Posted on 02/24/2017 3:14:40 PM PST by taxcontrol
More than seven million people in the U.S. suffer from vertigo with 50,000 in the Denver area alone. The symptoms include feeling surroundings spinning when nothing is moving.
Now there’s a new do-it-yourself way to treat the most common form of vertigo. CBS4 Health Specialist Kathy Walsh met the doctor who discovered the maneuver. Dr. Carol Foster is at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Foster’s recently published research is a breakthrough in the treatment of vertigo and could be life-changing for people who are disabled at times by extreme dizzy spells.
“You’re rolling over in bed and suddenly you’re hit with this incredible spinning and you see the room going around like you’re in the inside of a washing machine,” Foster said.
Foster has experienced the most common form called positional vertigo. It happens when particles in the ear that sense gravity get dislodged and end up in spinning sensors.
“It can make people have falls, they can be unable to go to work because they’re so dizzy, they can be vomiting,” Foster said. “So it’s very, very unpleasant.”
Foster is director of the Balance Laboratory at the CU School of Medicine. 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.” Patients put their head upside down like they are going to do a somersault. They wait for dizziness to end then raise their head to back level. They then wait again for dizziness to end and then sit back quickly
Dr. Carol Foster instructs how to properly do the Half Somersault Maneuver (credit: CBS) Dr. Carol Foster instructs how to properly do the Half Somersault Maneuver (credit: CBS) “And that causes the particles to leave the semicircular canal,” Foster said.
A six-month study showed patents preferred the exercise over the one commonly used by doctors.
“I was surprised at how well it worked,” Foster said.
Foster has posted the breakthrough on the Internet.
“My goal in life is to basically get rid of all dizziness on the planet Earth,” she said.
She’s on her way — one half somersault at a time.
People liked the half somersault because they weren’t as dizzy and had fewer side effects. None of those patients returned to the doctor for dizziness treatments.
So you have a link to the Drs demonstration?
Have had various levels of vertigo since Christmas
Does it work for motion sickness?
I hope as we as a country get smarter and wiser, we start using natural remedies instead of drugs, drugs, drugs...
That's what the doctor prescribed for my husband and yes it does work. There is no way in the world he could get down to start doing a summersault.
A few years ago, I was having vertigo a lot. Best I recall,
I read on the net to increase my protein intake. So, I
increased my red meat, fish, cottage cheese, eggs, bacon,
etc. Vertigo went away. (It’s not necessary to go crazy
with this; but I do believe it helped. I suppose it is
possible to eat too much protein maybe.) I haven’t had
vertigo in a very long time. - I also ate more nuts, kept
pecans halves in the freezer and ate a handful for a meal or
part of a meal - also raw sunflower seeds.
25 years ago I had my first bout with calcium inside the inner ear. The doctor back then suggested the same exercise, but you laid your head off the back of the bed and jolted forward.
What is old is truly new again :-)
But it does work and is a relief to have something help.
Would you please describe the half summersault position?
Twinkie, did you have Meniers, or a viral Labyrinthitis? Just curious, as I have the latter, and so far only steroids help the flare-ups.
“You’re rolling over in bed and suddenly you’re hit with this incredible spinning and you see the room going around like you’re in the inside of a washing machine,” Foster said.
...
First time it happened to me I thought I was dying.
Sometimes this maneuver works for me, sometimes it doesn’t. Meclizine is commonly prescribed. It can be found in some seasickness pills like Bonine. Or you can ask for it at the counter of the pharmacy. I’ve been told that they have big bottles for less than $10.
I’m not much on doctors. - Vertigo was not simple
dizziness. No real way to describe it. - Best I can
remember, I found on the net where my diet wasn’t too
sufficient on protein. I just increased my protein every
meal by a little bit. Too much protein is as bad as not
enough.
Thank you Ron! I am not suffering from vertigo now but I have in the past. I am going to book mark this.
I emailed the video to my doctor and he loved it! Next time it happens, I know,exactly what to do. I think allergies play a role but that just me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.