Up-down-side-side

It's been almost a week now since I first felt it. Vertigo. I first mistaken the feeling as persistent headache. When I had myself checked up, the doctor concluded it must be benign positional vertigo. Some fancy way of saying that I feel all woozy when I abruptly shift the position of my head or body, much like the light-headed/swimming/swirling feeling one gets on roller coaster or ferris wheel rides.

I actually went to the Patient First clinic at the Glorietta to have my blood pressure checked. Believing then that it was persistent headache of three days, my friends insisted that I have my blood pressure checked. Funny too how I value my own health; I went to the clinic as side trip to my round of bill payments in the mall. The blood pressure was not alarming, according to the nurse/attendant, but it was elevated. I was told that I should be concerned with the reading but it didn't explain my head problem. So I relented to a doctor's consultation. But only after an eye examination, essentially the DEFPOTEC eye chart. The doctor looked into my ears; she noted "tympanic membrane intact." Then she said it could be related to my ear's semi-circular canals, which are responsible for my sense of balance. Some "bearings" in my semi-circular canals might be displaced... or something like that.

The doctor also said the vertigo must be due to steady diet riddled with too much caffeine and/or MSG. Caffeine, since I don't drink coffee much, may not be it. Chocolates then? The doctor offered. Not much of that also as of late. Though I have to admit, I do love chocolates. MSG, then? Probably. Lately, I have been on a steady speedy meal ticket of mainly fastfood fare. Which is difficult for me to control really. I mean, I'm usually prey to the mystery ingredients of fastfood offers since I'm almost always on the road to somewhere. And I don't cook at home ordinarily (which means that from time to time, or in exceptionally rare moments, I do practice some domestic cooking duties, and thankfully, are not destined to be total disasters).

The doctor recommended several things. First, head exercises when vertigo feeling sets in. Second, a check-up with an EENT specialist. Their specialist will be on-duty much later in the afternoon and I couldn't afford to wait that long because again I was on my way to somewhere out of town. That then would be a future consultation. Third, she gave me prescription: a course of B-complex vitamins and SERC to manage the vertigo episodes. I haven't started on this course yet. I thought the prescription was rather pointless.

My hunny checked on me the evening post-consultation. Through a lengthy exchange of text messages, I told him that the head exercises are helping and I seem to be getting used to the vertigo episodes. I still haven't done anything to address the diet issues. And I've yet to find my way back into the clinic for that EENT consultation. As for the prescription, I think I've lost the paper thingy during the rush of printing work documents and clothes packing. Such a model I am for health maintenance!