Taken for a Spin

Wow. And just like that, another week of my birth month has gone by. Way. Too. Fast.

Wait. Where is my crown. Oh, there it is. Behind the…toilet.  rrrrRRAAAAYYYYY!!!

The crown is a figment of my imagination. But as much as I gloat about how every day in August is MY day, I am sure that is where my husband would put it. IF I had one. (Ray’s birthday is in August, too. But he doesn’t get a crown. Just…because. Let’s talk about something else…)

I promised a month of Carey’s Crazy Conditions. Let’s get started.

I have three sisters—My older two and I are boom, boom, boom in age, one right after the other. In fact, the sister that is just older than me is my “Irish twin”. She was born in September, and I was born in August of the following year, just 11 months later. I also have a sister that is 6 years younger than me. You can imagine the sharing of clothes, the exchanging of makeup, and the fighting over just about everything else—EXCEPT the front seat of the car. Now, I grew up in the era where you didn’t have to be 4’9” tall to be free of a booster seat and ride in the front. In fact, when I was a kid, I am pretty sure my mom tied my baby sister in the back seat of her VW Bug with a shoelace. Anyhow, Mom insisted that Carey ride in the front seat everywhere we went. I wish I could say it was because I was special. It wasn’t. It was so my mom didn’t have to clean vomit off the back seat of her car (and my baby sister.) “Carey gets car sick.” And though that always provoked my childish mocking, tongue-sticking-out response, I do remember being quite miserable in ANYONE’S back seat. To this day, I cannot stand being even the slightest bit nauseous.

Fast forward to my adulthood and to the rolling hills of Maryland. This time, I was actually in the front seat of our car, and we took a windy 2 ½ hour trip to historic Gettysburg, PA during a family visit. The normal nausea ensued, but when we reached our destination, and I tried to get out of the car, I could not stand up without the feeling that I would black out. I vomited twice and thought that would take care of it, but the lightheadedness would not go away, and I swore that I had something dislocated in the back of my neck. My husband took me to the ER, and I was very quickly diagnosed with VERTIGO. This was before my nursing days, and I looked at the ER doctor and said, “I am in the ER because I am CAR SICK???” The doctor explained that I was getting car sick BECAUSE I have vertigo. That diagnosis? Let’s just say that I am sure my husband has wanted to replace me with a newer, less vertigo-y model many, many times in the last 31 years.

Vertigo is actually a symptom of problems with the inner ear and not necessarily an illness itself.  Those that experience vertigo each do very differently, but in general, a person with vertigo will feel as though their head or the space around them is moving or spinning. Individuals have different triggers. I can only tell you what triggers mine. And when you see the list, you are going to wonder why my husband hasn’t pushed me off a cliff (I am bound to get sick on the way down anyways…just sayin…) We have already established windy roads, back seat of the car. READING in the car. Airplanes, boat rides. Exercises that have me standing and then on the floor too fast (sorry, burpees.) Trains. Subways. Hot air balloons (never been on one, just guessing based on other experiences!) OH. And the funniest one. Movies that are filmed poorly or with quick movement on purpose (most of the Bourne movies, and I had to leave Captain Phillips less than half-way through and THEN get in a car and drive home.) By this list, you can see how disrupting this is to my life. I am medicated on public transportation, and since I am extremely sensitive to meds, I have to plan time on the front and back end of trips to recover. If I am not driving my own car, I tend to fall asleep in the passenger seat to avoid the mess. If we are going out with friends as couples, and our friends offer to drive, I will make up an excuse not to go because it is WAY too embarrassing to ask someone else’s wife to sit in the back seat of her own car while I sit in the front with her spouse. They really should call it vertiSTAY because IT’S not GOing anywhere, and neither am I.

With me, it starts with a wave of dizziness. If I cannot get the dizziness under control within minutes (find a place to lay down,) the nausea starts, and then that’s all she wrote! Once the nausea starts, I am still extremely dizzy, but the sensation of nausea overtakes me. The only way to make it go away is to take anti-nausea meds, lay down, and go to sleep. I can sleep for hours—and somehow, my body resets itself, and as long as I get up slowly, I’m back to my normal self, ready to face another day of potential vertigo.

Back to the inner ear. There are several infections that can affect different nerves in the ear that could be the cause of vertigo. There are usually other symptoms that are recognized with infection that would lead one to see a physician, such as ear pain, headaches, ringing in the ear, or sometimes just a sudden feeling of being off balance that just won’t go away. Meneire’s Disease causes a buildup of fluid in the inner ear which can lead to attacks of vertigo with ringing in the ears and hearing loss, but it is more common in those between the ages of 40 and 60 years. There are also structures inside your ears that contain fluid and particles of calcium carbonate, or “crystals”. Those crystals sometimes become dislodged and touch sensory areas of the ear, giving the brain inaccurate information about your position, so dizziness occurs. Vertigo periods usually last 60 seconds or so, but nausea and other symptoms may also occur and prolong (I am pretty sure that is what happens to me.) Vertigo can also occur with other conditions like migraine headaches, head injuries, or ear surgeries.

So, if you are experiencing any symptoms of Carey’s Crazy Condition #1, see your doctor and discuss! Even the best doctors are not going to put your health first--only you can do that. So, write down all your questions, verti-GO to your doctor’s office and verti-STAY till you get all the answers you need. Be the boss, and…

Be Well!