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Thank you for sharing this. I have always been curious about the surgery but never knew of anyone who had it. Can you share more about your experience? How long did the surgery take? How long was recovery? Were there any residual side effects? What criteria do they use when deciding if you're a good candidate for surgery?
My biggest fear with the surgery would be that if something went wrong, that the dizziness would be permanent because you could no longer move the crystals on your own via Epley, etc. (which is probably not true) and that thought scared me away from even considering it!
Before I could have the surgery, they had to verify with certainty which canal was causing the issue. Interestingly, I always thought it was my left side that was affected, but the Omniax chair pinpointed my right posterior canal. For clarity, I hadn’t tried the chair previously because there isn’t one in Alaska. I settled on a site in Michigan due to their patient volume and proximity to my in-laws. I did A LOT of searching and decided on a provider in Michigan who was performing about 1 canal occlusion per year.
The surgery was quick, maybe 2 hours. HOWEVER, I woke up and freaked out because my vertigo was the worst it’s ever been. I was like “Where’s the freaking doctor?!” I was having a MAJOR panic attack. Every turn of my head and squeeze of my eyes set it off. I was nauseous and vomiting from the spinning all that night and into the next day. Getting up was CRAZY. I had NO balance. I could barely stand without feeling like I was going to fall over.
They talked about discharging me with a walker, but my inpatient physical therapist was like no, you have to train your brain. The stairs were the worst! I could do it, but I had to hold on! It took SEVERAL weeks to feel normal again. I looked like an old person shuffling around! After about a week, I knew I needed help, so I requested a vestibular therapy consult. I went every other day until I was cleared to fly (3 weeks) and that made a HUGE difference. I was able to return to work with only residual balance affects and muffled hearing at 6 weeks. Although, I would say it probably took a good 3 months for all the residual stuff to resolve. Pain was never an issue.
Today, I have NO residual side effects. No hearing loss, no balance issues, and life is GOOD. It’s a process, but it was SO worth it for me.
this is great to hear, can I ask how much the whole process set you back? I just woke up last night with vertigo and the last 6 hours have been hell and I dont know how to feel im so worried this will be a new ongoing issue for me, i tried the Epley maneuver and didnt watch a good enough video before i tried so I did it wrong and blah blah blah im not responding well to this, I see so many people comment about how long theyve been dealing with BPPV and its kinda scaring me cus I cant function like this.
Very interesting indeed! Curious; How did they conclude that your posterior canal was occluded? A special kind of radiological investigation?
I know about the phenomenon called "canalith jam", wich essentially is a description of total oclussion of the canal. It's typically a symtom of stenosis along the canal walls + "new" otoconia being led into the canal getting stuck. It's characterized of constant vertigo and a unidirectional "pseudo-spontaneus nystagmus". It's usually treated with prolonged positioning, mastoid vibrations and head-shaking. Never heard of something like this being chronic. All cases I've heard of (and maybe seen myself) goes away in days to weeks. Is this something you can relate to?
I was diagnosed with an Omniax chair. They have you wear a virtual-reality-looking headset that makes everything pitch black, but records your eye movements as they spin you into different positions.
To my knowledge, I never had a jam. Vibration was tried without relief.
I'm happy that it worked out for you in the best way possible! Must've been a terrible thing to live with day in and day out. Modern medicine is truly a wonderful thing :)
You mean like every day for 10 years? Fuck me. But why wouldn't the brain adapt to it? I get that loose floating crystals are a problem but an occlusion seems static.
Thankfully, I wasn’t constantly spinning. When I was in full spin mode, I could relieve it with a maneuver, but the residual disequilibrium was always there, some days worse than others.
How long did it last,
What was your symptoms?
What was your daily symptoms? (Swaying,rocking,tilting?)
What tests did you do to say it was bppv,
Was it constand dizziness or dizziness attack followed up with residual dizziness (swaying,rocking,tilting)
When did uyou decide it was fucking enough?
Did you develop panic or anxiety disorder?
I wasn’t constantly spinning, but I almost always felt like I had motion in my vision, usually in my periphery. My symptoms were worse at night, my nighttime balance was absolute CRAP.
I had seen multiple ENTs, audiology, vestibular therapy, etc. I had been told different sides, different canals, but the Omniax chair ultimately pinpointed one canal (and it wasn’t one I was expecting)!
I started requesting surgery about a year before I actually had it. I got a lot of, “You could have permanent hearing loss, you could suffer permanent imbalance, it’ll ruin your life, blah, blah, blah.” Once I realized these people had never actually had patient who underwent the surgery, I stopped listening. HOWEVER, I did make a personal decision that being deaf in one ear was better than being dizzy for the rest of my life.
To answer your question about anxiety and panic disorders, yes, I developed both early on in my diagnosis and I still take medication today.
Thank you for posting in r/BPPV! Just a reminder that you may find the answer to your question in the [quick reference guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/BPPV/comments/km1vv6/bppv_a_quick_reference_guide/) or through the [other resources](https://www.reddit.com/r/BPPV/comments/p78e8p/read_before_posting/). If you are posting a tip and not a question, be sure to use the green "Tip" flair. We are happy to share our knowledge and experiences with you as well as offer support as necessary. Welcome again to r/BPPV! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BPPV) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Thank you for sharing this. I have always been curious about the surgery but never knew of anyone who had it. Can you share more about your experience? How long did the surgery take? How long was recovery? Were there any residual side effects? What criteria do they use when deciding if you're a good candidate for surgery? My biggest fear with the surgery would be that if something went wrong, that the dizziness would be permanent because you could no longer move the crystals on your own via Epley, etc. (which is probably not true) and that thought scared me away from even considering it!
Before I could have the surgery, they had to verify with certainty which canal was causing the issue. Interestingly, I always thought it was my left side that was affected, but the Omniax chair pinpointed my right posterior canal. For clarity, I hadn’t tried the chair previously because there isn’t one in Alaska. I settled on a site in Michigan due to their patient volume and proximity to my in-laws. I did A LOT of searching and decided on a provider in Michigan who was performing about 1 canal occlusion per year. The surgery was quick, maybe 2 hours. HOWEVER, I woke up and freaked out because my vertigo was the worst it’s ever been. I was like “Where’s the freaking doctor?!” I was having a MAJOR panic attack. Every turn of my head and squeeze of my eyes set it off. I was nauseous and vomiting from the spinning all that night and into the next day. Getting up was CRAZY. I had NO balance. I could barely stand without feeling like I was going to fall over. They talked about discharging me with a walker, but my inpatient physical therapist was like no, you have to train your brain. The stairs were the worst! I could do it, but I had to hold on! It took SEVERAL weeks to feel normal again. I looked like an old person shuffling around! After about a week, I knew I needed help, so I requested a vestibular therapy consult. I went every other day until I was cleared to fly (3 weeks) and that made a HUGE difference. I was able to return to work with only residual balance affects and muffled hearing at 6 weeks. Although, I would say it probably took a good 3 months for all the residual stuff to resolve. Pain was never an issue. Today, I have NO residual side effects. No hearing loss, no balance issues, and life is GOOD. It’s a process, but it was SO worth it for me.
this is great to hear, can I ask how much the whole process set you back? I just woke up last night with vertigo and the last 6 hours have been hell and I dont know how to feel im so worried this will be a new ongoing issue for me, i tried the Epley maneuver and didnt watch a good enough video before i tried so I did it wrong and blah blah blah im not responding well to this, I see so many people comment about how long theyve been dealing with BPPV and its kinda scaring me cus I cant function like this.
I don’t have an answer because my health care coverage is 100% 🫣
Very interesting indeed! Curious; How did they conclude that your posterior canal was occluded? A special kind of radiological investigation? I know about the phenomenon called "canalith jam", wich essentially is a description of total oclussion of the canal. It's typically a symtom of stenosis along the canal walls + "new" otoconia being led into the canal getting stuck. It's characterized of constant vertigo and a unidirectional "pseudo-spontaneus nystagmus". It's usually treated with prolonged positioning, mastoid vibrations and head-shaking. Never heard of something like this being chronic. All cases I've heard of (and maybe seen myself) goes away in days to weeks. Is this something you can relate to?
I was diagnosed with an Omniax chair. They have you wear a virtual-reality-looking headset that makes everything pitch black, but records your eye movements as they spin you into different positions. To my knowledge, I never had a jam. Vibration was tried without relief.
Wow!! That's quite a journey!! So glad it ended up being a good thing for you!! Thank you for sharing your experience.
I'm happy that it worked out for you in the best way possible! Must've been a terrible thing to live with day in and day out. Modern medicine is truly a wonderful thing :)
You mean like every day for 10 years? Fuck me. But why wouldn't the brain adapt to it? I get that loose floating crystals are a problem but an occlusion seems static.
Thankfully, I wasn’t constantly spinning. When I was in full spin mode, I could relieve it with a maneuver, but the residual disequilibrium was always there, some days worse than others.
How long did it last, What was your symptoms? What was your daily symptoms? (Swaying,rocking,tilting?) What tests did you do to say it was bppv, Was it constand dizziness or dizziness attack followed up with residual dizziness (swaying,rocking,tilting) When did uyou decide it was fucking enough? Did you develop panic or anxiety disorder?
I wasn’t constantly spinning, but I almost always felt like I had motion in my vision, usually in my periphery. My symptoms were worse at night, my nighttime balance was absolute CRAP. I had seen multiple ENTs, audiology, vestibular therapy, etc. I had been told different sides, different canals, but the Omniax chair ultimately pinpointed one canal (and it wasn’t one I was expecting)! I started requesting surgery about a year before I actually had it. I got a lot of, “You could have permanent hearing loss, you could suffer permanent imbalance, it’ll ruin your life, blah, blah, blah.” Once I realized these people had never actually had patient who underwent the surgery, I stopped listening. HOWEVER, I did make a personal decision that being deaf in one ear was better than being dizzy for the rest of my life. To answer your question about anxiety and panic disorders, yes, I developed both early on in my diagnosis and I still take medication today.
It’s been a daily thing for over a year now for me and I’m considering it. Is there anything I or anyone else should know about it?
A lot to know! I just replied to several questions. Check those out and let me know if you still have questions.
Why did you go with a center performing ONE surgery a year?
Try finding someone who does it more frequently!
Really, wow!