attention to is keeping my neck free.  Alexander Technique is immensely helpful for that. The tendency is to freeze the neck muscles in case any movement causes a wave of dizziness.  Unfortunately freezing the neck adds to my body’s confusion between eyes and ears and where the floor is.  Its useful to allow a small amount of vertigo, in other words go with it rather than brace against it.  Moving in slow motion makes it possible to do this.  Slow turning, slow walking, slow rising.  This also helps me pay attention to my breathing, keeping it slow and full.  One tends to hold the breath to control dizziness and nausea but it has the opposite effect—increasing the problem.  When I first dealt with vertigo in October I discovered that I like to spin through life.  Instead of stopping and changing direction in the kitchen I will swirl, in serpentine paths to get to my next destination.  I’ll make full circles to go from place to place.  I had to stop that and become much more conscious of each move. (Don’t worry, I go back to the dance when the vertigo goes away).

Another very helpful tactic is to always touch something with one fingertip.  When walking I would lightly drag my finger along the wall or each piece of furniture along the way. Scientific studies have shown this helps in many cases of balance problems.

When I was first out of head skull surgery the muscles and skin of my head and neck seemed almost frozen.  I had a wonderful masseuse, Vicky Huang, who could work very carefully and specifically to get more freedom and ease there over several massage sessions.  A session or two of cranial/sacral work (more on that in the future) also helped to coordinate flow throughout my whole body and relieve the pressure in my ears.  More recently I think this trauma reaction was reactivated as Vicky went deeper into the muscles of my head and neck to release more layers of holding.   This didn’t concern me as I viewed it as another step along the way to healing.

I also followed my intern’s advice last week and used a nasal decongestant to take away the pressure I was feeling in my Eustachian tubes.  It seemed to help a little.

The final trick is the Epley maneuver.  The nurses in a neurologist’s office took a little time to explain it to me, I then found a get youtube link with full explanation and it has been extremely useful. Do you have other solutions and suggestions?