I'm So Dizzy, My Head is Spinning
I was feeling fine when I woke up yesterday morning and the plan was that we were going to hit the mall, take back a few things, and then spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out, visiting the farmer's market and grabbing a bite to eat... a pretty ordinary Saturday. It started out alright... things were returned... and then it happened.
There's a store in the mall that offers free samples of the tea they sell*. When we're at the mall, we usually try to stop by because who doesn't like free tea?!? And it's so tasty (especially the chai) - we were just following our usual routine! I sampled one tea, a second tea, a new tea... and as I was on my way to my fourth tea sample of the morning, something changed. I got dizzy.
*Teavana for those who are curious. I'd never heard of them before I moved here, but they seem to be quite a draw when you see the lines of people standing by just for a free sample!
At first I brushed it off - maybe I drank too fast or moved too quickly. It was the same sensation one gets when they bend down and then stand up too fast... a little disorienting but you expect it to go away.
This one didn't.
Thinking that it might be something about the store, I suggested we leave and as we walked across the mall to get back to the car, I couldn't shake the dizziness. It was a little odd, since there were no other symptoms to accompany it. I wasn't nauseous, I wasn't seeing black spots, I wasn't drunk... I was just dizzy. When I realized I wasn't going to recover quickly, I got a little concerned and suggested we go home... and then it got worse...
I don't know if it was the motion of the car or just the fact that I'd been dizzy for so many minutes, but I started to get queasy. It was one of those times when you think about something and it makes it seem more inevitable so you try not to think about it, but the more you avoid it the more you think about it, creating an unfortunate conundrum.
That was me - trying not to puke in the car and thinking more and more about it. I just wanted to get home so badly.
By the time I got home I spent twenty minutes in the bathroom. I don't have to spare you the details because nothing happened, but I wanted it to... if it meant I'd feel better. Throughout it all I continued to be dizzy so I decided to take a power nap**. I set my clock and laid down - two and a half hours later I finally rolled my dizzy butt out of bed and sat down in the living room to drink ginger ale and eat saltines***. At this point, the only way I could describe my state of mind was that the world was trying to spin to the left and I felt like I was trying to freeze it and shift it back to the right - ugh!
**My definition of "power nap" has evolved over time but it's currently a timed, thirty minute nap. More than that and I'm groggy and won't sleep well at night, less than that and it's ineffective and I might as well just stay up.
***Ginger ale and saltines are the "sick food" I was raised on and it seemed appropriate since I felt pretty sick.
Long story... well... long... nothing could fix my dizziness and I went to bed hoping I would be better in the morning. I wasn't, but I eventually got better over the course of the next day (today). I still don't know what caused it and I'm grateful for feeling better now... I just hope it doesn't happen again.
I can't wait to have health insurance again!
Make a note of that tea! May have been an allergic reaction. I don't know if it is swelling pressing on the eardrum or what, but it can make a person dizzy. Sorry that happened! Vertigo is a lousy feeling!
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Did you have the white ayurvedic Chai or Samurai Chai Mate? I have that blend. About a month ago I was drinking it daily and the dizziness started. I stopped the tea (because I was bored of it) and the dizziness went away, but only after a couple of days. I thought I had a virus, didn't make the tea connection at that time. Last night I had a cup of that tea and today woke up totally dizzy again. I goggled "Teavana Dizzy" and many results came up including yours. I'm throwing mine away! I feel sick today.
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I still don't know what caused the dizziness and we really couldn't imagine it being the tea since it hit me so instantly, but I was back to normal about 24 hours later and there was nothing else I can think of that might have caused such a reaction.
On the flip side, I just googled the same "Teavana Dizzy" and found that many people find this tea great for putting them to sleep. I suppose I could add to that testimony as I slept for hours afterward, but the side effects were less than ideal... :-/
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