Hey Guys,

I'm loving hydrofoiling BUT I've been experiencing vertigo which I'm pretty sure is related to it -and am wondering if anyone else has had this or knows anything about it.

Typically, I'm waking in the night after a session (or a day or two later) and feeling like the world is spinning, sometimes accompanied by vomiting, and feeling pretty average for a good few days following. I've also had an increase in tinnitus. I'm hydrofoiling on the ocean (Australian east coast), so always in some swell.

I've seen an ENT and balance physio, and whilst it was originally diagnosed as BPPV (it all started following a hard fall), it's now five months down the track, and BPPV is looking less likely.

I'm wondering if it's labyrinthitis or vestibular neuronitis (or possibly Menieres), but none of what I've read indicates that these get flared up by exposure to motion.

I love the hydrofoiling and don't want to stop unnecessarily. None of the medical advice I've had is to stop it either. However, I also don't want to mess things up for myself in the future (e.g. hearing loss). Pre- this issue I've always been vulnerable to sea sickness and have been wondering if it's perhaps the condition 'disembarkment syndrome'. Although this says nothing about tinnitus. I've never had it post twin tipping or on my strapless surfboard and have been kiting for 8 years.

Any comments welcome - thanks.

I don't have any facts, but here's my two cents anyway . I think disembarkment syndrome would be likely. I had it for days after a smooth flight so that seems feasible to me. I also copped a knock to the head which took a year to fully recover from, mostly headaches for the year. I don't usually subscribe to Dr Karls theories but he once said that tinnitus is caused by the brain searching for a noise it expects to hear so by focusing on the fact that you can hear everything you should it goes away which seems to work fairly well for me. I think the increase in tinnitus could easily be attributed to the big fall and you may just need another year to fully recover.
Anyway, just some opinions. No medical knowledge here.
Joe

Hi Zib,

I experienced what you are talking about. I took a hard hit in a crashed kiteloop where I slapped my head pretty hard. Everthing seemed ok after the crash, but that night I felt a bit of Vertigo when I went to bed. I managed it but then when tilting my head next morning, the room spun and I fell over. It's pretty scary.

I did a little Googling and through a process of elimination self diagniosed a condition called "Benign Positional Vertigo". This is where a small piece of calcium is dislodged from the bones in your inner easr and then can move around inside your ear. When you lay down, the piece moves to a part of the ear and triggers the little sensing hairs telling the body you are upright, when you aren't or vice versa. It creates the vertigo and acute dizziness, which can make you feel sick and lose balance badly.

I'd look at getting a second opinion from a doc, but there aren't too many things that can bring on vertigo all of a sudden. Perhaps you had a fall whilst learning to foil?

Unfortunately, BPV is not really treatable, you just have to wait for the little fragment to find a spot to stop drifting around in your ear. It does go away but may take a few weeks to a month or two.

Hope this helps and I feel for you, I'ts quite a horrible problem.

DM

www.healthline.com/health/benign-positional-vertigo#causes

I've seen an ENT and balance physio, and whilst it was originally diagnosed as BPPV (it all started following a hard fall), it's now five months down the track, and BPPV is looking less likely.

Doesn't sound like this is his first port of call

ActionSportsWA said..
Hi Zib,

I experienced what you are talking about. I took a hard hit in a crashed kiteloop where I slapped my head pretty hard. Everthing seemed ok after the crash, but that night I felt a bit of Vertigo when I went to bed. I managed it but then when tilting my head next morning, the room spun and I fell over. It's pretty scary.

What about the 12 beers
Darren,

bjw said..
Seabreeze isn't the first place I'd go for medical advice. Have you tried Snapchat?

What about the Doctor

ActionSportsWA said..
Hi Zib,

I experienced what you are talking about. I took a hard hit in a crashed kiteloop where I slapped my head pretty hard. Everthing seemed ok after the crash, but that night I felt a bit of Vertigo when I went to bed. I managed it but then when tilting my head next morning, the room spun and I fell over. It's pretty scary.

I did a little Googling and through a process of elimination self diagniosed a condition called "Benign Positional Vertigo". This is where a small piece of calcium is dislodged from the bones in your inner easr and then can move around inside your ear. When you lay down, the piece moves to a part of the ear and triggers the little sensing hairs telling the body you are upright, when you aren't or vice versa. It creates the vertigo and acute dizziness, which can make you feel sick and lose balance badly.

I'd look at getting a second opinion from a doc, but there aren't too many things that can bring on vertigo all of a sudden. Perhaps you had a fall whilst learning to foil?

Unfortunately, BPV is not really treatable, you just have to wait for the little fragment to find a spot to stop drifting around in your ear. It does go away but may take a few weeks to a month or two.

Hope this helps and I feel for you, I'ts quite a horrible problem.

DM

www.healthline.com/health/benign-positional-vertigo#causes

Hey Adam, Psychojoe, DM and Flyingcab and others

Thanks for your input. DM your experience sounds similar to mine in that I had a major head slap coming off the foil in April just before my first episode. I've had two episodes of extreme dizziness like yours (world spinning crazily followed by vomiting). Both lasted several hours, but have been followed by weeks of feeling like the world is swaying and a fair bit of nausea too.

Psycho Jo, the longer term feeling I've had is similar to yours, that feeling of being on a boat even when you've come off it.

I initially had the problem diagnosed as BPPV and have tried a whole lot of maneuvers for varying kinds of BPPV (Epply, Barrel role etc.). It is unusual for BPPV to last more than a month and from what I understand it usually responds to the maneuvers I tried.
The second time it happened (3 months after the first), I got my wife to take some video of my eyes which showed a kind of eye movement called nystygmus (horizontal geotrophic), that my vestibular physio and Ear Nose and Throat specialist agreed was likely horizontal BPPV.

The puzzling thing for me is that it's hung around and that it may be made worse by the motion of foiling. Neither my ENT of vestibular physio seem to be able to explain with any clarity why this might happen. Nothing I've read says that exposure to movement is contra-indicated for the other conditions it's likely to be, that is Meniere's, labyrinthitis and vestibular neuritis. I have heard that Meniere's can cause hearing loss over time which I must say scares me a bit, esp. given the increased level of tinnitus I've experienced since it happened.
The ongoing feeling of being at sea, my desire to continue foiling and the lack of clarity that I've got from professionals made me think it would be worth me checking to see if it's a function of foiling - and where better to ask that SB!

cauncy said..

bjw said..
Seabreeze isn't the first place I'd go for medical advice. Have you tried Snapchat?

What about the Doctor

Nah, that's just his avatar. He not even trained reality TV counciling.

I get something similar after being sick. I think it is inner ear related. My sinuses clog up and I spin, feel ill, I sweat wea can't stand up. I think my inner ear is screwed up from years of cold water. I once had to kite through a crowd of kiters to the beach , yet it couldnt balance enough to stand. I'll have a shocking head ache for a good period afterward. When it happens Demazin 6h helps relax the area and prevent it from reoccuring.

bjw (aka Dr Phil)

Zibs said..
Hey Guys,

I'm loving hydrofoiling BUT I've been experiencing vertigo which I'm pretty sure is related to it -and am wondering if anyone else has had this or knows anything about it.

Typically, I'm waking in the night after a session (or a day or two later) and feeling like the world is spinning, sometimes accompanied by vomiting, and feeling pretty average for a good few days following. I've also had an increase in tinnitus. I'm hydrofoiling on the ocean (Australian east coast), so always in some swell.

I've seen an ENT and balance physio, and whilst it was originally diagnosed as BPPV (it all started following a hard fall), it's now five months down the track, and BPPV is looking less likely.

I'm wondering if it's labyrinthitis or vestibular neuronitis (or possibly Menieres), but none of what I've read indicates that these get flared up by exposure to motion.

I love the hydrofoiling and don't want to stop unnecessarily. None of the medical advice I've had is to stop it either. However, I also don't want to mess things up for myself in the future (e.g. hearing loss). Pre- this issue I've always been vulnerable to sea sickness and have been wondering if it's perhaps the condition 'disembarkment syndrome'. Although this says nothing about tinnitus. I've never had it post twin tipping or on my strapless surfboard and have been kiting for 8 years.

Any comments welcome - thanks.

If you can make the trip to Dongara cauncy will check your prostate.

It's totally unrelated to the ailments you have mentioned but he would be happy to do it

Hey dachopper,

Thanks, that's sounds worth looking into more. I've tried to watch my sodium intake post-hydrofoiling as my first attack happened after a salty Chinese meal. Not monitored it much before sessions which I'll now try. Generally don't eat that much salt though and keep pretty well hydrated. Anything else you reckon that could influence hydration apart from salt and general hydration?

Cheers,
Zibs

Again, without any credentials here. But I'm confident that the devil is in the details when it comes to salt. White salt and table salt and sea salt and the salt in Chinese food are all salts to avoid. Himalayan pink salt is the only salt I cook with. It's a good source of magnesium which is the good salt. Bananas are another good source . In the summer I hit the coconut water.
Might not help with your ear, but switching ordinary salt for sources of magnesium is definitely a goer