I have had many attacks of BPPV. They usually lasted for about a week and I
had a cold. I seem to have outgrown them, haven't had an attack in 2 years
or so. Sometimes they would start when I was laying down and moved my head
to look over my shoulder and look at the clock.

When I had the attacks, it was much worse when laying down. Sitting up
usually eased the attack. I went 3 different doctors, none of them thought
it was caused by diabetes. There are several good web sites on BPPV, just
Google BPPV.

Anon

BPPV from what I've been told when I've suffered from it, is an inner
ear problem affecting balance.

One doc I saw explained it to me in terms of a carpenter's level (a
very simplistic explanation to a 23 year old non-diabetic.)  Your
inner ear works as a kind of level in your body.  If things are level,
the 'bubble' stays centered.  If there is an imbalance, the bubble
moves.  If the bubble moves your body perceives you as being at that
angle and responds with a kind of motion sickness response.  For
example, my worst experience with it resulted in a sensation of
walking while looking through a prism.  Even if I knew I was on flat
ground, my body sensed that it was on an incline.  The world actually
looked and felt tilted.  The body would work to right itself causing
the dizziness.

As far as I know, it's not particularly prominent in  diabetics.

Had it twice in my life.  I got so dizzy I nearly threw up.  The worst
of it lasted less than an hour.  I had to lay on the floor until it
improved.  Scary stuff!!

Dave

When it happened to me, it was related to acute onset of late
manifestations of neuroborreliosis and other tick borne diseases.  I had
to get halfway sitting up to stop the feeling I was going to fly off the
spinning bed, and I held on to the side of the mattress just to be safe.

I remained dizzyish with vertigo to some degree for at least a year,
though, and still experience it to lesser degree at times.  Any
infection that can affect the CNS can cause these symptoms; I had a few
episodes at work in the weeks before I was completely flattened.

I wasn't diabetic AFAIK, at the time.

Susan

I had it - diagnosed by myself - after an accident with head injury.  I
noticed it most in bed, when I turned over, but also during the day if
I turned my head rapidly and changed head level.  I was never nauseous.
It seemed to be in both ears, but mostly in the right, and cleared up
after about 5 months.  I doubt it was connected to diabetes.  I also
have another problem in just the left ear that is not going away,
involving the inner ear and eustacian tube, and very annoying tinnitus.
The doctor seems unable to place exectly what is going on because the
tests are inconclusive and nothing showed up in the recent MRI.  That
and the BPPV are probably related to the head injury.

Susan Adair

I had it briefly 3 years ago afterholding my neck funny to watch meteor
showers.  It had sudden onset, and happily one of the nurse
practitioners in my office knew the specific head movements to correct
it.  I had fairly rapid resloution after she manipulated the little
"otoliths" (rocks in my head <grin>) back into place.  I hadn't heard
of it being related to diabetes.
Good luck - I hope you can find someone who knows those movements to
get you fixed up.

I woke up with it out of the blue one Christmas morning many years ago,
about eight months before I was discovered to have diabetes, at a time
when my blood sugars were almost certainly way out of control.

Turning over in bed would get me shrieking and grabbing for something
solid as it would feel like the bed was spinning around.

My doctor told me it was caused by a virus and that it should gradually
calm down and be gone in six weeks. She gave me some Dramamine which
didn't seem to do all the much, but after the first couple days when I
didn't dare leave the house, the  dramatic dizziness calmed down to
where it was just annoying, and just as promised it was all gone in six
weeks.

I've never had it again, for which I'm deeply grateful. I'd never heard
until now that it had anything to do with diabetes, though.

--Jenny

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes  Diabetes Info

http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/newlydiagnosed.htm Get Your Blood
Sugar Under Control

I, too, just woke up with it one morning a couple of years ago, when I
was more out of DM control  I would reel around like a drunken sailor
when I tried to get out of bed.  Couple that with waking up needing to
pee like a racehorse from the water I guzzled all night long, and let's
just say it made mornings interesting.

It was weird driving, because looking over my shoulder before I changed
lanes would make me dizzy.

My doctor called it positional vertigo; she never mentioned a
relationship to DM.  She gave me exercises to do to loosen the stuck
particles in my inner ears.  As I recall, it consisted of lying down on
a flat surface and rearing up suddenly sideways.  I tried it but never
noticed much effect other than it scared the cats.

She said sometimes you just get used to it, and I think that's what
happened for me.  

I still get dizzy spells on occasion though.