In a flashback to the yesteryears, ran with a couple of my old running buddies this morning. We missed Lia who actually put the run together today but she is recovering from a surgery. Running with the old buddies might be exactly what I need to get my discipline in running back. Thank you Valerie and Bill for a great run – although in a very hot and humid weather.

I have been a little more regular in my runs. Well, if you consider 2-3 runs every week to be regular. It is at least better than 0 – what I was doing some time back. The good news is that the runs have become easier and the left knee less bothersome – even in the hill runs.

Reminded me of some of my prior runs in the park – 2012 with Sourabh Banerji, 2013 with Elizabeth Conway, 2014 with Amy Swotinsky, 2019 with Partho Roy… Today was a solo run just like the one in 2017!

Did a 5 mile (8K) run. It was exhausting. Granted there were some hills and it was hot and humid – but the overwhelming reason is that my body is not being able to take this as it used to.

I am wondering whether I should put in the time and effort and see if I can build back to half marathon distances by 2024 end. It is going to take quite some effort. But there is an old saying – What I eat today and how active I stay today will determine my quality of life 20 years from now…

Dizziness has not yet come back. Tomorrow, I will push myself a little more and see if things are totally back to normal.

Did not feel any of the dizziness. Will see if it comes back to prove or disprove if it has anything to do with exertion.

So, if you are still following the anthology of my dizzy spells, the latest and greatest is here… Went for a 5K run. After an initial half mile, it came back again. There was a constant sense of slight imbalance. Very slight one, though. I had decided prior to starting that I was not going to stop and leave it up to my brain/body to learn and adjust quickly.

In general, the sense of imbalance has gone down a lot and other than during running, I am not sensing it much.

And since it has receded, the doctor’s advice has been to stop any deeper level tests (like blood flow at the back of the neck, arteries etc etc). All primary and secondary (blood, EKG/ECG, motor response…) tests have come negative. The two key things we are banking on are (*) I never feel like throwing up and (*) the symptoms are going away.

One thing we now know is this : the similar episode in May 2020 could not have been BPPV. It was very much like this time around and this was not BPPV either. Since it was Covid time then and I could not go to the hospital, we will never know what had happened. Just like this time!!

Meanwhile, I will keep running. I suspect, the symptoms will fully go away.

We will hopefully make further progress in conclusive diagnosis the next time this comes back.

The allergy/sinus theory did not work out – or at least Zyrtec did not fix it. Interestingly, most all my dizziness – or I should say sense of instability – comes when I am running or walking downhill. Not much when going uphill. Signal? Noise? Who knows?

Meanwhile, ECG came all clear. Will see if the doctor wants me to check the arteries next.

But before that, coming up next – full vision check day after.

The root cause analysis continues. My head is still around something gone awry between by ears or eyes.

Meanwhile, I am sneaking in the running miles, all the same!

If you are still following the journey of my health… here is an update.

The dizziness reduced in intensity (but not frequency) everyday for the first three days and then attenuated to a small but frequent level. Since the symptoms would not go down further, I visited the doctor with all the data I had gathered – plus last 15 years worth of thorough annual check ups of all organs (the last one was three months back).

The stand-in PCP (my PCP was traveling and he set me up with this doctor) looked at all the data and felt the body could not have gone thru dramatic changes in three months without leaving more symptoms.

In any case, the entire battery of tests on blood was done. As well as heart. Not a single score came much different from my last annuals and all within range. EKG showed the usual enlarged heart I have always had. Just to make sure we cover all bases, I am getting a ECG done tomorrow. The chances of arrhythmia is negligible (there should have been more symptoms and more intense, per the doctor). But we will know soon.

Here is another clue… when I have dizziness, it is not like I feel the world is spinning. I just feel unstable myself – like say when you might have had one glass too many.

So, we are where we were. Or are we?

Yesterday, while walking to the Farmers’ Market, I told Sharmila that I got that unstable feeling in the morning when I was sitting outside with Bogga. (actually, when I got up). But while telling her, I had to swallow some saliva. As I did that, I felt a little funky. It was not the taste – more like the after taste… what the nose was smelling probably (from swallowing my saliva). I told that to Sharmila and she said – must be your sinuses. I was thinking blood, but I realized maybe that is exactly the feeling you get when the sinuses drain out and you swallow.

That gives rise to another null hypothesis. Could it be that we were missing the signal among the noise all along? Could it be just my sinuses were creating imbalance in my ears and giving me that feeling? It is true that I had had that feeling while swallowing for the last few days (not always though) and I had had some allergies (specially when I went out on the boat a week back) and I have been spending a lot of time outdoors. But I never had a runny nose – just a feeling of being down a little.

Here’s is another data – the last time I had what we thought was BPPV? Also was May! Could it be just allergies during this time of the year?

BTW, on that BPPV front, the doctor did the tests and ruled it out. Which means, in 2020 also most likely it was not BPPV. The doctor could not do the full tests since everything was tele-health (Covid).

When we came back from the market, I took a Zyrtec. This is NOT a double blind test – so we cannot say for sure yet – but my dizziness did not come back yesterday. Might be placebo! Might be root cause!!

This morning was good too (took another Zyrtec) and then went for a run. Waited till it was hot like the very first day. This time, instead of shade, ran in the sunshine. First half mile, no problem. Mile marker, no problem. Mile and a half? Yep, I could again feel the low dose of instability. That continued in spurts for the next half mile – when I called it quits.

So, at this point of time, we have a possibility of arrhythmia or sinus related ear complications.

We do not know any more.

I will collect more data, get the ECG done and then see my doctor in a week when he is back. I will ask him for the full urine tests too.

Meanwhile, if you see me staggering in Alpha Loop, it is NOT the alcohol running… 🙂