Merry - Yuk! BPPV is my awful companion too, but the Epley maneuver does help. As for getting rid of it forever - um, no - nobody in my family has been that lucky. At last count, 4 of 6 siblings have it, about 6 of our kids and so did my Dad and at least 2 of his brothers - along with other ear issues. At one point when my kid were young, 6 of us were under the care of one ENT, who called our family a "unique study of ear malfunctions."

I discovered this past year that for me an episode of BPPV is preceded a day or two beforehand by an extra feeling of fullness in my left ear, higher-pitched and much louder tinnitus in that ear, and sometimes a bit of dizziness when moving about. I immediately go to my bed and do the Epley maneuver (have been known to lie down on a park bench and do it once too.) If I repeat it twice or three times a day for 3 days, I can prevent a full-blown bout of BPPV.

If I miss the warning signs and get "hit" with the dizziness, I have learned to lie down and go to sleep. Then as soon as I wake, I start doing the maneuver 3 times a day - shortened the last bout to 1 1/2 days - sometimes it used to last for a week or more.

I find it interesting that you have migraines along with BPPV - so does my sister and 2 of her kids. I get a bad headache with it, but since I never had classic migraines, I don't know what to call it.

I hope the Epley maneuver works for you - can you tell yet which is your affected side? It took me a few years to figure it out.

Sue

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