BPPV / Positional Dizziness / Epley Maneuver

Female, age 61, having dizzy spells when lying down & getting up. Apparently I have “Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo” (BPPV) and have been told to do the Epley Maneuver, nightly, for one week.

Questions: Does this actually work? How long does it take to feel “normal” again?
Not looking for medical advice (that’s why I went to the MD!), but if you’ve had this, tell me about it. Thanks.

i know people who have had it done or do it. single treatment can give relief though you need to do it until all your crystals have been repositioned. you may need to repeat treatment at later times as needed.

Maybe.

(Note that the Cochrane reviews of various medical subjects are generally considered reliable/outstanding. That being said, in order to limit their review to what they consider the “best” available evidence for a subject, the Cochrane reviewers often exclude many studies. Such a practice can definitely influence their conclusions.)

As I composed the title of a new thread, this thread showed up on the right side as relevant and using the same language and so I’m reviving this thread because this is my current nightmare. I’m a 99’er, well aware that any medical anecdotal stories are in no way constituting medical advice, etc. etc.

On Friday around 1pm I sat down on the living room floor. Had to lie down since I needed to root around under the sofa. Sat down. Turned as I “fell” back onto my right shoulder. All very much on purpose, so could be facing underneath the sofa. Landed hard on my shoulder. No recollection of hitting my head, etc. Did what I needed to do under the sofa.

Roughly 15 minutes later, cutting up some chicken, I was hit by sudden and violent vertigo and nausea. I knew what it was from an incident roughly 4 years ago ( see below ), and ran to the bathroom, where I retched and knelt before the porcelain throne for ( according to my wife ) roughly 2 hours.

When my stomach was good and empty, that part of the process ended. The severe vertigo did not. As I was enduring this, I called out for her to call my pal Larry. Larry had shared a most odd incident last year. He had- for no good reason- a bout of B.P.P.V.. He mentioned it because it’d wreaked such havoc in his life. He also mentioned The Eply Maneuver which apparently slowly relieved the symptoms.

So. I’m insanely vertigious and my wife is looking up videos like the one I’ve linked just above. She had to walk me the 30 or so steps from the bathroom to the bedroom. I was incapable of ambulating without the room pitching violently. The pitching subsides when my eyes are closed.

I spent from 3pm Friday until about 6pm Saturday laying in bed with my eyes closed. Mostly sleeping. ( Concussion? Doubt it, because of the shift in symptoms to come. ) She talked me through attempting the Eply Maneuver. I have to admit that if the first 27 hours were a 100, post-Eply the symptoms were about a 60. You’re allowed to repeat it every 15 minutes or so. I did 2 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday.

The result so far is that the nausea is almost completely gone. ( But hey- what a great way to lose a fast 7 pounds !! ). The vertigo is disabling enough that I’m afraid to leave our very small apartment- because like a toddler learning to walk, I can “coast” along holding things every step of the way. Even if I used a cane we’ve got in the house, I suspect I’d wind up face down on the filthy hard sidewalk pretty quickly.

Did a virtual M.D. visit on Saturday. That person confirmed the amount of eyeball-shifting in a rhythmic pattern. Typical indicator of an inner ear issue. ( Also, of course, of a CVE ( Cerebro-Vascular Event- stroke. I’ve zero symptoms of a stroke, and the Eply doesn’t “cure” strokes. ) She suggested I get seen.

Going to reach out most urgently to local E.N.T. office. If they see uneven pressure in the back of my eyeballs or other stroke-indicators, then it’s off to an E.R. But near as we’ve found from doing our Google-Diligence, the Eply maneuver is what would be employed in an ENT’s office.

I think that I’m at about 50% vertigo compared to Friday afternoon. It’s pretty damned awful. The data indicates that if this IS BPPV, it can take many days or weeks to completely resolve even with diligent Eply Maneuvers/ day.

I’m trapped in the house and fairly freaked about it.

Now, the backstory. 4 years ago give or take, I awoke from a sound sleep. No falls, no sudden hits to the head or violent movements near as I recall as a part of that experience. I woke up knowing I was about to get sick. Intense vertigo meant that I literally stumbled down the hallway, turning my body and holding onto anything I could as I kept turning in the direction of the vertigo, to get to the bathroom. Violent sickness, etc. That lasted about 2 hours in total with a break in the middle, then suddenly the entire event ended. Aside from being pretty tired the next day, I had zero after-effects. ( And, it must be said, zero cognitive residual damage of any kind ). Had no idea what’d happened. I was alone for that one, my wife was on the road.

That’s about it.

Anyone else dealt with this issue? Had to use the Eply? Any first- or second-hand experiences and results will be greatly appreciated.

My wife suffered relatively mild vertigo when getting out of bed mornings. Our doctor applied the Epley maneuver and even taught me how to do it. But that one treatment was enough, so her case was completely different. I never did it to her and now have forgotten the details.

I’ve had BPPV off and on, (mostly off, though I’ve been having an ‘attack’ for a couple of weeks now) for several years now. Fortunately I don’t get motion sickness so my biggest problem is falling down, running into walls, that sort of thing. Anyway, the Epley Maneuver works for me, but I have to do it several times. The number of times varies with the severity of the ‘attack’ and how well I do it.
The only thing I have to add to what has already been mentioned is that how you do the Epley depends on which ear is affected. Your doctor should be able to determine that for you, or, like I did, figure it out yourself by trial and error.

Sorry you’re having to go through this, and good luck.

Retired ER doc here. I used to use the Semont maneuver for BPPV. Same general idea as the Epley, repositioning inner ear crystals. If we were lucky, the patient would get immediate relief with one or maybe two passes. On less fortunate days, I’d send them home with instructions and (sometimes) anti-nausea meds.
Clearly, BPPV attacks are no fun. Good luck. Hope it resolves quickly.

I’ve dealt with BPPV twice. Once, probably about 5 years ago. I went to my ENT, who quickly confirmed the diagnosis on a tilt table. Did the Epley maneuver, and I was told not to lay down for a day. I was completely fine immediately after the maneuever.

About six months ago I had a very mild attack. I looked up some videos and did the maneuver on my sofa. Resolved immediately again.

Good luck with your much more persistent case.

Not much to say besides the first reply about repositioning crystals made me think this was complete woo.

Very interesting topic, though. I hope you can get some relief, it sounds awful.

A few years ago, I started getting vertigo-like symptoms at seemingly random times - but always at night. It fealt like bed spins - which I used to get in college, but for completely different reasons. I’ve since determined that it almost always happens after an airline flight. I’m guessing the flying messes enough with my inner ear to trigger a flare-up. I’ve never quite gotten to the point of vomiting, but certainly come close a few times. I’ve noticed that it is tied to what side of my body I’m lying on. Typically, I can reduce the feeling significantly by rolling on to one side or the other. About 2 years ago, a friend mentioned the Eply maneuver. I’ve tried it several times and it does provide relief. However, just doing the maneuver can temporarily increase my nausea, which isn’t so fun. My flareups are worse at night, and typically diminish over a few days, so I think I’m pretty lucky.

Um…don’t get stuck on the word. These aren’t crystals like you buy in a crystal shop. :roll_eyes:

The most common type of this condition is BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo). It happens when small crystals of calcium get loose in your inner ear.

My bold.

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