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Northerner
62 Posts |
 Posted - 05/24/2011 : 14:24:02
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I think I caught vertigo when a friend simply mentioned he was experiencing it temporarily.
Two days ago, I went whitewater kayaking with my doctor – we kayak together frequently.
We frequently do Eskimo rolls when kayaking, and at the end of one river section, we did some practice rolls. My doctor told me that he had gotten vertigo because he had gotten water in his ears. We took a break, his vertigo went away, and then we did the long, wild stretch of rapids at the bottom of the river.
The next morning, I had to brace myself to stand up. I was feeling dizzy and queasy. After an hour, most of these vertigo-like symptoms had faded, although I was uncomfortable eating for most of the day.
I woke up this morning at 4AM, and felt vertigo symptoms again. I took half a meclizine pill, which often helps with vertigo, but had trouble sleeping afterwards. I’ve been feeling kind of bleary today, and decided to take a nap. I put earplugs in (I often sleep with them in my ears when noise at dawn wakes me up), and the vertigo symptoms returned. I was able to sleep for an hour after taking them out, and the vertigo symptoms were present for about an hour after I woke up.
The interesting part is that this morning was my first day on a low dose of prednisone, an anti-inflammatory steroid my doctor just prescribed for 5 days to nip some tendinitis in my shoulder. The tendinitis has been dragging on for four months, lately waking me up in the middle of the night in pain. I’ve tried a few physical therapy appointments and some exercises, and the things that have helped my shoulder the most have been activities that accentuate the blood flow (such as kayaking, which I have been able to do with moderate pain after taking Advil).
I was actually feeling pretty optimistic that the prednisone would help clear up the tendinitis. My doctor had checked me before we went kayaking that day (I hadn’t seen him about it previously, only mentioning briefly that I was feeling some shoulder tendinitis when we paddled, trying not to make a big deal out of it), and he said that my shoulder seemed stiff, but the range of motion didn’t seem too bad. The physical therapist said that the pain level after it was warmed up didn’t seem that high, either.
Yet the morning before I was going to pick up my prescription for prednisone, I had symptoms of vertigo, the day after my friend/doctor said he was experiencing temporary vertigo symptoms. I had vertigo once about two years ago, and can’t remember ever having it before that.
I had and appointment with a psychologist this morning, told him about the vertigo and he said, “You may be quite suggestible.” Which was exactly what I was thinking. I’ve been working with Dr. Schubiner’s workbook, and was about to review some of the work from it with my psychologist.
I guess I’m speaking too much about my body, but this seems to point to a confirmation that my shoulder symptoms are a return of TMS that I thought I had pretty much overcome about two years ago. There may be some physical cause for the vertigo, but it seems like an odd coincidence. I have just started Dr. Schubiner’s workbook ($25 – good program), in part because I thought the tendinitis might be TMS, and because I was hoping to overcome some long-term, minor miscellaneous symptoms that I have attributed to TMS.
By the way, in addition to waking me up, the shoulder pain has made me reluctant to do my favorite activity – whitewater kayaking – and had me enjoy it less when I was doing it. Kayakers are paranoid about shoulders. We need to legitimately protect our shoulders when kayaking, do exercises to keep them loose and keep the muscle groups like the trapezius strong. The most frequent serious injury is a shoulder dislocation, which certainly is not TMS-related.
Perhaps my brain feels it is losing this battle, and trying to fight back.
Then again, the root cause could be my utter disappointment when the world didn’t come to an end as predicted on Saturday (May 21).
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I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
- Mark Twain |
Edited by - Northerner on 05/24/2011 14:42:02 |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 05/24/2011 : 19:46:50
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Very common in my opinion. Also in my personal experience.
I got acid reflux for the first time, a few days after reading about it.
Ditto tinnitus. Can't both be coincidence.
By the way, steroids for tendonitis seems pretty radical. Tendons are a common spot for TMS.
Just sayin. |
Edited by - art on 05/24/2011 19:56:27 |
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wrldtrv
666 Posts |
Posted - 05/24/2011 : 19:56:13
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| The most dramatic example was my getting tinnitus that lasted over a year after having an older brother who had it(for real--damaged hearing) visit and spend all the time describing in great detail how horrible it was. I'm pretty susceptible to suggestion when it comes to medical matters |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 05/24/2011 : 19:57:43
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| My tinnitus started after reading about it here. It's really quite loud. Only thing to do is ignore it, but sometimes it's not easy. |
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Northerner
62 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 08:48:08
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Thanks, folks, for your comments. Was just journaling, and thought I'd share something that came up. Since January, I've had a procession of TMS things: shoulder pain, back pain, March chest Cold, April chest cold and now vertigo. Different things, but all annoying.
This vertigo hits me as we try too knock out the shoulder pain, and ... my 30th college reunion is coming on Friday. The reunions are usually fun events - half my college class shows up, you get to see people you haven't seen in years, you meet their wives and kids sometimes, we talk about stupid things we did in college and where we live now. There's actually little posturing and showing off about how successful someone is.
But ... 30th reunion. That's a long time. I remember at graduation looking at those guys at the 30th reunion, and they seemed pretty old.
I'm 52 now. And after the recession not that financially strong. And I went to a prestige college, where 20% earn over 500K per year, my class includes a Pulitzer Prize winner, members of congress, a supreme court justice, friends who retired at 39, another friend who missed the US Senate last year by 0.8% of the vote, and on and on. And I'm just earning what most would consider a good living, but haven't achieved what the rest of the group has, or what I dreamed of at graduation.
Unrealistic expectations. I do have a good job (although unsteady, because I work project-to-project, for myself), a good family, a nice house in the mountains with a kayak river running through the back field. But that's just not enough for me. And maybe the vertigo and this other stuff is a manifestation of the fear of running out of time, as I continue to age (I'm in denial that I'm aging). Or, the vertigo could simply be trying to keep me at home during the reunion.
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I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
- Mark Twain |
Edited by - Northerner on 05/25/2011 08:48:47 |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2011 : 11:24:19
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Northerner,
I'm 60 and can relate. Good schools, all the best opportunities. I've been what most people would call successful, but I could have and should have done more.
With respect to TMS self-treament, the absolutely essential elements are understanding of the rudiments and acceptance. Get those down and you're well on your way to healing.
It's highly likely given the things you've written about yourself that the tendonitis you're having treated with prednisone is TMS as well. it's a pretty drastic treatment with potentially significant side effects for an essentially benign condition.
I suggest reading or rereading HPB. |
Edited by - art on 05/25/2011 11:24:36 |
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Vertigo by Suggestion?
