Vertigo Strikes Again

~ beetleypete

As anyone who suffers from Vertigo will tell you, there are good days and bad days. I have had more good ones for a long time now, as long as I remember to not lie flat on my back in bed, or in the bath. Also to avoid ladders, and anything else that requires looking up for some time, like clearing gutters, or cutting hedges.

Whilst out walking with Ollie earlier, I felt really good. The sun was out, and a cool breeze made walking very pleasant. I decided to finish the walk by going through the woodland, and Ollie was trotting on ahead of me. Something caught my dog-walking stick, and it slipped from my hand into a pile of leaves behind a fallen tree. It seemed simple enough to just lean over the tree and pick it up.

But the next thing I knew, the leaves were in my face, and it felt as if the sky was below me, not above me. I managed to get up, grabbed the stick, and continued rather shakily. It was a classic ‘Vertigo moment’, and left me feeling rather old and silly. Fortunately, nobody else was in the woodland to see me stumble and fall.

As the old saying goes, “It’s not much fun getting old”.

84 thoughts on “Vertigo Strikes Again”

  8. I’ve had it from time to time, usually after doing some unusual movements, trampoline jumping with the kids, or pilates while lifting my head to watch the instructor on a screen. it usually lasts about a day or so, and I have to just wait it out and try to sleep flat, after I time I usually reset. I take dramamine or bodine, (motion/air sick med) and that helps a bit, but it’s miserable and I can sympathize with you. glad you were okay. my doc told me that our vestibular systems become more challenged as we age, (inner ear fluid system) and why so many people lose their balance or get dizzy, especially when suffering congestion, or with certain movements affecting the inner ear.

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  11. Glad to hear all went well, and no damage other than the ‘uncertainty’ such a feeling brings. Sometimes if I get up quickly, I will feel light-headed, and it is an eerie feeling, walking that razor’s edge between consciousness and falling flat on my face 🙂 May you have a healthy final month of winter before the healthier and hopeful spring arrives!

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  19. I had a bad case of vertigo 16 months ago, it put me in bed for a week, and I’d be sick if I raised my head. It’s left me with disorientation whilst walking. Still waiting for a consultation appointment since last May. Not bad since I’ve been putting into the NHS since 1963 and hardly ever needed help up to now!!! Whatever have these politicians done to that great National institution?

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    1. When I had it the first time, I think it was 2017. I was seen by my GP the next day, examined, diagnosed, and given medication to combat the dizziness/nausea.
      Fast forward to 2022, and I had to have Cancer tests after blood was found in my urine. I spoke to my GP on the phone that evening, a Friday. On Wednesday, I received an appointment for Norwich Hospital by text message, and it was for Friday. I couldn’t go, as I was on holiday, so they changed the appointment to the following Tuesday. If I had not been on holiday, I would have been seen in under 8 days from the phone call.
      I think that’s very good, but it also seems to depend too heavily on where you live, and how good your family doctor is.
      When I lived in Camden, my GP was literally hopeless and inefficient. In general, lack of funding in the NHS by the Tories created the problem long before the worst of the pandemic arrived in 2020. They want it to fail, so they can sell it off to private companies owned by their friends and relatives.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  20. Thanks for sharing, a very enlightening post. So I have just learnt that Acrophobia is not Vertigo but disagree a fear of heights is a mental condition.

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      1. Undetected vertigo (if you’ve never been without it it’s hard to know you have it, until, like myself, in High School a forensics judge writes on your ballot: “Do not fall over in the middle of your speech.”) can certainly cause Acrophobia ~ but in this case the mental condition is one of survival rather than delusion (or “imbalance,” if you will, forgive the pun 😆). It’s a case of “I know way better than togo anywhere near high edges if I want to live !”

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  21. Not much fun getting old at all, Pete, but give thanks that you were able to recover from this incident — there are some people who would not have been as fortunate. Learn what your triggers for vertigo are and try to avoid them.

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    1. I have generally learned to avoid them, John. Today I wasn’t thinking when I leaned over the log. It was such a quick action, I had no idea it would trigger Vertigo.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  22. Ouch! No bones broken though. I had a similar crash last summer when I bent to pick something up in the garden and found myself falling forward at speed and unable to stop, crashed into the low wall and fell against the fence. It was a bit of a shock. Just a badly bruised thigh and a sore head, but it certainly makes you cautious.

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    1. Might be a good idea to get checked for Vertigo, Jude. When I had the first attack years ago, I felt the bathroom was upside down, and was sure I would die! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete. x

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  23. No words of advice other than Vertigo can be caused by anything from a buildup of calcium in that bone in your ear to bloodpressure issues to psychology (Can anyone say Hitchock?) Best of luck. And that ladder thing? There comes a point in all our lives when ladders get to be a bad idea.

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    1. My Vertigo is caused by the loss of the crystals on the hairs of the inner ear, and is age-related. They act like scales, to balance our sense of motion, and the perceived positioning of our bodies. It was investigated and diagnosed some years back by my doctor.
      As for Hitchcock, he got the title wrong. Fear of heights is called Acrophobia, and it is a psychological condition, not a medical one. Perhaps Hitch didn’t think that word sounded so good as a title? 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. I think Jimmy Stewart had both. Acrophobia is fear of heights, vertigo as we studied it in this film is one of the manifestations (whirling, loss of balance) of fear of heights. I can’t look down from a roof top, or a tall office building window without a horizon to to relate to or ride in a small plane without feeling my balance get wonky. Also why I was never able to drink to excess because the room spinning, even drunk, was paralyzing.🤣

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    2. It can also be caused by the misalignment of inner ear crystals ~ the oriental culture has a simple exercise which is supposed to cure it. In my case, I think a high forceps birth also contributed, as craniosacral therapy had an extreme effect on it, first for the bad and then for the good.

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    1. Yes, a few years back, when the attacks were more frequent. I had some weeks on Stemetil tablets, and improved a lot. They tried the Epley Manoeuvre, but it didn’t work on me. Since then I have had to pay someone to do any ladder-work on the house, and to cut the hedges too.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  33. Just a thought, but it might be wise to consider a scan of your neck? The same thing happened to my son’s father-in-law, who used to be a heavy smoker but has now given up cigars. He was found to have a partly blocked artery in his neck.

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