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… 🙂

[Thank you for all the great ideas I have received – not to speak of the well wishes – after my last post]

Not that I was trying to scale dizzying heights with my running prowess… simply wanted to understand the pattern of my onset of dizziness. If you have read the last related post, you will grasp the context.

Next morning, when the temperatures were in mid 60s, I went for another run. The idea was to complete 3 miles if I could. And carefully notice the pattern of events if and when the dizziness set in.

The run felt beautiful. Had my wicking hat but no sunglasses on. Cooler temperatures and the wind was fairly nice. Carefully chose a path where I could stay in the shade for most of the time.

Almost on the mark of one mile, I got dizzy. Much milder in intensity but I could feel the clear instability. Went thru the check list quickly. Heart rate at the time, one minute reduction in bpm and all that. Everything was within good limits.

Next thing was to do some quick sit ups and turns of the neck. Did not get any dizziness. Stand up on leg for half a minute. No issues.

Started the run again. This time, the goal was to see if could power myself thru or would the dizziness get worse if I did not stop.

Got a major clue during the next bout – which came after another three fourths of a mile. Felt mild dizziness. But powered thru. Separated the legs a little more to give more stability but kept running. The dizziness went away after about what seemed like a minute or less.

Now, I admit I was running with a little bit of fear – fully focussed on how I was feeling. I kind of felt that at a very very low level, I was still a little unstable – but that might just have been the fear.

There was another pattern I discovered – I would feel more unstable going downhill than uphill. The one logical reason would be my brain was not processing fast enough to realize that when stopping downhill, my foot would find the ground a bit later. In that gap of expecting landing and actual landing, brain was getting scared. Uphill was not a problem. Because I was landing a bit earlier than expected. Now, this is only a theory.

So, it is either true my brain is having hiccups – could be hypoglycemia as some have suggested or lack of electrolytes. This would mean the heat simply got to me. Which reminds me, I have been walking the dog in the heat every day too (the evening walks are cooler) since Sharmila is attending a wedding in Dallas.

Or that BPPV thing. It fits the pattern of gentle sense of instability – but only when I am standing. Never feel it when I am sitting down or lying down. Got Brandt-Daroff exercises literature from my doctor friend in India.

I am going to start getting more electrolytes in my drinks as suggested by a few more of you and insisted upon by my wife.

And observe what is my body trying to tell me the whole day.

Question for all of you: What do you do to listen to your body – which is almost always sending you enough feedback?

Also, on a side note, feel free to communicate to me directly about your concerns about my health. My poor wife, who is already very worried about my health gets really worried when you ask her about my health. I guess she feels guilty she is not taking care of me. In reality, she is doing everything she can. It is I who have decided that I would rather die sooner but fully understand what I died of than die later but never understand what was this body that I had was all about. That is a personal choice (messed up as it might be)

Again, none of this takes away my gratitude to you all. I take your reach out and comments as markers that I have made some real friends in life who care enough. I even get dizzy realizing therefore how blessed I am 🙂

Hopefully, you will continue with me in this curious journey.