BPPV - some personal experience

I'm a fit and very healthy 40 year old male, and I suffered an attack of BPPV 7 days ago - whilst sat having a coffee in a cafe. I turned my head to the left and suddenly felt the room spin and a sever sense of dizziness. After going outside for some fresh air I found that I could barely stand up due to the dizziness. This got progressively worse after going home and caused nausea and vomiting. However, during a consultation with a GP the following morning she diagnosed my condition as BPPV impacting my left ear. The diagnosis involved blood pressure, heart rate, eye tracking test (following her finger tracking left to right/up and down), balance tests, and finally a sitting on the couch she asked me to turn my head to the right and while she supported my torso pushed my back down flat on the couch. This was to test if I felt any dizziness. Non was felt on the right but when repeated on the left (head facing left) I felt very dizzy and again a strong sense of nausea. She then confirmed that it was my left ear that was causing the problem. With this information she then conducted the Eplys re-balancing treatment which had an immediate impact on improving my condition. It didn't clear all the symptoms but made a 70% improvement. Since the session I have been following the instructions decribed e.g not sleeping upright 48hrs, not sleeping on impacted side for 7 days, I also used a soft neck collar to help keep my head still for the first 3 days and that helped. Following 48hrs of the Eply I have to conduct an exercise 4 times a day. The exercise involves sitting on the side of the bed and with hands on your knees and keeping head still facing forward - allowing yourself to fall to the left so you are lying on the bed. Wait 30 seconds until the dizziness clears and then return to the upright starting position, wait again if any dizziness, and then fall to the right. Repeating this 20 times. I found it helpful to rest after these exercises as the first few times left me feeling drained. However, following this approach the symptoms have gradually improved each day, so that one week on from the first symptoms I feel considerably better than when I walked into the GP's, and at this rate of progress hope to be back in work in 3-5 days. The GP did say that examples of the Eplys and follow up exercises can be found on U-Tube. I haven't personally looked because she gave me a fact sheet and guide during the consultation.

Hope this helps.

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