And round and round it goes....

[slipjig3]

I don't talk publicly about this all that much any more, but it's weighing on me right now, so here goes:

I have this weird history with dizzy spells. I haven't the foggiest idea of what's causing them. Well, okay, I do have some idea of what's causing some of them, but not all, and unfortunately not the ones that are worrying me. They basically come in two fruit flavors: one is closer to lightheadedness than anything else. Equilibrium goes just a touch loopy, the room starts tilting just a wee bit, and the world goes on a touch of time delay. Not bad enough to get in the way of my job or anything, but noticeable and fairly frequent. Those, I'm fairly sure, are stress-related, because they usually crop up when I'm fretting about money or upcoming responsibilities; I first got them when I was slogging through my separation from Kristi. 'Nuff said.

The others....are bad. Equilibrium completely upfucked, ability to stand upright or walk a straight line gone, available options reduced to lying flat on my back with my eyes clamped shut. As a kid, did you ever spin around really fast for several minutes, then suddenly stop and try to stand up straight? Imagine that feeling, intensified a bit, lasting for an hour or more. I had a few of those during that separation as well, and when they went away I was fairly sure that stress was causing them, too.

Then, after a two-year lapse, I got another one, at work, bad enough that I had to stop what I was doing and put my head on my desk for a while. That lasted for about 15 minutes. A few days ago, another one walloped me hard, this time at home, this time with nausea thrown in for good measure. This one was better than an hour; I had to spend the entire morning in bed, because sitting up was Just Not Happening. The kicker is that I was not stressing out prior to either spell.

So now I have no clue. For all I know, I won't see any more of these for another two years. (I'd had one or two very minor versions in preceding years, brief, sudden, random and years apart.) Or, I might have one as soon as I hit the "submit" button. Either way, I'm seeing Dr. B this Friday. His evaluation the last time I talked about this with him was that, yes, it's stress, but that was a while ago, and prior to the blood test he ordered that showed an elevated liver function (but only elevated in one factor out of four, "nothing to be concerned about, but we'll keep an eye on it").

So. That's my life. A carnival ride of my own creation. Wish me luck.

Comments

[tidesong.livejournal.com]

Benadryl and/or anti-vertigo medicine, and lots of sleep until it goes away. It sucks. I'm lucky, I haven't had an episode for a couple years. But when I do get them, sometimes they last 2 or 3 weeks.