Have BBPV, not sure if I should try the Epley Maneuver
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I've had BBPV for the last two weeks, and am trying to decide whether or not to get the Epley Maneuver done. I would go to a physiotherapist as I would not want to try it on my own. I am hoping for any advice anyone can give!!
I should first mention that I've had vertigo three times before - once in 2016, once in 2017, and once last December. Those three times, it only lasted a few hours. It was positional but would be provoked by different head movements than my current bout. Those three times, I simply lay in bed in a "good" position until the vertigo went away on its own (i.e. until the head movements no longer triggered it).
My current bout of vertigo began two weeks ago (Jan 13). I woke up in the middle of the night, lying on my right. When I went to turn left, I felt the spinning and immediately recognized it as vertigo. So I turned back to the right and fell back asleep. For the next four or so days, lying on my right was perfectly fine, and getting up and going about my day was perfectly fine, but when I tried to turn left lying down, the intense spinning would start before I could complete the left turn, and so I would give up and turn back to the right and the spinning would stop right away. By the fifth day, fortunately, my condition seems to have improved somewhat. I can complete the left turn and it is only a few seconds after I reach the pillow with my left side that the vertigo kicks in, and it just feels like a lurch forward followed by a few seconds of vague, low-intensity spinning. Nothing like the intense, fast-beating spinning I triggered during the first four days.
Five days ago (Jan 22), I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned, and when I got out of the chair, I started feeling like my eyes were darting around as I walked to the bus stop. When I got home, I tried to lie down on my right and this triggered vertigo (like I was falling into the pillow). So I actually slept on my left that night (which I had been completely avoiding since Jan 13). The next day, I sometimes felt like I was swaying when I was walking, and felt heavy-headed and off-balance. But by Jan 24, the swaying was gone, walking was fine, and lying on the right was normal again. So, essentially, I've gone back to just the pre-dentist, left-ear vertigo, where turning left lying down triggers the lurch and low-intensity vertigo.
My guess is that I have left-ear posterior-canal BPPV, and that the dentist's chair may have triggered a short episode of right-ear BPPV (not sure which canal).
I did go to a walk-in clinic and the doctor says it's BPPV. He looked in my eyes with me walking and with me moving my head while sitting and he observed no nystagmus. But, he didn't do the Dix-Halpike test or ask me to lie down and trigger the vertigo, so he didn't observe me with vertigo. He prescribed Serc and suggested I go to physio for particle repositioning.
Fortunately I haven't had any nausea this entire time. And, aside from the post-dentist time (1-2 days), I haven't felt off-balance or light-headed.
Based on all this, I have some questions... If anyone has any advice relating to any of these questions, it would be very much appreciated.
- Does Serc actually do anything for BPPV? I haven't tried it yet.
- Would doing an Epley maneuver for the left-ear pose any risk to the right-ear? It seems to me from the dentist incident that the right ear has loose otoconia too.
- I've been reading about residual dizziness (RD) that happens post-Epley and am very afraid of getting this if I decide to do the Epley. I already am prone to lightheadness occasionally, basically if I lean back too far while on the computer or when in meeting rooms where I work (something to do with the lighting I think). My blood pressure is on the low side of the healthy range and so I do get headrushes if I get up too fast. I'm also afraid that, since it's been two weeks of BPPV already, I have a higher chance of getting RD from the Epley than if I had done the Epley straight away. What do you think?
- If you get RD post-Epley, is there anything you can do to speed up recovery? Like certain exercises?
- If I just wait out the BPPV (which I understand can take weeks, months, or even a year), would there be any chance of having RD after it? Or is RD only caused by the sudden absence of the otoconia in the affected canal post-Epley?
- If you decide to wait out the BPPV instead of doing the Epley, do you feel it gradually getting better? i.e. as each week goes by, would provoking the BPPV produce a less intense form of vertigo?
- I'm only sleeping on my right since it is the good side (for now). I wonder if it would be okay to sleep on my left, provided that I don't turn into the left position. i.e., if I sit up from lying on the right, turn while sitting, and then go into lying on my left from a sitting position. Always lying on my right gets uncomfortable after a few hours. And, I'm afraid that if my right ear also is prone to BPPV, then always lying on the right will increase my chances of moving the otoconia in the right ear into one of the semi-circular canals.
- I've heard magnesium supplements might help prevent BPPV, what do you think?
Thank you so much for reading!
0 likes, 20 replies
Rebecca7777
Posted
Thanks everyone.
I went to the physiotherapist on Wednesday. We did the Dix-Hallpike test as well as the test for lateral canal BPPV, and the tests were negative for both ears. She used the video goggles and observed no nystagmus, even though I felt vaguely dizzy during the left ear Dix-Hallpike test.
Unfortunately, when I sat up after the left-ear Dix-Hallpike test, I felt exactly the way I did after getting up from the dentist chair last week. My walking became unsteady, I felt as if my eyes were not tracking movements properly when I walked (especially when going downstairs), and I had that "swaying like on a boat" feeling in my head. When I went to lie down at home, as I went to lie down on the right, it felt like I was falling onto the pillow. Sitting up from that position made me feel the swaying/heavy-headedness. So since Wednesday, I am sleeping on my left to avoid this. I hope this stuff clears up, because it did clear up last week a couple of days after the dentist triggered it.
If that goes away, then I'll just be left with the short-lasting lurch/vague dizziness feeling whenever I turn left on the pillow. The PT thinks this is probably a conditioned response as a result of the vertigo. It seems that my true vertigo only lasted from Jan. 13th to the 17th or so, and that the mild lurch and vague dizziness since Jan 17th when I turn left is just leftover, residual dizziness from that. I hope this will go away eventually. The PT said it would be okay to sleep on my left, because if it was BPPV, the crystals must have fallen out by now, considering my negative test results.
I will need to do some blood testing and get a referral to a neurotologist (I hope) so we can figure out why I got the vertigo in the first place, and why putting my head in that dentist chair/Dix Hallpike position triggers days of unsteadiness as well as difficulties getting into and out of a lying-on-the-right position.
The PT says it may have been BPPV, or maybe vestibular migraine.
AlexandriaGizmo Rebecca7777
Posted
I had the manoeuvre at my docs and she gave me quite severe exercises to do at home, at first I thought she was wrong but after a couple of weeks it started to ease and now thankfully it's only every now and again where I get a bad head zap as I call it.
Did have the same problem as you, move head to left and it was full blown spin, best to lay on side, turn head to left and let your head stay their till spinning stops, then follow through.
Then exercise by holding onto something and leaning over forward, whichever position causes it, hold till it eases then raise head, do same over and over till it clears.
Twice daily.