It’s sobering to be told that you aren’t really special. Well, that’s the diagnosis I got his afternoon from my physician, after he peered into my ears, took my blood pressure and pulse and made me sit up and lie down a couple of times.

woozyI have something called benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), which is is one of the most common causes of vertigo. ‘Common’. Huh. Not a word I usually associate with myself. But there you have it. Something to do with a transitory thickening of the fluid in my inner ear – the mechanism that stabilizes us.

“Symptoms of BPPV include dizziness (light-headedness), imbalance, difficulty concentrating, and nausea. Activities that bring on symptoms can vary in each person, but symptoms are precipitated by changing the head’s position with respect to gravity. ” I’m grateful my symptoms are mild, annoying as they are. Guess my career as a tightrope walker is in jeopardy.

Well, I had no nausea thank goodness. In fact, my appetite is as good as ever. And the spinning or sense of imbalance is nothing like the puke-inducing cranial whirlwind you get when you’re hammered (as I recall from my undergraduate days and an unfortunate encounter with mead, Mateus and American beer).

Hub drove me to work this morning and he picked me up to drive to the doctor’s office.I know he didn’t mind, but I did. That little lack of freedom to hop in my car and toodle off whenever I wanted, even for a day, was annoying.

There’s no medication but there is an exercise that involves lying down on the ‘bad side’ then sitting up straight until the wooziness passes, then repeating the motion on the other side for five minutes. Or until I feel like I’m going to lose my dinner. Great.

shakytreesDoc said to take Gravol if I feel like barfing BUT there is no reason for me not to drive. Cheers to that. I guess the bottom line is that my temporary mild lack of balance from time to time is no worse than the conditions of the people I share the road with.

So there. I’ll take it slowly, but I’m back in business. And struck once again at this wonderful creation called the human body. Complex and simple, strong yet delicate. A machine and a miracle.

I’m reminded of one of my favourite poets, Walt Whitman. He wrote a poem called “I Sing the Body Electric”. You might enjoy it….here’s the link.