So, as I was reading well wishes on the blog about my attempt to go back to physical therapy, I discovered why the physical therapist was so insistent on my seeing an ENT (Ear, nose, and throat doctor). Vertigo. Or at least that’s what they called it in the emergency room, after my second attack of the day refused to recede.
I’d woken up that Monday morning feeling like the world was spinning. No, not just feeling it, but seeing it spin. Every slight movement of my head made me feel like molten lava was about to pour out of my chest. It took a long time to inch into a sitting position, and even longer to stand and then to walk. I called my doctor’s office, and the secretary told me to go to the emergency room. When I told her that even walking to the front door was impossible, she said that she would have the nurse call me back.
The girls watched me with concern, and/or suspicion.
After about forty minutes of sitting and waiting to hear back, I attempted to stand up, thinking I’d have to get to the emergency room, but I discovered that the severity of the symptoms had lessened by then. The nurse never actually called me back, but I was able to move around, slowly and carefully, and I decided not to set off to the ER and instead to go ahead with my pre-scheduled visit to the Endocrinologist, in the hopes that a doctor, of any kind, might be able to tell me what to do with what had just happened to me, or even give me an idea of what to call it.
The endocrinologist, after addressing my thyroid, which was the reason I was seeing her in the first place, listened to the symptoms I’d experienced that morning and said “it sounds vestibular.” She agreed with the physical therapist that I should see an ENT, preferably one who specialized in the middle ear, and gave me a recommendation. As soon as I got home I called for an appointment, and since the worst of the symptoms had passed, I accepted the earliest appointment available, the following week. By then I was exhausted from all of the drama, and the nausea, and the doctor visit, and trying to concentrate on homework while my head was still not quite right, so I took a nap.
Ellie helped.
When I woke up a couple of hours later, the world was spinning again. It took ten minutes to sit up this time, and even the idea of standing made me feel wretched, so I called the doctor’s office again. The office was closed, but there was an emergency number and I called it. One of the doctors called me back immediately and he said to go to the ER. I’d been hoping he could suggest some kind of medication I could take, to lessen the symptoms, but he didn’t want to diagnose me over the phone and he was worried that my symptoms could represent any number of different things. It took me about fifteen minutes to walk from my apartment to the car (and no, I did not try to drive myself, Mom drove).
I felt silly for making such a fuss, because I figured, hey, if I can walk, I must be fine. There were so many more serious cases around me at the ER, too, like suspected heart attacks and serious diabetic wounds and dementia.
I was given a bed in the hallway, because all of the rooms in the ER were filled. There was even a number to mark out my parking spot in the hallway. I’d already had an EKG and a finger stick (to check my sugar, both fine), and once I was in my parking spot they attached me to a heart monitor and put in an IV. The girl who put the IV in was either nervous, or unwell, because her hands were shaking the whole time and she had to wipe up a lot of blood off my arm in the aftermath. When I asked the purpose of the IV she said it would be to give me medication. And then the waiting started. I was in a prime location to overhear all of the latest gossip from the doctors and nurses and Physician’s Assistants and nurse’s aides, because their desks were two feet away from my head. Confidentiality is not really a thing in the Emergency Room.
There were so many people on staff and each wearing different colored scrubs to attempt to tell you what their jobs were: navy blue, and black, and royal blue, and grey, and green, and bluish green, though no one actually explained what the colors referred to (I really could have used a chart on the wall, like a McDonald’s menu). And there were different patterns of beeps to denote different patient needs, but I couldn’t figure out which ones were serious and which ones were mundane, and I didn’t see anyone in a real rush to respond.
Oh, and they all walked around with rolling computer workstations, for when they were away from the stationary computers, but there wasn’t actually room for all of these little vehicles in the hallway, on top of patient beds and staff and wheelchairs, so it was a bit like bumper cars out there.
Time passed. The Physician’s Assistant came by to do a quick neurological exam and said I would be getting medication soon. Eventually, someone came by and gave me a Valium (a pill, not through the IV), and when I asked why I needed a Valium for dizziness they said it was the best choice for the ER (they were wrong, it did nothing for the dizziness or nausea, just made me tired). And they still hadn’t given me the anti-emetic (for nausea) or the Anti-vert (for dizziness) for my actual symptoms.
I finally went for a CT scan at around 10:30 pm (that’s three and a half hours after I’d arrived), even though by then the PA, a nurse, and a doctor had all told me that the CT scan wouldn’t show anything. Then they gave me two bags of fluids through the IV (finally, some reason for the IV!).
Mom was getting tired, and frustrated, so she started to stalk my nurse (one of three or four male nurses on the floor), while I watched cute animal videos on my phone. We were told that there was only one doctor on duty for the whole ER and he had to check on every case and that was why things were going so slowly. More blood was taken, from my non-IV arm, though no one could explain why more blood was being taken. And then the doctor’s shift ended and the new doctor had to be updated on all of the cases before he could make any decisions (like prescribing medication for me, though I’d thought that had been done much earlier in the evening. And, he had to wait for the results of the second set of blood tests.
I was finally medicated and discharged at four AM, in pretty much the same shape I’d been in when I’d gotten there nine hours earlier. They gave me Zofran for nausea and anti-vert for the dizziness. When I looked those up, and the Vertigo they had, by then, diagnosed me with, one of the first things mentioned was ear infections, but no one, the whole night, had even looked at my ears, let alone in them.
When we got home, Mom walked ahead of me to get the dogs, and they came out to greet me as I slowly made my way up the walk to our building. They were subdued but gave me lots of kisses and when we got inside we all collapsed from the exhaustion.
I was afraid I would wake up in the morning and the whole thing would start again, but, luckily, the symptoms were more muted the next day. I was still dizzy and nauseous, but at least not having the I-am-going-to-die level of intensity. The world was still spinning, and I couldn’t quite predict which direction my feet were going to go in, but I could, slowly, sit up and move from one room to another, so I had to cancel my physical therapy appointment, and email my rabbi to let him know I wouldn’t be able to do my public reading for Yom Kippur services (some part of my brain wondered if I’d gotten sick at this particular time just to get out of dealing with Yom Kippur, but I tried to ignore that though; missing Yom Kippur was just a perk).
Mom was exhausted. She’d survived on granola bars and Cheetos and caffeine in the hospital the night before, and got as little sleep as I did, so we were both a little bit worried that we’d end up back at the ER, for her this time. While Mom napped, I made the herculean effort to walk the dogs in the pouring rain, and they were wonderful! They didn’t pull or bark or complain at the incredibly slow speed of their walk, and when we got back inside, Cricket went back on duty, watching Grandma sleep and Ellie came back to nap with me, so we were both in good hands.
Don’t be fooled; Cricket is on duty.
The symptoms receded a little bit each day, with the help of medication and rest. And when I went to the ENT the following Monday, he diagnosed me with Benign Positional Vertigo, even though I wasn’t showing symptoms anymore. He said I should come back if the symptoms returned and then he could do a maneuver that would shake my ear crystals back into the right place, but other than that, Shoo. No cause, no cure, you’re fine.
The physical therapist was relieved at the news and started me back on track with my exercise plan the next day, and so far, the world isn’t spinning, much. Just a bit blurry, at times, with some double vision, but, that’s normal. Right?
“I’m supposed to be blurry, Mommy. I’m moving.”
rachelmankowitz 
Wow…what an ordeal! Sending positive thoughts and best Maltese wishes for a full return to health. At first I thought the post would be about Hitchcock movie “Vertigo”. Sorry to hear it was real!
Thank you! Both of the girls were so careful with me for a few days, but they are sure that I’m all better, so, the gloves are off!
Sending oodles of poodles well wishes that you’re feeling better.
Thank you!
Hope you’re feeling better.
I am! Thank you!
Rachel, have you tried the Epley maneuver? Look it up. It will help a lot. I cannot fathom why the doctor didn’t show you how to do it, it takes 40 seconds.
I had BPPV, too. Many people have had it. I wrote about it here- https://burnsthefire.com/2014/01/09/as-the-world-turns/
Thank you for the link!
I’m going to look for it on YouTube. The idea that I’d be able to get myself out of the apartment, let alone to the doctor’s office, in the midst of an episode, seems like a misunderstanding of what the symptoms actually are. Doctors are weird.
So frustrating! Feel better and hug dogs.
Thank you!
Emergency rooms are just awful – guaranteed 4 hour wait every single time. I’m glad you’re feeling better but I wish I had been there, I’m a past master at kicking butt in hospitals and getting things moving. (Yes, sometimes you have to throw a tantrum)
That sounds awesome! Left to my own devices I would have either been in the ER for another ten hours waiting for someone to notice me, or I would have escaped, crawling out the door if necessary.
Many years ago, my mother came down with a bad case of bronchitis. She went to the ER at 1 pm. At 1 am, the next morning, my father went to the ER, he had cancer but it had not yet been diagnosed. Both of them spent a week in the hospital, on different floors. I became very well known for taking names and kicking ass – you have to be fierce! I have friends who are nurses and I know what they deal with, they’re mostly amazing people, but if you don’t make them notice you, they have so much to do that they don’t. If you should have to go in again, channel me! 🙂
I will try!
I hope you find a quick solution to your physical woes.
Take care and pet the pups for me.
Thank you!
How distressing…I hope this vertigo goes away and stays away!
Me too! Thank you!
A terrible experience ! I know from experience vertigo is debilitating and hard to get to the root of. Hoping you get well soon and have no further recurrence!
Me too! Thank you!
So welcome. Sweet doggies.
My husband once had the same symptoms. He was diagnosed with an inner ear infection and given an antibiotic and 3-days-worth of Vicodin. Why Vicodin? The doctor recommended it so he would sleep for three days until the antibiotics kicked in. It was the perfect plan, because moving wasn’t any fun. I’m so glad you are getting canine care!
Wow! Sleeping through the whole thing sounds like a great idea!
Thank
I was given Zofran before my chemo every single time and it was a true lifesaver. Two women I work with had vertigo. They did that ‘spinning/shaking’ thing (you can tell I’m a professional) and it was a huge help. Parker and Piper send loving purrs your way, Rachel!
Thank you!
Oh my goodness. You poor thing. I just can’t imagine the pain & terror you all went through. Best wishes that you continue to heal.
Thank you so much!
Hope you are feeling better!! Not knowing what is going on can be so frustrating. Hugs!!
Thank you!
Sorry, but the “shaking of the ear crystals back into place” sounds s but primitive… unless it truly works! Glad you are on the mend.
Thank you!
So sorry to hear you haven’t been well. And that was a monster of a session at the hospital!
Sending lots of positive energy your way. All the best.
Thank you!
I hope that you will or have gotten the answers you need.. I am visiting my daughter and family in Ca.. keeping up with a 16 month old and three year old takes more energy than I have.. I will read this in detail when I can. Take care!
Take care!
I’m glad you’re in such good paws. Your pups sound great. Hope you feel even better soon!
Thank you!
I have had several bouts of this over the years. The first time was truly frightening as I was a new mother and was sure I had a brain tumor. Since then I manage by being very careful of moving my head fast or leaning it back(like at a shampoo) until I can be sure the whole system has calmed down. Those crystals breaking loose in the ear are real and the maneuvers done by a doctor and then by yourself can really help. My sympathies, for sure.
It just sounds so crazy!
…best of luck & good health!
Thank you!
What an awful ordeal. I hope it does not return and this New Year holds good things for you Rache! ❤
Thank you!
Wow, that really does sound like an ordeal. I’m glad your doing better now. I think the girls wanted to do their part and gave you the best medicine they could think of: doggie kisses with love!
Yes! Thank you!
So sorry about what you went through. I have gone to physical therapy for my hip. And to the chiropractor for my neck and one rib. I have definitely dealt with dizziness and nausea but not as severe as you experienced. I was told to see an ENT doc and I don’t like doctors. I’ll prob go at some point soon. I hope all goes well for you.
I really wanted to avoid adding another doc to my list. Physical therapists are fine, doctors, not so much.
I’m really glad that the diagnosis wasn’t worse! I’m sure your Mom and the girls are delighted that you’ll be okay! What an ordeal!
Thank you! Now, if only the dogs could have come to the er with me!
I’m sure it would have been helpful!
Glad you are better. ER’s are very slow if you aren’t classed as a high level emergency. I’ve spent many hours waiting with my grandmother. I understand that heart attacks and other major traumas need to take priority but still it seems like they sometimes lose track of who is there.
It looked like chaos to me, with so many staff members wandering around, but there must have been some underlying organizational system at work. I hope.
What a horrible experience. Best wishes for a quick recovery.
Thank you!
Sounds like a difficult experience, Rachel. I haven’t been attending my computer much these days, so I only saw this now. I hope you’re feeling better and that the vertigo hasn’t come back. Wishing you a very pleasant simchas torah. And hope you had some good times too through the holidays. How good it is that you have your mother there for support, and your wonderful four legged friends.
חג שמח!
I got Vertigo, in 2016. I went away, came back, and has decided to stay for good.
https://beetleypete.wordpress.com/2016/02/22/a-sense-of-balance/
I only saw my local doctor. No CT scan, fluids, or drama. Just told that it would probably never go away, and given some anti-nausea tablets for the ‘bad’ days. I still can’t lay flat on my back, look up for too long, or look down for too long. But I accept that it is unlikely to ever be cured.
I can relate to the feeling that you are about to die. I thought that too. It s a feeling of imbalance that is almost impossible to describe, unless you have experienced it.
Best wishes, Pete.
It won’t go away? Ever?
My next door neighbour had it too, (Similar age) and his disappeared after one year. But I have no sign of it diminishing, and my doctor told me I have to learn to live with it. To be honest, Rachel, once I knew what it was, I became a lot less worried about it, and manage petty well.
My rabbi told me that he likes his vertigo symptoms, but he doesn’t get the nausea, just the world spinning.
🙂 🙂
Hope you feel better soon Rachel, much love to you, your mum, Cricket and Ellie from all of us here 🙂🐾💖🐾 xxx
Thank you!
I have Benign Positional Vertigo and every morning it feels like my world is spinning.
I wonder why you were given diazepam (Valium). That makes no sense at all to me.
Every morning?!
Yep, it waxes and wanes in severity. It’s momentary though.
I hope the moments are very short!
Good grief! What an ordeal! Of course Ellie and Cricket were on duty. Our animal companions are very tuned into us, and know when we need comforting. I know when I had a flare of a condition I have, my kitty boys were there by and on my bed, giving me concerned looks and kitty massages.
Best wishes for continued improvement, whether it is in how you feel or the diagnostic and procedure skills of your hospital medical staff. As the patient, you should be a valuable part of the team involved in your care. The medical staff should answer your questions no matter how busy, and show you the respect of helping you understand what and why they are doing things to the one and only body you have!
From what you wrote, I feel you understand your part in the patient-medical staff team, but the ER staff need to review their part, with emphasis on how best to deal with patients’ concerns when the ER is especially busy. Had you had an ear infection or some other ear-related disorder and they not dealt with it, where would you be? It didn’t sound like they addressed that issue to your satisfaction!
I was very glad to go home to the care of the puppies.
I can appreciate that! In 2016, I was hospitalized and in therapy for two and a half months. When I got home, the biggest joy was being again with my two Persian kitties, Andy and Dougy, who were a big part of my recovery.
Feel better.
Thank you!
I had an ER experience with my mom last week. Lots of material for a book, I said at one point. HIPPA? What’s that, I asked at another. There is no privacy, and apparently not much is actually an emergency. After 10 hours, my mom was admitted to a room (no one could explain why she could not go to the room earlier). The whole experience was a nightmare–I think they do that to discourage people from coming to the ER, but doctor’s tell patients to go–just one of many mysteries in the healthcare system in our country. I hope you are feeling better. I had vertigo symptoms once–turned out to be a mold allergy. My mom has it and lays on the bed with her head hanging over and shakes the crystals back into place. Another mystery.
I hope your mother is feeling better!
Oh no, that sounds horrible! I don’t think there’s much they can do for vertigo as far as medication is concerned, but I’ve heard that manoeuvre with the ear crystals does work. Let’s hope you don’t need it, though.
Millie sympathizes, she had vestibular syndrome earlier this year.
Thank you! I hope they don’t do the head maneuver on dogs, that would be terrifying.
No, they didn’t do anything for Millie, they just said it would go away on its own – which it did eventually, but poor Millie was very wobbly for a few days.
Poor girl!
You encountered the Medical Industrial Complex.
It’s a mess.
Rachel, so sorry to hear about your illness. Having been through Meniere’s Syndrome with my father, your vertigo does sound like an inner ear issue. But I am certainly not a doctor. Please go to a specialist at a doctor’s office. I have come to believe that the worst place you can go when you are sick is the emergency room. Sending kind thoughts and positive energy your way.
Thank you! I wasn’t as impressed with the ENT as I’d hoped, but at least he looked in my ears.
feel better
Thank you!
Good luck figuring this out! It sounds like a horrible experience and I’m sorry to hear that the ER didn’t make it any easier or better. We’ve (unfortunately) been to the ER quite a few times in the last couple of years, and I’ve been lucky — every visit has gone smoothly with only one where we were made to wait an insane amount of time… and they had to admit my husband to the hospital for surgery that time, so it wasn’t like we were going home. Hugs.
Best to you and your husband too!
I’m appalled but not surprised by your ER visit. Also, just in case you wondered – the IV and two bags of fluid was to make sure you weren’t dehydrated…not a cause for the severe dizziness, but to avoid other complications. I’ve been in such a situation (minus the spinning – I was there for my ‘heart’ ) myself and once spent many hours with my father, who was terminally ill and at the end stages of his life from cancer – who got much the same treatment. This was in 2002, but a horrid pre-cursor to what we have today – the over crowding, the indifference from people whose job it is to care for ill people, and the stupidity. My sympathies dear. At least they gave you a sort of diagnosis, I came away from my heart ‘scare’ without one. They blamed my symptoms on my GI problems – which makes me wonder why my stomach would cause such chest pain…but I’m not an MD. Still. THEY don’t know everything either – obviously.
The impression I got was that they saw their job as “stabilizing” me in some way, rather than addressing the symptoms I came in complaining of.
Poor you! Vertigo is not nice. I found Hubby on the bedroom floor one morning as he couldn’t stand. I arranged for a doctor to come to the house, went into work with some things I had to drop off and said I’d be back in later. Hubby had a severe ear infection which was affecting his equilibrium. Meds eased the symptoms, and after 7 days, he was OK.
Hope you are feeling better, and your furbabies are looking after you. Hugs to Mom too.
How did you get the doctor to come to your house?!
This is over fifteen years ago when they used to do house calls after surgery. The doc arrived just before midday and I was able to get Hubby’s prescription filled when I went back to work in the afternoon. It doesn’t happen now, but if you’re lucky, someone might deign to give you a call and telephone diagnosis.
Yikes, what an experience! I have had vertigo and it is not fun at all. I woke up in the night with it. I had rolled over and it felt like I never stopped rolling. Mine was a reaction to medication. Glad you are feeling better and that your sweet little dogs are taking care of you. God bless!
Thank you!
The spinning is horrible ! And so is the ER, unfortunately. The waiting for hours. Have experienced them. All best wishes for you to feel much, much better soon.
Thank you!
Vertigo is a terrible condition. My heart goes out to you. ❤
Thank you!
My late mother (94 yrs of age when she died) developed benign positional vertigo in her late 70s, I think. Maybe early 80s. Her therapist, trained in such things, taught her how to do the exercise/proper movements to get rid of the vertigo. Until the next time, of course. It does sometimes recur. I suspect that once you learn how perform those moves to resettle the innards of the ears, it will not worry you so much.
I had similar problems related to allergic reactions during really bad pollen years. For me, a double dose of the antihistamine (that I can take, but which still makes me feel quite ill) settles my vertigo. In my case, I think it’s inflammation of tissues in the ear, and different from your and my mother’s diagnosis and treatment.
Oh my goodness! Who knew so many things could go wrong?!
I don’t want to “like” your post as you are obviously going through some difficult health issues. I wish you the best… 🙂 Dogs can help with your healing…
Thank you!
In my opinion, dogs are the best medicine possible. I’m glad you had two to keep you company through this.
Thank you!
I hope you keep gaining more stability and keep healing.
Me too! Thank you!
Poor you! Hope all is well now and you stay upright and stable.
Thank you!
Glad you got relief for now. We just went through the same with my MIL. Two ER trips, three Dr. visits and the husband having to sleep over in case she needed something in the middle of the night. Seems to have gone away for now, but I’ll keep in mind the maneuvers that a commenter mentioned in case it comes back.
Two visits to the ER sounds terrible. I hope she stays well. The nausea alone is brutal.
:):)Get well soon:):)
Thank you!