Today I was talking to my neighbour in front of our houses while it was a raining a little. She has three greyhound dogs and the dogs came to me for a pet. They also rubbed their bodies against my legs. I like the dogs, they are beautiful.
I was there for about 10 minutes, then I went back into my house, washed my hands and continued working on my desk. Suddenly and in slow motion, I could feel the wet smell of the dogs in my nose, my neck started to cramp up and my head started spinning with vertigo. It all felt very intense. I changed my trousers and tried to calm myself down as much as I could, but the smell, the stiff neck and the vertigo were still very intense. It is now about eight hours later, the intensity has subsided, but I am still feeling a bit shaken.
Does anyone have an explanation for this? Is it possible that the dogs triggered a vertigo attack?
That’s an interesting one Katrina. I have lived with dogs plural all my life but never noticed any link. Could an allergy produce those symptoms? And that quickly? No idea. Of course whatever triggered it as soon as a MAVer’s neck stiffens/tightens they are half way towards dizziness symptoms of some sort or another. Any chance you recent reduction of the Pizotifen dose is causing a bit of anxiety? For me that’s a top trigger for sudden neck tightening.
Other ‘possibilities’? Can only hazard a guess or two. As you place great emphasis on ‘the smell’ maybe your brain is in a bit of a hypersensitive state to which it reacted by causing vertigo. Strong smells can bring on vestibular attacks. I’ve had terrible ones following exposure to pungent Spring flowers although that was prolonged exposure via a vase In my living room. Surprised 10 minutes outdoors could have caused such a sudden and violent reaction. Could it be more likely you were bending over to pet the greyhounds and that was the cause? They are tall so maybe it’s not that. All very interesting but really a bIt of a mystery.
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Thank you very much for your thoughts @Onandon03. All the points are valid and maybe my vertigo attack was the result of all of them coming together.
Your point about smells is particularly interesting for me. I have always been sensitive to smells and I got the lower part of my house renovated because of a smell that no-one else could detect. Almost 50,000 Australian Dollars later, the smell was gone. It sounds crazy (and it probably is), but the disappearance of the smell was worth all the money.
And yes, it is surprising that 10 minutes outdoors was causing such a bad reaction. Maybe the rain/humidity intensified the smell and made it easier to get into my nose?
I am feeling much better today. I had a massage appointment booked for this morning and the therapist worked on my stiff neck. My neck feels almost normal now. But I’ll definitely watch out for smells in the future!
It seems from my own experience that to be the case. I’ve always thought so. I always say I can ‘smell’ rain coming and I can similarly certainly predict a snow storm or often an overnight frost. After reading your comment I checked it out on line and wasn’t too surprised to find many confirmatory references. From your history sounds as if the vertigo was triggered by the smell which was intensified by the damp atmosphere. You’d better try replicating the situation on a very dry day to see if our theory holds.
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