Stranger Things.

[Dale.]

Do you get travel/car/sea sick?

Nope, never.

Except for one occasion a few years ago at a VR venue in Glasgow. We'd booked the place for the evening so we could race, all sorts of cars. It's very real.

Anyway, we did F1 at Monaco and I vomited after that. That is the only occasion I've ever had any kind of motion sickness that I can recall.

 

[Gav.]

Nope, never.

Except for one occasion a few years ago at a VR venue in Glasgow. We'd booked the place for the evening so we could race, all sorts of cars. It's very real.

Anyway, we did F1 at Monaco and I vomited after that. That is the only occasion I've ever had any kind of motion sickness that I can recall.

Strange, but the river flow could cause the feelings, more so walking against the flow etc.

Glad you figured it out

 

[sphexx]

I've had maybe a moment of clarity, regarding the dizzy spells.

I have been genuinely ill twice at this spot, which is probably coincidence. I may be able now to explain the other 'episodes' though. I was in a totally different place yesterday but doing the same thing. Several times, I'd be looking at the river, it's quite fast flowing at the moment and when I looked away, at the trees, sky or whatever, I felt dizzy a few times, to the point of having to steady myself by holding onto a tree at one point.

It seems the transition between motion (flowing river) and still objects (trees etc) is playing with my brain. You could call it a type of vertigo.

So maybe that's it.

I stand by my original thoughts though, there is a lot of history at the original spot, some of it macabre. I always feel uneasy there.

I’m not sure you are saying that you are looking upwards when this happens but ’looking up’ , ie bending your head back, is a well-known cause of dizziness — something to do with cutting blood supply I think. I know this because I have real vertigo attacks (from ‘nowhere’) and it‘s one of the common questions I get asked.

I never had any signs of vertigo or balance problems probably until I was 70 but one of the earliest occasions I can remember was when wading across a shallow river in bright sunlight. The water was no more than 2ft deep but rippling and shimmering and I became quite unsteady and had to quickly get back to the bank. I think it was because I could no longer see the either the river bed or river surface clearly.

I’m not even sure that sort of occurrence is related to my vertigo but there are are similarities.

(Nothing to do with unfamiliarity since I used to spend all summers walking along and in rivers, crossing and recrossing.)

 

[Dale.]

I meant to update this last week but I've had a busy time, between a sinus infection (which I'll come to in a second), Kingfishers and Sparrowhawks, as well as some other things.

Anyway, I have had a few more episodes and not only at the spooky place. It all came to a head, pre sinus infection, when I was stood on an 80 foot road bridge, and despite it being at least 100 years old and single track, it's still in daily use. It's part of my Kingfisher escapades and a place I call a watching point, as it provides great views of the river, both ways. I was there a few weeks ago and walking across it. The raised wall is only about 30 inches tall and if you're not careful, you could easily topple over. I'm suprised it hasn't been made safer.

I was halfway over and looked over the edge to the water 80 or so feet below. I'm not great with heights but this is OK, being a road bridge, it should be a non event. This time though, I looked over and felt giddy, just like I have done at the spooky place. I stepped back (thankfully, the right way) and I actually had to sit down, my legs just went from under me. I am by now in the middle of the road. Thankfully, I got my senses back quite quickly and got off the bridge and went and sat in the car.

This of course prompted a visit to the Doc. I explained what had happened and they said it sounds like vertigo. OK, but I've never knowingly had that before.

The following week, I had the sinus infection, one of the worst I've ever had. I'm prone to sinus infections as I have a house dust allergy. I was diagnosed in 2014. The sinus infection prompted another chat with the Doc and when she looked back over my recent history, she saw the recent vertigo attack. She said it would be linked as sinus infections can affect pressure in the head, face, nose and ears. I also get it when looking over my glasses, I wear readers, I'm ok with long vision. The transition from glasses to 'real world' can cause what I now know is a vertigo attack, often when standing over or in moving water, which obviously I do a lot.

So it seems a logical explanation for the spooky place, combined with coincidence. I must admit to prefering the romance of it being haunted, maybe it still is.

I guess I'll be avoiding looking over 80 foot road bridges from now on.

 

[Cobra]

Hopefully you have now found a logical explanation, but the less logical one makes for a better story

 

[the black fox]

Hmmm trouble with sinus’s ,vertigo , dizziness but your in good health .. have you had your blood pressure checked lately .. saying that it could also be the place , when did the mining stop ? Was it possibly used by the military in the war ? We have a ex mustard gas factory near me in wales where they have buried hundreds of thousands of tons of mis.fills with no records

 

[Dale.]

Hmmm trouble with sinus’s ,vertigo , dizziness but your in good health .. have you had your blood pressure checked lately .. saying that it could also be the place , when did the mining stop ? Was it possibly used by the military in the war ? We have a ex mustard gas factory near me in wales where they have buried hundreds of thousands of tons of mis.fills with no records

As far as I know, I'm in decent health, not as young as I used to be but apart from the vertigo and sinus thing, as well as occasional migraine, I'm alright. Doc did check my BP, a little elevated but within tolerance. They're keeping an eye on that too.

 

[sphexx]

apart from the vertigo and sinus thing, as well as occasional migraine, I'm alright. Doc did check my BP, a little elevated but within tolerance.

I didn’t mention this before but apart from my vertigo attacks I also occasionally got a very small disturbance to my vision which looked like a tiny bit of ‘pixellation’. When I described this to a hospital consultant he said I has “migrainous vertigo”. At the time I thought he was making this up but it seems it is a ‘thing’, aka “vestibular migraine”:

Vestibular migraine - The Migraine Trust

A type of migraine that features vertigo (a sensation of movement), dizziness or balance problems

migrainetrust.org

In recent months I‘ve another severe but brief vertigo attack while lying in bed reading** (!) and more interestingly from your point of view I’ve had several occurrences of migraine auras—- circles of flashing/flickering zigzag white lights in my case that look just like the illustrations of same on the web.

So far as I can tell the visual effects aren’t connected to the vertigo’s, they seem quite independent. I think the occurrence of the auras also followed after I was prescribe betahistine* for the vertigo on a recent unrelated hospital admission.

I don’t get any headaches with all this which is what previously I’ve always associated with migraine - I do get unpleasant ‘pounding’ or pressure sensations in the head.


* Nobody knows if betahistine really works for vertigo (and it’s not approved for it in the US). It’s documented effect is to increase the flow of blood to the inner ear and increase the effect of histamines.

** This was really weird. The whole bed started rotating and would have ended up with me underneath it if I hadn’t gripped the sides and gradually stopped it moving and brought back to level! What it felt like of course!

 

[Dale.]

I didn’t mention this before but apart from my vertigo attacks I also occasionally got a very small disturbance to my vision which looked like a tiny bit of ‘pixellation’. When I described this to a hospital consultant he said I has “migrainous vertigo”. At the time I thought he was making this up but it seems it is a ‘thing’, aka “vestibular migraine”:

Vestibular migraine - The Migraine Trust

A type of migraine that features vertigo (a sensation of movement), dizziness or balance problems

migrainetrust.org

In recent months I‘ve another severe but brief vertigo attack while lying in bed reading** (!) and more interestingly from your point of view I’ve had several occurrences of migraine auras—- circles of flashing/flickering zigzag white lights in my case that look just like the illustrations of same on the web.

So far as I can tell the visual effects aren’t connected to the vertigo’s, they seem quite independent. I think the occurrence of the auras also followed after I was prescribe betahistine* for the vertigo on a recent unrelated hospital admission.

I don’t get any headaches with all this which is what previously I’ve always associated with migraine - I do get unpleasant ‘pounding’ or pressure sensations in the head.


* Nobody knows if betahistine really works for vertigo (and it’s not approved for it in the US). It’s documented effect is to increase the flow of blood to the inner ear and increase the effect of histamines.

** This was really weird. The whole bed started rotating and would have ended up with me underneath it if I hadn’t gripped the sides and gradually stopped it moving and brought back to level! What it felt like of course!

My migraines always start the same way. If I'm reading or looking at a screen, small parts of it go blank. Long story short, within 15-20 minutes, I have a very noticeable aura. I don't get a headache at this point. The aura is a blank area in my vision, with zigzags around it. The aura usually passes in an hour or so. The next day, I have a slight headache but if I cough, sneeze or bend forward, the pain increases. This is my sinuses kicking off and I am convinced my sinus problems trigger the migraines. Migraines are weird, some days, I'm just off, others I get the aura.

My doc did mention vestibular syndrome.

 

[the black fox]

As far as I know, I'm in decent health, not as young as I used to be but apart from the vertigo and sinus thing, as well as occasional migraine, I'm alright. Doc did check my BP, a little elevated but within tolerance. They're keeping an eye on that too.

O.k that’s you .. so what about the pool/ mine area could it possibly be some type of gas rising and getting trapped in the area due to low winds ? So it won’t be constantly apparent only under certain conditions ..

 

[sphexx]

O.k that’s you .. so what about the pool/ mine area could it possibly be some type of gas rising and getting trapped in the area due to low winds ? So it won’t be constantly apparent only under certain conditions ..

Since he was 80 feet above moving water that seems a bit improbable

 

[Dale.]

O.k that’s you .. so what about the pool/ mine area could it possibly be some type of gas rising and getting trapped in the area due to low winds ? So it won’t be constantly apparent only under certain conditions ..

Sorry, I overlooked that Jeff.

Mining ceased there many years ago, I will have a read up on its history later today. Parts of the area are fenced off with that temporary builder's fencing though as the ground is sinking.

I found a lamp type thing during a Kingfisher vigil a couple of months ago. At first I thought it was a rock that I'd sat on. I proceeded to dig it out, bare handed, as apart from that, I was comfortable. When the suction broke, the container did hiss for a second. I'm ot sure if it was just vacuum or gas leaking from it.

I've often thought is there some kind of gas lurking there at times.

Since he was 80 feet above moving water that seems a bit improbable

The 80 foot bridge is another location to the 'spooky place', about 15 miles away.

 

[Dale.]

Just had a quick dig into some history. Not an awful lot to be found but I well delve deeper later.

The footpath I use and where I have had some odd experiences is an old mineral railway.

The mine closed in 1890.

 

[the black fox]

The place up here is rydmynyn valley ordnance factory , it was also the base for tube alloys the development of the first atomic bomb . As well as them making banned mustard gas bombs and shells there right up to the 1960’s thousands of tons of fizzing ordanance taken out and dropped into unknown location marl pits in the valley .. the underground caves and storage area still have nuclear bomb proof blast doors and one of the head wardens once told me there’s a cave where the Geiger counter goes off the scale .. I do know having seen it that the water board comes round once a month to check the ground water for any traces of either .now a nature reserve of sorts it will never ever be built on ,with electronic gates and you have to sign in and out at the guard house . ..so old mine workings at your end could well be hiding something ?