Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Dizziness and Calcium?

Well, the old phrase “This too shall pass” is true! Ha Ha! I think I am past the worst of the kidney stones, however a strange thing happened to me. Today I started getting really dizzy all of a sudden and it wouldn’t go away. I have never felt this way before except when taking Lortab or spinning around in circles at an amusement park. I actually felt like the room was spinning around me to the point that my eyes almost started twitching. At first I thought it was because I was low on food, but the problem continued even after a hardy lunch. Strange!

Luckily I was able to get an appointment with my doctor today and you won’t believe what it turned out to be. Yup you guessed it… It is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)! Or… perhaps you didn’t guess it, but you won’t believe what it is. It’s rocks in your head! Seriously! Here is a picture. The bottom line is that little rock like deposits (otoconia) form in the part of your inner ear that governs balance and mess with your senses. And guess what these little rocks are made of. “…small crystals of calcium carbonate…”

So just after I began taking the Calcium supplements and the Fosomax I got kidney stones (made of calcium) and BPPV (crystals made of calcium). My doctor wanted me on the calcium to prevent the Prednisone from robbing the calcium from my bones, but I can’t continue with these problems. I think I am done with the calcium supplements unless my doctor can help me not have these side effects.

Turns out that BPPV is only temporary and should go away quickly. Strange, strange, strange!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Has you dizziness improved? I printed your information for a friend who has undiagnosed dizziness hoping it would give him something else for his doctor to check for. He doesn't have sarcoid.

I had a lot of dizziness before I was diagnosed with sarcoid, it eventually led to seizures, then a stroke. I stopped breathing. I had hypercalcemia so was originally thought to be dying of cancer. A wise specialist considered sarcoid. That was how I was eventually diagnosed. So please be careful!

Bonnie

Mike said...

Yes, the dizziness has resolved and I am not feeling it any more. I believe it is because I stopped taking the calcium pills and the Fosamax as well as following some of the online treatments for this condition.
Wow, were you misdiagnosed! Being told that you are dying must have been devastating! I can’t imagine what you would have been going through mentally. I can imagine that in this scenario you could even be relieved and possibly even happy to find out that you have Sarcoid.

I hope everything goes well for your friend, and if it turns out to be what I had it was very benign.

Michael

Kellie J. said...

Mike,

The same thing happened to me with calcium supplements and BPPV seven years ago. Within two weeks of starting the doctor-recommended calcium chews I began experiencing dizziness upon standing up or moving my head quickly. A friend of mine who had recently completed physician's assistant training told me it sounded like BPPV and had me perform the maneuvers to reposition the crystals. Sure enough, I was fine after that. I have mentioned to several doctors that this happened to me after starting a calcium supplement and they all blew it off saying that there couldn't be a connection because it is "a different type of calcium" in the inner ear. I stopped taking the calcium and didn't experience any dizziness issues again until just recently.

-Kellie J.

annie b said...

I have read that chelated calcium is the only type that doesn't cause the malabsorbtion that can lead to BPPV. I had an incidence of BPPV and switched to a chelated calcium; so far no BPPV. It is worth a try if you are a woman and want to get enough calcium.