Tag Archives: vertigo

It is good to be back

28 Tuesday Oct 2025

Posted by in Daily Life, Daily Message, Finding Me

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“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.” ― Maya Angelou

After one week in Chile, two months in Brazil and one week in New York, I am finally back in Florida.  I have been here for one week.

It feels good to be back and try to start a routine.  Feels good to play house with Michael.  Well, I am already looking at cruises and ski trips… I love having things to look forward to. 

Our building is finally done with the renovations.  There are still some little issues, but Michael and I are fully enjoying our apartment. 

I have so much organizing to do.  Michael returned from Brazil before I did.  He stopped in NY and picked up some more of my stuff.  So I have boxes and boxes to organize, including tons of mosaic material and mosaics pieces.

After my father’s death and watching my mother struggle with debilitating hip pain, I decided to think about my health more seriously.   I want to have a very active future, and I know I need to address issues that I have learned to live with. 

I arrived home and hit the ground running:

  • I got a gym membership
  • I got a personal trainer for two times a week (I need that accountability) 
  • I got blood tests done
  • I got a physical and wellness check (cholesterol down to 174 from 248!! yippie)
  • I got an eye exam and ordered 3 new glasses (from Costco – the best place to get glasses!!)
  • I made appointment with:
    • an orthopedic doctor (time to revisit the hip issues)
    • an ENT doctor (time to revisit the vertigo symptoms)
    • a skin doctor (a big brown spot all of sudden appeared on my hip)
    • imaging center for bone density and mammogram
  • Bought a bedroom set.  We are not picky, hate shopping, and don’t like to wait.  So we just went out on Saturday bought a bedroom set and three hours later they delivered it.  We love it!  

There is more to do, but this all feels like progress, and progress makes me very happy.  The only problem is that all these doctor’s appointments, and possible tests and follow-ups are going to interfere with future travel plans 🙂

… not to mention the little detail of having a full-time job.  Retirement? Retirement? Where are you?

 

 

My view as I write this: so grateful!!

My view as I write this: so grateful!!

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.” ― Seneca

 

Still dizzy… and still hopeful

30 Thursday Jul 2020

Posted by in Daily Life

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“Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.”― Rumi

https://atomic-temporary-33385295.wpcomstaging.com/2020/07/03/intermittent-fasting-yea-or-nay/

After I wrote the above post regarding Intermittent Fasting I decided to start eating breakfast again to see if that would have any effect on the vertigo symptoms.  The symptoms had already lessened a lot by then, but I needed to know for sure if IF was the cause.   

Stopping the fasting seemed to have no effect.  I continued to have good days and bad days. I did gain a few pounds back 😦

On Sunday I woke up very dizzy but still managed to shower and go to the mosaic studio.  I was excited to be going back to finish a table I started months ago.  It was over 95 degrees outside.  The instructor set up a tent outside and put up a couple of fans.  She is also only having 2 people at a time.   I stayed only 2 hours because I was still not feeling right.    

I got home, went to bed and slept for a couple of hours.  I got up like a new person.  Then we went out eat at El Barrio in Scarsdale again.  This time it was not as good as prior times.  The waiter got the order wrong and the drinks were poorly made.  

On Monday morning when I woke up and turned my head in bed, the room started spinning much faster than usual and I immediately felt nauseous as if I was about to vomit.  I didn’t, and slowly got to a seated position, then slowly got up and went on with my day.

I was very unsteady on my feet but went to work anyway because I am dumb like that.  I was useless since I couldn’t move my head or pay attention to anything.  I went back home at noon and slept the entire afternoon.  

I started taking Claritin (for allergies) and Bonine (for motion sickeness).  That drug combination and rest seemed to help.  I got the name of an Otologist/Neurotologit that a friend went to but I haven’t called him yet.  He may help by doing some head movements/adjustments, but I am afraid of having my neck adjusted.  

I think I may have something very common but so annoying called: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).  I have now started to sleep with lots of pillows to prop my head up.  It helps with the dizziness but now my back is complaining.

Some days I feel like a million dollar and on others I am just a beautiful blessed mess.

“Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth;
whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul;
whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses,
and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet;
and especially when my hypos get such an upper hand of me,
that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off-
then, I account it high time to get to a bookstore as soon as I can.
That is my substitute for the pistol and ball.”
― Herman Melville, Moby Dicka beautiful mess lyrics

Wobbling my way through the day

09 Tuesday Jun 2020

Posted by in Daily Life, Daily Message, Finding Me

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Pachira Aquatica (money tree)-legend has it that it brings wealth. I bought for the new office.

“The most poetical thing in the world is not being sick.”
― G.K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare

Thank you everyone for the get-well-soon wishes.  I am feeling much better now.  I still wake up wobbly.  It takes awhile to get going, but by the afternoon I am feeling more steady on my feet.

On the day when this vertigo crisis started I woke up with a long list of things to do.  Most of it had to do with getting my new office up and running.

All of a sudden, all the deadlines, the reports I had to hand in, the calls I had to make, all the deliveries I had to meet, it all took a back seat to me just being able to stand up.

In the afternoon I walked to the office, with some steps wobblier than others.  Next time I see people not steady on their feet I will never again assume that they are drunk or on drugs.  They could be afflicted with vertigo, like me, or some other condition that affects their balance.

“You need to spend time crawling alone through shadows to truly appreciate what it is to stand in the sun.” – Shaun Hick

Not feeling well puts everything in perspective.

Humbling. Getting sick and not feeling well is humbling.  The world hasn’t stopped.  All is moving as it should. I am meaningless.  It does show me that the world doesn’t revolve around me. I am no longer the one that can get it all done.

How can I continue to be wonder woman if I can’t even stand up and walk straight?

Vulnerable. I am not invincible.  No one is. Having my body not respond as I want and expect is scary. Is wobbly my new normal? Feeling ill makes me look at being healthy in a different light. Being healthy is a necessity, not a luxury.

Liberating. All of a sudden I am free from all that NEEDED to be done and all I WANTED to get done.  There is nothing more important in the world then getting well and feeling better.  All rest will have to wait.

Control and Acceptance. Feeling ill reinforces the idea that I, as a human being, am not in control of anything.  The only thing that I can possibly try to control is my actions and reactions.  I accept my powerlessness at this moment.  I accept I am not 100%.

Reflection. Feeling ill and unable to do anything other than just lay there looking up at the ceiling is the perfect time for reflection. To reflect about the world and my role in it. To reflect about the lessons, as I am sure there are many being taught me now.  I can’t miss them.

Planning. It is also a perfect time for planning.  Because, of course, any time I don’t feel well, the first thing I dream of doing when I am better is conquering the world. Don’t you? I have this overwhelming feeling that I wasted precious healthy time.  That I didn’t do enough or as much as I should have. Therefore it gives me a renewed sense of purpose and urgency.

Gratitude.  Waking up every morning is a blessing and waking up healthier is even more so.  Not only the next day is not a guarantee, that we will be feeling well the next day is a gamble also.  I am being taught to appreciate every single moment and get busy living and doing all I can while I can.

I am grateful for the vertigo for slowing me down for awhile so I can come back with a faster gear and new resolve.

“I didn’t expect to recover from my second operation but since I did, I consider that I’m living on borrowed time. Every day that dawns is a gift to me and I take it in that way. I accept it gratefully without looking beyond it. I completely forget my physical suffering and all the unpleasantness of my present condition and I think only of the joy of seeing the sun rise once more and of being able to work a little bit, even under difficult conditions.”
― Henri Matisse