Vertigo. Have you heard of it?
Maureen was a high diver until the day she experienced the dizziness of vertigo on the platform. While looking down at the pool, she noticed an uneasy spinning feeling and stepped back, sick with vertigo. After a week of rest, she faced the pool again from the platform, but the imbalanced and reeling feeling returned, sending her almost reeling into the pool. Her doctor diagnosed her with vertigo or unsteadiness, and recommended she retire from diving.
Years ago as Carol Foster, MD, an associate professor at the CU School of Medicine, started experiencing episodes of room-rotating dizziness and the accompanying nausea, she was astounded – not because she didn’t know what was taking place, but because the unpleasantness and disorientation her own patients experienced was so much more severe than she had ever imagined.
Is it Meniere’s or something else?
Back then Foster had Meniere’s Disease, a disorder of the inner ear that causes repeated bouts of vertigo that can last for hours or days. She had surgery to cut the nerve to the ear that was triggering the disease. Her bouts of vertigo stopped immediately.
But one morning years later, she rolled over in bed and again felt the room start to spin and that first accompanying wave of nausea. Her first thought was for her patients. “I have to go in because other sick people were waiting for me,” she said.
With the insight of a physician and research scientist, she understood immediately that this time her vertigo was not triggered by Meniere’s Disease, but by something very different. She knew instinctively this vertigo was something she might be able to fix herself, and she was challenged to overcome it.
“I decided that my problem was a worthy foe,” the young doctor stated. “I would make it my mission to destroy something that was worth working on.”
What it meant was returning to school with a National Institutes of Health fellowship in neuro-otology at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center. Today, Foster is director of the Balance Laboratory at the CU School of Medicine.
BPPV: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo
Millions of people in the US can expect to have benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), especially as they age. Unlike Meniere’s Disease, where the cause is often unknown, BPPV is caused by gravity-sensing particles in the ear accidentally entering the spinning-motion sensors of the ear. It can make people have falls, they can be completely unable to go to work because they’re so dizzy, or they can be vomiting – so vertigo is very, very unpleasant.
The symptoms of BPPV can be relieved by maneuvers that relocate the particles. (source)
One morning, in treating herself, she came up with her own ‘spin’ on how to fix vertigo at home. It’s called the ‘Half-Somersault Maneuver.’ That morning in her bedroom, Dr. Carol, whose practice included patients with exactly the problem she was experiencing, knew this was a bout of BPPV in her healthy ear, the one not affected by Meniere’s Disease. While the room spun around her, and she became increasingly sicker, she considered to her options.
“I had already spent so many years having vertigo, so it had become a science experiment,” she said. “I was a trained scientist running across a rare specimen, and the specimen was me.”
In her bedroom, Foster did a maneuver on herself that she had often done on patients called the ‘Epley’ – a series of body and head maneuvers used to treat BPPV – usually done by a medical professional treating a patient. The particles moved out of her ear canals and then slipped right back into the horizontal canal. The vertigo intensified.
“I was starting to get very sick,” said Foster. “Then I thought to myself, ‘There’s more than one way to skin a cat.'” (source)
Discovering the Foster Maneuver
With the room spinning around her, Carol Foster made a model of the ear with her fingers and tilted and turned the model in front of her eyes. She began to conceive a maneuver that might get the particles out of her horizontal canal and back where they belonged.
Then, she translated the theory she had devised with her finger model into action with a half-somersault, followed by a head turn, and one last quick move of her head as she returned to the sitting position.
“Bingo! It was gone,” said Foster. “The second those particles moved out, the spinning just dead stopped.” Soon after, she realized the implications of what she had discovered. Here was instant relief from a horribly disabling situation that nearly anyone could do at home, all alone, and for free.
Here is the half-somersault maneuver for the right ear, steps 1 through 5. Watch it being done in the video below.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Many of Dr. Foster’s patients have been admitted with horrible vomiting just because they have particles lodged in the wrong canal. Instead of doing an expensive work-up on them, many find it can be relieved in seconds by this simple maneuver.
She also tells them that sleeping with their head slightly elevated at night can prevent the particles from slipping into the wrong part of the ear.
Later, Carol Foster posted the breakthrough on the Internet. The Half-Somersault Maneuver
Overcoming Positional Vertigo by Carol Foster, MD.
No More Losing One’s Mind
Once Carol Foster decided to share her maneuver discovery with the media, she watched her practice grow explosively. Different patients responded differently. She tells how some suffering with BPPV come in with the diagram for the Foster maneuver in their hands to see if they are doing it correctly. “They just don’t believe it can be that simple,” Foster said.
Some simply know they have a terrible problem and want to find the cause. Others come because they have tried the maneuver and don’t think it works. Foster has to explain to them that it’s ear-specific. There’s a specific way for each ear. Do the wrong ear, and it won’t work.
For those it works for, it is a true life-changing relief. Dr. Foster talks about a 40-year-old woman who thought she was losing her mind. Once the woman learned the maneuver, she was jubilant!
Patients put their head upside down like they are going to do a somersault, turn their head quickly to one side depending on which ear is affected, then wait again for dizziness to end and then sit back quickly. Everyone is always surprised at how well it works.
“My goal in life is to basically get rid of all dizziness on planet earth,” she said.
She’s well on her way – one half-somersault at a time. None of those patients returned to the doctor for dizziness treatments. Now that’s my kind of old-fashioned doctor!
****For the Full Spike Protein Protocol to protect from transmission from the “V” and to help those who took the “V”, go here.
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Toni
I read about this recently! This method of treating vertigo is amazingly simple, but what amazes me even more is that Dr. Foster is letting people know about it so they can do it themselves for FREE. My mind is boggled that she is giving instead of taking on this. She must be crazy or old school or a christian, one or all. Whatever she is she’s brilliant and giving and deserving of her title as a doctor, I say. My faith in modern medicine is bumped up a notch after reading this.
Have a wonderful day, Jacqueline!
Toni, the jaded patient
Jacqueline
Haha, Toni!! I must say I’m chuckling at your take on what makes her tick:) I like to think she is all three – whatever it is, she has a wonderfully big heart, and I love what she is doing and for getting the word out. Definitely unusual for the present medical crowd :)!
Jacqueline, the skeptical patient 😉
Toni
Hey, I was being sarcastic about not understanding why the good doctor wasn’t cashing in on her treatment method. Totally tongue in cheek. 🙂
Jacqueline
I didn’t think anything of it, Toni! I am thrilled there is still integrity to be found 🙂 I am so glad you are my friend…I believe we think a lot alike!
Have a fantastic weekend!
Marci Ferrell
Jacque I just pinned your post. Doug has suffered from vertigo in the past and it has been awhile since it has surfaced but what a handy reference to have on hand. Thank you sister xoxox.
Jacqueline
You are welcome, Marci!
Oh, dear, I hope it never comes back for Doug. I had it for just one day so horribly that I want NEVER to have it again! It was the day before the home school convention, and it would have been terrible after many months of planning to have been disabled 🙂
Blessings!
Cheyanna Rose
What a wonderful thing to know. Thank you so much!
Jacqueline
Pass it on, dear Cheyanna! 🙂
Jackie
Apparently a strong blow to the head can cause breakage of the particles that cause the sensation of dizziness when they settle in the wrong part of the ear.
As for myself, using a couple of drops of undiluted vodka in each ear after showering or swimming has given relief from dizziness, which I believe to be fungal in nature.
Thanks for this great article!
Jacqueline
Thank you for adding to the discussion, Jackie. Fungal growth is pretty common in the ear canal.
Karen
Thanks for posting Jacque Line! You are such a blessing! I have felt dizzy at times lately, but I think it is a combination of stress and sinuses. 😀
Jacqueline
Dear Karen,
I am sorry to hear that. I hope you never have full blown vertigo-it is pretty horrible.
I am praying for you, sweet friend. I wish we were able to do a Bible-study together…
(((Hugs)))
J
Terri Presser
Thanks for this great post. I am printing it out for a friend of mine with the same problems. Thanks for sharing this at Good Morning Mondays. Blessings
Diane
i don’t think a lot of people know the difference between Vertigo and dizziness.
To me Vertigo is spinning. Very different than dizziness.
Does anyone here also have SSHL and tinnitus? All of that really makes you
Feel like your going crazy. Oh, not to mention a lack of balance.
Derease
I have Menieres. My attacks start off with the room spinning, from there I get very sick. Been to ER via ambulance because I could not walk and all other symptoms that follow. I do have tinnutis in both ears, most of the time it sounds like I have a cricket in both. Other times sounds like bubbles popping, loud whistles etc. So tired of this. I will for sure try the procedure by Dr. Foster, anything to bring calm
Jacqueline
Derease, I am praying for you, dear one! I don’t know if it will help with what you have, but I can come alongside in prayer that you will find an answer!
((Hugs!))
Amy Woeppel
Does this work for labrynthitis?
Jacqueline
Amy, that I don’t know. I am sorry…wish I could help you 🙂
Linda Onash
I have trouble with any maneuver when this vertigo strikes. The wave of dizziness is so strong I feel like I am going to pass out, and thus, motion sickness starts in and I almost instantly throw up and am unable to complete the maneuver. After that happens, I am nauseated for almost 2 days with headaches. It is so bad that it makes me not want to try anything again. I feel the same thing will happen if I go to a doctor to get the maneuver done and I just can’t face it – but I also can’t live with it either! Is there any help???
PLEASE!
Jacqueline
Linda, I am so sad that you are suffering so. I wish I could help you but I know so little to share that would be bonafide help to you. I can pray and we have a merciful Father who hears when we cry out in faith to Him. Ask for wisdom as you pray in the name of Jesus and I will agree with you in this. Hugs!
Jack Mills
These easy head balance exercises treated my vertigo and dizziness in 15 minutes: http://www.healthwise101.com/vertigo-15-minute-exercises
Jan
The Lord brings people at the perfect time! I started having the severe dizziness (but no vomiting.) I believe it was due to fluid in my ear for a year as I couldn’t see a doctor because of Covid. Jacqueline shared this article. I decided to try it and IT WORKED! I am so very thankful. Thank you Dr. Foster and Jacqueline for sharing. You both are such a blessing. What a relief!!!
Jacqueline
Jan, THAT news is so wonderful!! Yay, for Dr. Foster’s technique!!
Thanks for sharing that WIN here!
~Jacqueline