Is It BPPV?

I woke up feeling pretty good this morning. I like to stretch while laying in bed, and then made the unfortunate decision to roll over onto my right side. Normally, I avoid doing this because my right shoulder hates it. My regret stemmed not from the shoulder, though, but the instant wave of nausea and dizziness. Vertigo in spades. Ugh. It takes me a long time to get through the morning routine, but eventually I make it to the gym. I find that regardless of how bad the vertigo is, I always feel better after a workout.

A friend suggested that I might have BPPV, aka Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, a condition caused by dislodged calcium carbonite crystals that migrate into the inner ear canals where they're not suppose to be. We apparently have these mineral deposits (otoconia) embedded in another part of the ear structure (utricle) that enables us to determine acceleration. Well, that's nice, except when I need housekeeping to tidy up the mess inside my ears so that I can bend over without throwing up.

There's a recommended manual treatment called the Epley Manuever. It looks simple enough, if I can actually not fall off my bed or otherwise get sick. It's recommended that I see a healthcare provider who is versed in this, but of course, I don't really trust doctors much these days not to send me out for a series of tests, x-rays and MRIs to rule out everything except what might be the most obvious. Of course, I was feeling better until this morning so maybe I can wait this out...

I hate feeling fuzzy-headed though. My sis has been raving about yerba maté tea as a substitute for morning coffee, which she can't tolerate. She says it makes her feel extremely focused, but not jittery. I want to try it, but of course, I can't find it in my supermarket and the health food store closed last December. Maybe Amazon carries it? There's over a dozen listings, so I'll have to rely on customer reviews. Because how else can I make a decision?

Since today is Cardio Day, I spend 30+ minutes on the cross-trainer, then hop off and try the Espresso bike simulator. It's not a comfortable fit, especially since I can barely steer with the tips of my fingers. But 2.4 miles seems like a program I can do. It's fun. Sweat is dripping off my nose by the time I cross the finish line. Then a few pull ups, some push ups, crunches, and then the elliptical. Because the Step Mill is busy, and I think the erg rower gives me a sore tail bone. There are other cardio machines that I mostly don't fit into without feeling a lower back ache. And the reclining bike is just silly. I tried it. You can log in 5 miles with minimal effort! Pointless.

The Mayor is wearing an uncharacteristic black T-shirt today. Normally he dons pastels like blue, orange, pink or red. But yesterday he was wearing the same pale melon color as another fellow, and that probably really bothered him. Today he also spends 20 minutes gabbing with three other men while his teenage son flits from machine to machine.

I need to grab some groceries before I head home. The gym scale tells me 109.2 lbs, so that's going in the right direction, although it seems to have taken me all damn week to get there. Once I get home, the dog needs tending to, and groceries need to be put away, laundry started, mail sorted. I'd already planned to make oatmeal cooked in milk, with blueberries and a scoop of vanilla protein powder. I actually read this idea on T-Nation.com. This is the first article that stated, add frozen blueberries to cool off the oatmeal before adding the protein powder. Everyone else says it's fine to cook powder, but I find it turns food un-appetizingly gummy. The food makes me happy. But I'm still a bit queasy afterwards, and my head still feels funny. Ugh.

I wonder if whacking the Nexersys will make things better or worse tomorrow. We're down to one machine, as the one with the broken arm seems to have been disconnected. Hmmmm...

Thursday
8.94 cardio miles

30 min x-trainer + 5cd
Calories 170
Miles 3.72
Average Heart Rate 144

Espresso bike
2.36 miles
Evening Bliss course
13:40 min

HGPU 26
Push Ups 50
Crunches 3 x 50

30 min elliptical + 5cd
Program 3
Calories 319
Miles 2.86
Average Heart Rate 143

HGPU 26