Creativity can have its Dizzyingly Exacting Price

"[While vertigo can be caused by mild strokes and Meniere's disease -- a condition affecting the inner ear -- these are] vanishingly rare."

"The most common causes are either crystals in the inner-ear coming loose, or a response to trauma."

"You get displaced calcium crystals called otoconia in the inner-ear, which makes you feel incredibly spinny-dizzy. We often see that in people who've had a bash on the head or sometimes in people who do lots of Pilates. It also becomes more common as you get older."

"It's essentially a response by the brain to an injury-- emotional, mental or physical -- and it could be a severe illness, untreated migraines, BPPV, inner-ear problems, or even just getting some really bad news."

"It's the brain trying to cope with a disturbance by installing a 'software update', but it's a bad program that doesn't work."

Paul Montgomery, consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon

Singer George Ezra this week called off gigs in London and Leeds after doctors diagnosed him with ‘acute vertigo’ Credit: Getty

 

It's not at all hard to imagine that feeling dizzy continually pretty much puts the sufferer out of commission. If  you cannot think, move with confidence, perform any given tasks much less appear confidently before an audience, you're not in charge, a chronic condition takes over. This is what vertigo does; causes people who suffer from it to experience episodes of intense dizziness, enough so that it leaves the indelible impression that the world itself is in a spin.

Surprisingly, vertigo is considered to be a relatively common condition, with slightly more women affected than men. During their lifetimes, about 40 percent of people will experience some measure of vertigo from a variety of causes.The two most common diagnoses are benign positional paroxysmal vertigo (BPPV), and persistent postural perceptual dizziness (PPPD). Of the two the former is easier to rectify. 

The Lancet

A simple manipulation called Epley's Manoeuvre is used to realign the inner-ear crystals. "Most doctors can perform it and it'll fix the vertigo either instantly or within a few days", remarked Dr.Montgomery. The more complex version, on the other hand, PPPD, is likelier to be triggered by stress or trauma. People frequently begin experiencing vertigo following a significant life change like becoming a parent, retiring, or facing an intimate relationship dissolution.

Sufferers can be caused by the condition to feel as though they're constantly unsteady, as though they're swaying, or drunk. A situation which, if left untreated can last for weeks, months and even years.

"You become hyper-vigilant and hyper-visual, with your eyes searching for threats. The brain suddenly starts to use the eyes to control your muscles, but your eyes are not good judges of whether you're standing straight, so suddenly you start to sway."

"TV and computer screens are a nightmare because they spin and turn a lot. I often see patients who can't stand going down supermarket aisles because there's too much going past their eyes at once, or who are perfectly happy driving at 30 m.p.h. but as soon as they go over that they feel dizzy. They're dependent on their eyes to make them feel steady and secure. When the visual environment starts to turn and change rather quickly, it's too much for the brain -- it can't cope with it."

Paul Montgomery

In this type of vertigo, the human body does not make use of the eyes informing whether we're standing straight; instead there is reliance on imperceptible signals from necks, joints and inner-ears. When there is a threatening feeling, a fight-or-flight mode can be activated by an autonomic response. People inflicted with this type of condition describe a feeling of helplessness with their eyes wobbling or vibrating. Feelings that can be equated with the world in spin-mode.

The more-entrenched form of vertigo exhibits a classic component tending to be triggered by a "visual environment which is too complicated".  This response is locked in with stress, becoming a vicious cycle. "Often the primary cause -- the bad infection or the emotional trauma settles down but you're left with this bad adaptation where you're swaying, which re-triggers your fear and flight reflex".

 

This explains why people often experience vertigo following a big life change. PPPD typically is diagnosed in creative people. Such people may be more predisposed to anxiety, capable of activating the fight-or-flight response resulting in PPPD. 

"[PPPD is typically diagnosed in creative people.] It tends to occur in people who think a lot: writers, artists, painters, chief executives.:

"People who live in an abstract, front-of-brain world, who tend to be rather bright. Essentially, those who are prone to overthinking."

"My own pet theory is that the modern mind doesn't switch off enough. With social media, our phones, Netflix -- we're on all of the time and it's not good for you."

"An overactive brain is made worse by people who are over-activating the front of their brain."

Paul Montgomery