I've been to many physical therapists in my long life, mostly as a result of athletic injuries or…read moremishaps with heavy power equipment. So I knew they work on joints, ligaments and tendons.
But what I didn't know is that they can cure--not ameliorate-but really cure a serious form of dizziness, called, Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV). "Benign" means the disorder is not life-threatening (tell that to someone throwing up because of feeling of the room spinning). "Paroxysmal' means it comes in sudden brief spells. "Positional" means the vertigo (sensation of room spinning fast and uncontrollably) comes when your head is in a certain position. Often the first episode you get is when you wake up in the morning. Seems to happen more frequently with older people.
The room-spinning is not the same as what you get when you get drunk. Way worse. Plus, unlike getting hung over, you can have these episodes every day for months on end. Occasionally they resolve on their own.
The inner ear plays a major role in maintaining our balance. It has three tiny semi-circular canals or tubes, (horizontal, anterior, and posterior) corresponding to the motions of a ship or airplane (turning, tilting and yaw). Inside the canals are some fine calcium deposits the position of which nerves can detect. Sometimes some of the fine deposits leave the main deposit and get lodged where they are not supposed to be, at the other end of the canal.
Your brain gets confused and your eyes literally are twitching back and forth during the episode. Kinda cool to look at someone's eyes when they're wobbling like this. It doesn't last all that long. But I wouldn't dare drive a car, because you can't tell when the vertigo is going to come on. Once the vertigo starts, you can hardly see. Even walking around is dicey. You just have to stop and wait, and look around for a bucket.
My local ER gave me an anti-histamine, which did nothing. But what they also did (after ruling out other causes) was to refer me to Willow Grove Physical Therapy, which cured me in two days. BPPV treatment is a specialty of Willow Grove PT. Treatment consists of no drugs. Just some controlled head movements.
Doctor of Physical Therapy Jackie Pedersen accurately diagnosed the details of my situation. My problem was not the typical one, which would involve the horizontal canal. No, I had to have the anterior. Tougher to cure.
I won't say the procedures, one on a Thursday and the second the next day, were a walk in the park. But you do what you have to do, and
Jackie was more empathic and kindly than most of the PTs I've had. But on the Friday afternoon, I was done--really done--with BPPV. I went for a follow-up a week later, checking for gait, balance and so on, and I was completely out of the woods. That was three months ago, and I am still free of it. I never have had to use the exercises Jackie provided in the event of a relapse.
I have no connection with Willow Grove Physical Therapy, and I have had no contact with with Dr. Jackie Pederson other than as a grateful patient who had this disorder. I should add that not all vertigo is caused by BPPV and that vertigo caused by other disorders can be much harder to treat. I got lucky--BPPV as my condition, not something worse, a fine ER that diagnosed the condition accurately and promptly and made a correct referral to a PT clinic that specializes in BPPV, and an outstanding, well-trained and empathic therapist.
My hope is that if you, the reader, should ever have BPPB, you will be spared the months of misery caused by a failure to diagnose accurately and a failure to treat effectively, as a result of reading this review.
