Vertigo is No Fun.
So, I had been feeling pretty good about working on getting in shape again after BAM was born. I didn't feel really healthy for most of the pregnancy - first I was morning sick, then just plain nervous, so I didn't exercise like I would have wanted to. I haven't felt really able to be fully active in more than a year. Maybe I pushed things a little too fast because of that. Anyway, starting at three weeks postpartum I worked on easing back into an exercise routine. That's early, but I was feeling pretty good. Last Monday I began exercising for thirty minutes a day again, and I didn't feel too tired. Then Wednesday we had a really busy day running around - too busy to exercise that day, but we were out of the house nearly all day with one thing and another, and for some of it I was walking and carrying the baby and didn't drink much water at all... I was pretty tired by bedtime.
I woke up around during the night, probably around 2ish, feeling like the room was spinning. When I was pregnant with SAM there was a morning when I woke up dizzy, but I went back to sleep and was better when I woke up. Didn't work this time. Every time I woke up things were still spinning, and whenever I moved my head it got much worse. And of course I had to move periodically, to feed BAM. I'm fairly prone to motion sickness, so I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did before getting sick. Woke hoshiadam up to take care of the baby and/or me. We tried a few remedies, I even had a shower, but nothing worked, and every time I tried to lie down I'd find myself crawling across the tilting floor to the bathroom. :( By morning it was clear that hoshiadam couldn't go to work. I stayed in bed all day and he got his first practice taking care of both boys. Plus me. :) I couldn't even get dressed without help.
I tried getting up for a short time in the morning but felt too miserable. By afternoon, things got a bit better. I was able to keep down a whole piece of bread and a small glass of juice, and we had almost decided that I was going to be okay, even though all the websites hoshiadam was looking at seemed to be saying that we should go immediately to the hospital. Around 5, I started feeling bad again, and we reluctantly decided to head to a doctor - and since everything was closed by the time we got ready, it was the ER for us. I felt pretty silly going there, it's just not what I do... (especially because I started feeling a lot better as soon as we decided to go), but it didn't seem like a bad idea to check for serious problems. Especially with hoshiadam planning to go to Eclipse the next day, it seemed prudent to find out if he could leave safely, or if I had a reason to keep him home. It still irritated me - and it meant exposing BAM and SAM to who knows what. :(
So BAM got his first visit to a hospital a lot sooner than I had hoped. It was SAM's first time in the real part of a hospital, too, not counting the time he came with me to pick up some records from the hospital office building. We waited an hour or so in triage. SAM was extremely good the whole time, especially considering that we hadn't had dinner. Luckily we packed snacks. Once it was our turn, they hooked me up to some IV fluids when they heard I'd been vomiting for 15 hours or so. (I did manage to eat a pear in the waiting room, though.) They offered me antinausea meds, which I turned down. By the time the saline bag was empty, I was hardly even feeling dizzy any more. They still wanted to give me Antivert (anti-vertigo med). I was hesitant, pointing out (frequently) that I am breastfeeding. The person thought it was safe, but went to look it up. Good thing - she found that it is indeed NOT safe for breastfeeding, though it's okay in pregnancy - apparently it's excreted in breastmilk but doesn't get past the placenta too much. They didn't do an MRI either, because of the breastfeeding, even though from looking it up afterwards it looks like it would have been okay. *shrug* We waited a long time, but someone did come back to take the IV out, and they had me walk around the hall to show that I wouldn't fall down, and had me hold my arms up to make sure I didn't have weakness, etc. So, after about four hours, we left, with various fluids taken for testing, about a liter of saline added, and a diagnosis of maybe too much ear wax but most likely no stroke. Silly!
As per the nurse/doctor's instructions (I don't know who we were talking to, maybe I should read nametags), we got an over the counter ear wax kit, and tried it out. It made me feel rather deaf the first couple of times I used it, it had bubbles that sounded like popcorn popping in my ear canals. I used it several times, and my ears are quite clean now! Sadly, that didn't fix things. I felt almost entirely better Friday morning, so hoshiadam went to Eclipse, but that night the dizziness came back. Not too bad, I didn't get sick or anything, but it left me queasy in the morning and not wanting to do much. That happened again each night since then. By afternoon I feel pretty normal. I've made sure to drink lots of water, even at night, so I think the dehydration hypothesis is out. After some research, it looks like Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo is the most likely culprit, so tonight I'll try the ear-rock repositioning exercise. :) The next most likely diagnosis looks like vestibular neuritis, and for that all you can do is wait for it to go away. *sigh*
I did find out that my mom had some episodes of vertigo when HER kids were young, and her doctor told her to rotate her head around in various positions, which fixed it for her. So that's promising.
I just want to feel all healthy again!
In other news, BAM is awesome. :) He's a month old now, way bigger than SAM was. He's outgrowing all his little newborn clothes, it is sad! We're getting a lot more smiles out of him, and over the last few days there's been a real increase in cooing too. :) Now the fun begins. He is very snuggly. He also spits up all the time, but one can't have everything. With the weight he's gaining, I think it's okay. :) SAM is very cute with him - no negativity related to the baby so far. He's had some serious potty-training backsliding, after having so few accidents for such a long time that I wasn't even taking spare clothes with us anywhere, and he's been testing us pretty strongly at times, but all he wants to do with BAM is give him kisses. :)