What is BPPV...

As I woke from sleep 2 months ago i was overcome with an immense hit of dizziness and nausea. I thought that it would go away as the day went on but it only worsened. I laid down the whole day but felt the room continually spin. Usually when I get faint the room starts spinning for a few seconds and then stops. After I eat something and lie down for a little bit I start to feel better. That night I was tossing and turning and the room kept moving non-stop! This definitely was not normal. I called my doctor the next day and they didn't know what was causing this but told me to take it easy for a few days and relax. (So not the medical advice I needed). After a few days it luckily went away. I was back to work and driving and sleeping.

However, I woke up this past week again with the same dizziness. I fortunately had a physical therapy appointment this morning and asked my therapist casually about what maybe could be the problem. I told him my symptoms of nausea and dizziness while laying down and moving suddenly, and he said that most likely I have BPPV. He gave me the number of a doctor that he knows at the University of Utah that would be better at helping me diagnose this problem. I sure hope this goes away soon and we can get to the bottom of it. It is the worst feeling! EVER!

For those who don't know, me included, this is BPPV-

BENIGN PAROXYSMAL POSITIONAL VERTIGO - "BPPV includes dizziness or vertigo, lightheadedness, imbalance, and nausea. Activities which bring on symptoms are almost always precipitated by a change of position of the head with respect to gravity. Getting out of bed or rolling over in bed are common "problem" motions. In Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) dizziness is generally thought to be due to debris which has collected within a part of the inner ear. This debris can be thought of as "ear rocks", although the formal name is "otoconia". Ear rocks are small crystals of calcium carbonate derived from a structure in the ear called the "utricle" (figure1 ). While the saccule also contains otoconia, they are not able to migrate into the canal system. The utricle may have been damaged by head injury, infection, or other disorder of the inner ear, or may have degenerated because of advanced age."