Lately life has seemed a bit unbalanced. Frequent mass shootings. This year is on track to be the worst in recent U.S. history for mass killings. Extreme weather events. By April 7 the number of people killed by tornadoes in the first three months of 2023 was almost as many as are killed by tornadoes in a whole year. Legal woes of a former president. Civil lawsuits and several possible felony charges require our former president to surround himself with an army of lawyers.
All this makes my head spin, but I’m not going to belabor any of those issues: not gun violence, climate change, or a former president’s legal troubles. Something else makes my head spin — vertigo.
We camped at Saint Andrews State Park in Panama City, Fla., from April 13 to 18. The evening of the 17th, Jim and I celebrated our 14th anniversary with a delicious dinner at Captain Anderson’s Restaurant.
When I woke at 3 a.m., I struggled getting out of bed and to the bathroom, and not just because the king-size bed in the camper requires scooting to the bottom due to the lack of room on the sides of the bed. I felt light-headed. I hadn’t had anything alcoholic, so I thought the dizziness might be caused by low blood pressure. My PA had been weaning me off blood pressure meds for some time. I was down to just half of one of the three prescriptions I had been taking. (Losing 60+ pounds makes a difference!)
My BP registered normal. When the wooziness subsided, I returned to bed. It came back when I got up to make breakfast and begin preparing for departure to Kentucky where we’d be staying two nights. At that point the dizziness was more annoying than debilitating. I wondered if I had eaten something that might’ve thrown me out-of-whack, but I wasn’t nauseous. So I just sucked it up and did what I needed to do inside while Jim took care of outside prep.
Our camping calamity of this trip (we seem to have at least one every time we camp) occurred when we couldn’t reach My Old Kentucky Home State Park (MOKHST) at a decent hour and spent the night in a Walmart lot. During setup, Jim discovered the camper battery that ran the furnace was nearly drained. Because he didn’t want to unhook the truck and our jumper cables were too short to stretch from the truck’s battery to the camper’s, he took advantage of our location and purchased longer jumper cables. I was feeling drained, too, after the long ride and dizziness, so I put another blanket on the bed and slept while Jim charged the battery.
Jim bought breakfast at a nearby Sonic. I ate little of it. Shortly after 9 o’clock we left for MOKHSP. (What an acronym!) After stops for lunch and gasoline, we arrived around 3 p.m. The campground is just minutes away from the mansion where Stephen Foster spent time with relatives and was inspired to write “My Old Kentucky Home.”The next day, though, I didn’t feel much like sight-seeing, I agreed to the short drive to the mansion and the tour. It’s a beautiful historic home with gorgeous grounds; even the brick outhouse is impressive. While walking those grounds, I discovered that looking up and turning my head quickly from left to right caused balance issues. Jim’s arm steadied me as we returned to the truck.
We left the campground before noon and pulled into our driveway at 7:30 Friday, April 21, just before heavy winds and pounding rain arrived. Unloading would wait until Saturday. Relief!
The following week Jim drove me to appointments with my breast cancer surgeon and medical oncologist. Because my dizziness had gotten worse, I scheduled an appointment with my PA on Friday. She rendered a diagnosis of BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo) and prescribed meclizine, an antihistamine to prevent and control nausea and dizziness.
PubMed explains that dizziness, including vertigo, affects 15 to 20 percent of adults yearly. One in five has experienced or will experience it. Prevalence rises with age and gender: women two to three times more inclined than men to dizziness. (No jokes, please. Not a laughing matter. Well, maybe a snicker.) Many of us have suffered, are suffering, or will suffer from prolonged dizziness. We tilt, sway, feel pulled in one direction. We may feel nauseated, suffer headaches, sweat unexplainably, experience jerky eye movements, or hear ringing in the ears. It’s not a condition to ignore. It can lead to falls, broken bones, and hearing loss, and makes driving dangerous.
I learned from my PA and WebMd that the cause of my vertigo is likely the result of tiny calcium particles (canaliths) dislodging from their normal location and collecting in my left inner ear. Other causes of vertigo include Meniere’s disease (probably caused by fluid buildup and changing pressure in the ear) and vestibular neuritis or labyrinthitis (usually caused by a viral infection). The meclizine and exercises three times a day where I lie on the bed with my head hanging over the edge for one minute have greatly helped. Instead of lasting all day, my dizziness dissipates shortly after I get up in the morning. I am grateful.
Here’s the Thing: Medications and exercises will alleviate symptoms of vertigo, even surgery can be used to treat serious underlying problems and thereby control the spinning sensation. There are umpteen things that figuratively make our heads spin. Life in this 21st century presents situations over which we have no direct control: gun violence, weather, past presidents. No direct control does not mean no control. We can make a difference by researching political candidates, donating to campaigns of those and voting for those who will be agents of positive change. Our planet is in jeopardy, lives are at stake, and democracy is in peril. My literal equilibrium is improving. Together let’s restore our figurative equilibrium.
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Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of articles written by a group of retired and current teachers — LaNae Abnet, Ken Ballinger, Billy Kreigh, Kathy Schwartz, and Anna Spalding. Their intent is to spur discussions at the dinner table and elsewhere. You may also voice your thoughts and reactions via The News-Banner’s letters to editor.
