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Comment by tverbeure | Hacker News Reader

“… but a TMZ report citing sources suggested the illness was potentially a less serious bout of vertigo.”

Vertigo is extremely scary when it happens for the first time, and you don’t know what it is. It definitely makes you think that you have feels a stroke.

And then you discover that so many people have had it, and that it’s incredible easy to get past it, by doing the Epley maneuver. After which you’re good for the next 5 to 10 years.

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Epley Maneuver: https://youtu.be/9SLm76jQg3g

Fascinating stuff!

that's how i sleep every night, repeating it for seven hours until i wake up. no wonder i never suffered vertigo.

My dad had pretty severe vertigo after a fall. Two doctors told him there wasn’t a great treatment for chronic vertigo and that his best hope was that it would go away eventually.

I spent 30 minutes searching online, learned about the Epley maneuver, tried it on him and it basically cleared up immediately. The maneuver itself was, to him, extremely disorienting for the 60 seconds or so it takes to administer. I recall him thrashing about because he said it felt like he was falling and didn’t know which way was down.

Same with my Dad. And was a doctor. Other docs were no help, so he Googled it, found a practitioner nearby, done.

Vertigo seems possible, especially since altitude induced vertigo is a thing, and Mexico city sits at 7300' above sea level. That's usually not enough to affect a healthy middle-aged-or-less person, but an obese 70+ year old? Definitely possible.

Unfortunately, altitude can also trigger strokes, at least through polycythaemia.

A key question for internet sleuths would be - did he just show up in the city, or has he been there for a while? Polycythaemia takes time to develop so he would need to be there for at least a few weeks before it could play a role in inducing a stroke.

or we can just not be creepy and leave him alone?

A good point. We must avoid creepiness at all costs, DEAD FEDS.

I was about to say, I've brought friends from the US to Mexico City on a few occasions and it seems like the altitude (and maybe the pollution) has had strange and unpleasant effects on most people during the first couple days. A vertigo episode definitely doesn't sound far-fetched.

I've found out that chewing coca leafs is an excellent way to combat side-effects from changing altitudes. Mostly socially acceptable in central/south america as well, so don't have to worry about that. Doesn't hurt that you could replace your coffee-intake with it as well :)

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