BENIGN PAROXYSMAL POSITIONAL VERTIGO or BPPV

Yep! That's now what I'm being plagued with. I have the most unusual illnesses than anybody I know. This is the cause of why I've been so dizzy for months. It makes sense but it's so frustrating.

In Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) dizziness is thought to be due to debris which has collected within a part of the inner ear. This debris can be thought of as "ear rocks", although the formal name is "otoconia". Ear rocks are small crystals of calcium carbonate derived from a structure in the ear called the "utricle". While the saccule also contains otoconia, they are not able to migrate back into the canal system.

The Epley maneuver (which is what I had done Friday morning) is also called the particle repositioning. It involves sequential movement of the head into four positions, staying in each position for roughly 30 seconds. I actually thought I was going to lose my breakfast when they did this! In a nutshell, this procedure is supposed to reposition the "rocks" from the bad places to the good places and be reabsorbed over time.

These maneuvers are effective in about 80% of patients with BPPV. BPPV often recurs. About 1/3 of patients have a recurrence in the first year after treatment, and by five years, about half of all patients have a recurrence.

I never thought I could hold my head so still while trying to function with daily life. Last night at work, I had to prop my keyboard and call sheets on a box top so it would be eye level. I slumped down and leaned back a bit into my chair so that I could see the sheets when I wrote on them. I couldn't put the radios up because it would cause me to lean forward and backward to see. My sups were so understanding and actually helped me out. Well, sort of. They also nicknamed me "vertigal" and said to watch out when I get angry because rocks will shoot out of my ears. What amazing and sympathetic people I work with! :-)

For the next two weeks I have to sleep on my left side or back ONLY (because the rocks are loose in the right), sleep on two pillows (which I hate doing!!) and keep my head still as much as possible when I'm awake. Yeah, simple! HA! Not so much but it's going to be okay. I'm getting some reoccuring stiffness in my neck and frequent headaches from being so still.

The timing of this really stinks because I leave Wednesday for a mission trip to Guatemala. I need to do laundry. I need to clean the house a bit. I need to organize my things. I still need to make dinner. But these things cannot be done without moving your head so they have to wait. I'm trying to do my best until at least Monday and give it 3 good days of little movement. Worse case scenario, I have to do the at-home-Epley manuever again after the mission trip.

Prayers are welcome as this is so frustrating and I feel like I'm stuck just sitting. There are so many things to do before Wednesday but I refuse to let Satan ruin this mission trip for me. I know God led me to this trip to serve him and the women and children of Guatemala City and Satan is trying to lead me to not enjoy this. IT WON'T HAPPEN! I'm praying all the time!