Brief Answer:
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo

Detailed Answer:
Good afternoon.....you are quite a spunky girl with all those activities.....let's get you back to all of that stuff....(if you'd like).

Your concussion from 2016 may have accelerated the onset in your case of a condition known as BENIGN PAROXYSMAL POSITIONAL VERTIGO (BPPV). This is where small otoliths (microscopic calcified debris within the inner ear break off and cause deformation of a structure in the inner ear called the CUPULA. This is an electrically active organ in the ear and so any stimulation by falling or loose crystals (which also occurs most frequently in women in the 60-65 year range often being caused by some type of head trauma) can cause an immediate sensation of spinning, nausea, wooziness, and unsteadiness.

It will calm down after a moment but can return if the head is tilted or otherwise suddenly moved such as when going from a lying to standing position, flipping over in bed, or bending over to pick up something on the floor.

Generally, speaking medication is unnecessary for treating this phenomenon. In fact, I am NOT a fan of Meclizine for such cases. I really do wish physicians would use a much better and more definitive approach than medication. My patients do not have great success with the drug when prescribed by either the ER or their PMD's. It really ignores the entire underlying cause of the condition and tends to either cause side effects or just doesn't work.

So the answer to your question about always having to take it is a decided and definite NO! I believe you should be able to handle and cope with this situation without the use of medication and not only that....you can use this form of treatment whenever and for however long you wish to without causing any other problems or interactions with any other medication.

If you were to set up an appointment with a local neurologist you could ask him/her to show you what is called the BRANDT-DAROFF exercises. You can also view this exercise on any YOUTUBE CHANNEL for a demonstration on how it's done. The best to do the maneuver is to have someone help you since you really have to be quite passive while doing these exercises. Not only that, the person who would be the "Operator" really needs to be someone who can strongly hold you on a stiff surface and move you in a SIDEWAYS POSITION back and forth which will initially make you dizzy...possibly VERY DIZZY, but with repeated cycles and daily repetition (I recommend 2x daily) you will no longer get the spinning or vertiginous sensations and the BPPV will have come under control.

It could come back again as it does in 50% of people over the course of several weeks but all you do is go back to the exercises. When done for a 2nd cycle the "stick" rate becomes even better.

If after 2 or 3 cycles of Brandt-Daroff maneuvers there is still no satisfactory relief then, something called the EPLEY Maneuver can be done and usually, this works a bit better in people for who BRANDT-DAROFF doesn't seem to work. However, that is a maneuver that should be done by a physician (neurologist or otolaryngologist) familiar with how to perform the maneuver.

I think it's adequate in its explanation and demonstration of how to do what is called a 1 operator maneuver (only the patient). I prefer having a 2 operator exercise so that the patient doesn't have to really worry about going up and down by themselves....tends to break the rhythm of your movement designed to "GATE" the brain against the symptoms of the dizziness or vertigo.

If I've adequately answered your questions then, I'd greatly appreciate your CLOSING the query and assigning a 5 STAR rating to our encounter.

52 minutes of professional time was spent in reading, researching, and formulating an analysis on behalf of this patient.

Regards

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