Monday, October 26, 2020

Literally, In My Head

 While Earl was away hiking in Spain a few weeks ago,

Cows and rolling hills in the lush Spanish countryside

I decided to do a juice cleanse -- only fruits and vegetables in juice form. Our social life revolves so strongly around food that it's hard to do most of the time in France. 

A few days in, I started to notice a dizzy, swooping feeling when I lay down in bed or when I sat up in the morning. I would pause for a few moments, get my balance, and continue on with my day.

But when the juice cleanse ended and Earl returned home, that feeling -- like I had gone airborne over a hill on a narrow road-- continued whenever I would lie down or sit up. I had a check up with the doctor planned and asked her about. As long as she could rule out brain tumor, I could live with it.

She confirmed that it was an inner-ear thing, that the fluid sometimes gets out of whack. It would go away eventually, but she printed out some exercises I could do to help it along. I took the paper and didn't examine them until the next morning when I began to do them. 

I'm good at exercises, it's kind of my thing,

New running shoes regularly

but I read through the paper in disbelief. I should do these exercises 3 times a day with 5 repetitions each time. And, I should continue for two weeks.

How long does this usually last? Wouldn't I be over it naturally in two weeks? 

I began. Sit on the bed, turn my head to the right, tilt over onto my left side and lay on that side for 30 seconds. Sit up, turn my head to the left, tilt over onto my right side and lay on that side for 30 seconds. Each time as I lay down or sat up, that swoopy feeling swamped my brain until the world righted itself. 

I managed to do it morning and evening on the first day, forgetting in the middle of the day. Then yesterday, I didn't even think about it until I lay down in bed at night and the earth took a spin around my head. 

When I sat up this morning, I thought about turning my head and tilting 30 times a day for the next two weeks. I did some feeble math in my head and got the  number 420. 420 times I would turn and tilt as the fluid in my ear reset. Wasn't this exacerbating the problem if I only normally faced it twice a day -- when I get up and when I go to sleep at night. That's 210 days to cure itself. 

Cheers after belly dancing

Oh, well, I'll probably follow the doctor's orders. I just need some kind of phone reminder to get me into the groove. And probably should cut down on social outings so I have time for all those exerciseexps.



 

Hope everything is upright in your head as we continue to go through the roller coaster that is 2020. 

4 comments:

sillygirl said...

Here is why you need to do the exercise - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SLm76jQg3g At least it is easy enough for you to fix this.

Paulita said...

Sillygirl, Wow. Thanks for this. There's always somebody with more information. This exercise is different than what I am doing, but the goal must be the same.

kim hansen said...

My physical therapist says to do it twice a day 2 times a day until it resolves it self usually only 2 to 5 day. You do it too much and your defeating the purpose of the exercise. Once the crystals settle again I'm good for months or years.

Paulita said...

Kim, Thanks for the tip. It is much improved already.

Cockadoodle Doo or Cocorico?

 We stood in the middle of the road, having walked together 13 miles that day and Claudine grasped my forearm. "Mais non! It doesn'...