@thisoldewe Christine, I'm glad to see you here and in peeking at your profile I know your concern also comes with knowledge from nursing. It feels strange to want to help someone when that is what your calling is about and we can't be there in person. It is so easy for a person to assume that what they experience is something they think they are familiar with. It may not be, and I know I have made a mistake like that before. Health problems have overlapping symptoms and it is so easy for anyone to assume that they are not in danger because of a familiar pattern of experience.

I pay attention to my health and I look up what my medical records say so I understand them. I do have a background in biology and can understand medical literature. I've been the patient with weird symptoms that the doctors didn't understand and it took a few years until there was a complete picture, and I've also learned from my elderly parents by advocating for them during routine and emergency medical issues. I have also known people who have had strokes including my dad who permanently lost half of his field of vision in both eyes from a stroke.

I have also experienced sudden dizziness and vertigo which was related to my spine condition and muscle spasms that were moving my cervical vertebrae around which altered circulation of the arteries inside those vertebrae that send some blood supply to the brain. At that time, I didn't know that my neck vertebrae had been rotated from a muscle spasm, and I looked up at birds flying overhead which immediately started the vertigo. Those arteries inside the vertebrae were stretched because the vertebrae had rotated independently and I had not turned my head, but in looking upward, I kinked those already stretched arteries and the world began to spin. Leveling my head right away didn't fix it, and I had to close my eyes. I called my physical therapist who was working with me and she told me how to relieve some of the muscle tension which helped a lot, and she was able to resolve the rest in her clinic. Because I was able to talk to my health provider and relieve the symptoms and stop the vertigo right away, I knew it was not a stroke, and I knew that I had this issue of neck vertebrae that rotate on their own, and adding the neck extension had caused it. If I experienced vertigo that kept affecting me, the right thing would have been to call for help or been seen with some urgency. I wasn't alone and my husband was home and I told him right away what had happened. This happens in beauty parlors too, and putting your head back into a sink, may cause similar issues. There are cases of beauty parlor strokes being caused by having the head extended too far backward and for an extended period of time.

I have had corrective spine surgery, and have not experienced vertigo since then. My neck muscles have calmed down, but I can still get a neck spasm that starts some rotation, and I can recognize it before it goes too far because of neck muscle pain and headaches on one side. Then I lay down and check my alignment with my hands, and I can work on any issues and fix them. I have learned a lot about this from my physical therapist.

Jennifer