Last week My Harley Stud was suffering from Vertigo. Oddly enough, it didn’t make him romantic like the movie by the same name. In fact, he was pretty cranky. It seems the more his head was spinning, the more heads he wanted to bite off.
The condition proceeded to worsen and I became concerned. I mean, who likes having their head bit off all the time? MHS was experiencing a spinning room each time he laid down or got up. He also had this problem from looking up and to the right.
I consulted my employer doctor. While some might think that asking a breast surgeon about vertigo might not be advised, she is my go-to source for all things medical. She suggested that I take MHS to a Neuro Otolaryngologist. What? That’s quite a mouthful for a dizzy doctor. I, of course, scoffed at the idea. I was certain that his dizziness was related to the neck pain that preceded it because you know I received a medical degree from watching ER for several seasons. I just knew he needed to see an orthopedist or a neurosurgeon or possibly even a chiropractor. Nevertheless, I made the appt with the neuro-otowhatchamacallitist because my boss gets very offended when she gives free medical advise that isn’t heeded.
I always accompany MHS to his doctor visits because he is terrible about relaying the information after the appointment. If I want to know….I’ve got to go.
The doctor was able to reproduce MHS’s vertigo by laying him down. He looked at MHS and said, “I can see in your eyes that the room is spinning now, isn’t it?”
My jaw dropped.
He brought him back up and looked into his eyes again. “Oh yeah, you’ve definitely got it.”
I asked, “ You could see it in his eyes?”
He replied, “I’ll show you all about that in just a minute. The good news is that there is no medicine that will cure this condition but we do have a treatment here in the office that we can do right now. Most people have complete relief with one to three treatments but it can take up to 10.”
He asked us to follow him into another room. Once in the room, we were staring at a contraption that looked like something you would pay to go on for entertainment at a fair.
I apologize that this picture is so small but I took it with MHS’s phone and if I enlarge, it gets blurry.
So, MHS was strapped in for the ride of his life securely and is equipped with what amounts to a headband with a camera focused on his eye. (You can see his eye in that video monitor to the right of the doctor.)
Due to the headband, MHS couldn’t see me so I announced to him that I was taking pictures. I was hoping for a nice smile but was rewarded with a special finger salute that is just starting in the above photo.
I would have taken more photos for your viewing pleasure but just as soon as the doctor got him upside down, he called me over to watch the movement of MHS’s eye. It was so cool, I completely forgot about the camera. You could actually see his eye moving in a kind of circular motion. The doctor turned him upside down three times for about 30-60 seconds each. Each time the reaction of his eye was less and completely resolved by the last spin. I was in awe. My Harley Stud, on the other hand was not as amused as he was the one dumped on his head with all the blood rushing to his head making his eyes want to pop out of their sockets. He came out of it with a headache but minus the vertigo. So cool!
The procedure is called the Canalith Repositioning Procedure. It will not treat all types of vertigo but worked like a charm for MHS’s problem. He has had no problem with vertigo since. He even canceled his follow-up appointment (with the doctor’s permission).
If you or a loved one ever have the misfortune to suffer from benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, MHS and I highly recommend trying this procedure.
Or maybe next time, we’ll just take a trip to Disney World and ride the "ROCKIN’ ROLLERCOASTER”.
Hugs,
