Vertigo. It’s the sensation of spinning, falling, tumbling and turning. Victims can feel nauseated, off balance, like they’re losing control. Bout of vertigo can be very scary, but doctors at Mayo Clinic say for people with a particular type of vertigo, treatment is easy and very effective.
There’s nothing high tech about treating what’s called benign paroxsysmal positional vertigo. But a simple series of head positions made all the difference for vertigo sufferer Mark Wojahn.
“I noticed it first at the gym, lifting heavy weights” Wojahn recalled. “Whenever I would tilt my head the slightest degree, it would feel like the world was spinning around me. I was light-headed, nauseous and dizzy.”
“It’s a mechanical disorder that develops because some of the normal little calcium particles that our that our inner ear creates in order to help us sense gravity and movement float into the wrong part of the system,” said Dr. Scott Eggers of Mayo Clinic.
A series of head positions can stop symptoms because it helps the dislodged crystals float back to where they belong. The crystals have migrated to one of three semi-circles in the inner ear. By moving the head in a specific pattern, those crystals float back to their original and correct location.
“As soon as Dr. Eggers put me through that maneuver, I mean, 20 minutes after, I was feeling 100%,” Wojahn said.
He was back to lifting weights without worrying about debilitating dizziness.
Eggers said people like Wojahn who get this type of vertigo may have another bout sometime in the future. If so, the same series of head positions can help relieve symptoms again.
