My motto as an adult has always been, ‘Life will be what it is, and I'll adapt’
“Years ago, when I got vertigo, the room was spinning,” says Mac McPherson. “But the vertigo that I had beginning in 2023 felt like I was the one spinning, like I was on a tether, and someone kept spinning me around. It was severe, and I was going through that daily—sometimes two to three times a day—and I told all the doctors, ‘I am suicidal, and there is no way I can live like this.’”
Now 72 years old, McPherson did live to share the nightmare of his condition and his journey back to an active lifestyle. And he credits it all to a diagnosis and treatment program prescribed by Judith Warner, MD, a neurologist at University of Utah Health. Warner determined that McPherson was suffering from persistent postural perceptual dizziness (3PD) and took steps to put him on the path to recovery.
Warner described the condition as “a bad recovery from a vestibular event,” she says. “Many vestibular events can trigger it, like some sort of inner ear issue in the ear or the brain. Then, for no apparent reason, your brain cannot recover from it properly. It’s this vicious cycle of chronic dizzy symptoms and more debilitation and less and less ability to do your normal activities.”
Any long-term recovery or ability to battle the condition becomes more difficult because the reduction in a patient’s level of activity worsens their dizziness. And McPherson was never a person who could get used to sitting still.
After graduation from high school in Bridgeport, Ohio, he joined the Air Force and spent four years in the service. Next, he graduated from college and was hired by the Department of Defense, where he worked for almost three decades. Since 2017, McPherson and his wife have lived in Mesquite, Nevada, where he was hiking at least four days a week and doing multi-day bike rides.
Once McPherson and his family knew what they were dealing with, he was committed to getting his life and active lifestyle back. “My advice is to do exactly what your doctors tell you to do,” he says. “There’s a triad of things that help, and you must follow all those steps to get better.”
The best-known treatment for 3PD is taking an SSRI/SNRI, along with routine cognitive behavioral therapy and neuro-rehabilitation with a physical therapist. But, until you have a specific diagnosis of 3PD, you will not be properly treated.
“That is so frustrating because getting the proper treatment is critical...If you are just getting part of the treatment, then it doesn’t work. It wasn’t until Mac really leaned into the treatment in all its components that he started to improve."
“The most significant thing in my treatment has been the neuro rehab or the neuro physical therapy,” McPherson says. “When I started, I was taking less than baby steps and my therapist told me, ‘You’ve got to go slow because you are retraining your brain.’”
The therapist encouraged McPherson to look for improvements, even if they seemed small. He told McPherson, “I know you are still struggling, but look how far you have come. When you first came in here, you were sitting in a wheelchair to do exercises and you couldn’t get up and walk into a store. Now you are walking and doing basic exercises.”
Every aspect of McPherson’s treatment plan played an important role in putting his life back together. “My medical team told me 3PD was treatable, and even though I might not get back to full functioning, I should be able to get back to doing the things I liked to do,” McPherson says. "That just changed my attitude 100 percent.”
He also recalled promising his doctors, “You just tell me what to do and I’ll do it, because now I know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Many patients with 3PD and other conditions that cause chronic dizziness suffer for months or even years while they see multiple providers. And some still, don’t have a path forward for treatment. In 2021, it was this gap in care that prompted Warner to team up with Janene Holmberg, PT, a physical therapist with Intermountain Health, to establish The Dizzy School™.
“It is somewhat understandable that people who have a relatively uncommon condition like 3PD will really fall between the gaps,” Warner says. “And that is why those of us at U of U Health work here. It is because we love to be surrounded by a place that we know takes science and medicine seriously.”
The Dizzy School™ has become an important resource for patients and those treating the physical, emotional, and mental health issues associated with these conditions. Warner and Holmberg brought a group of therapists and doctors together under the Utah Chronic Dizziness Collaborative (UCDC) to support The Dizzy School™.
Changing the attitudes and outlooks of patients like McPherson is a critical part of treating the condition. Warner said conquering the behavioral and mental health component of 3PD is an “inescapable” step patients have to take toward recovery.
“Chronic dizziness just makes people feel very unempowered and helpless,” Warner says. “So, getting their power and control back is vital. Saying, ‘No, I am in charge here’ is just so important.”
It was Warner’s ability to truly see and believe in McPherson’s description of his battle with 3PD that brought him back to life. And he will be forever grateful for the care and treatment he has received through The Dizzy School™.
“My motto as an adult has always been, ‘Life will be what it is, and I'll adapt,’” McPherson says. “3PD challenged me on that, but I'm now living up to my motto. A few years ago, I was hiking 10-15 miles a day four days a week in the mountains and doing multi-day bike rides covering 50-60 miles per day. All of that stopped with 3PD, but I gradually built up tolerance, and I now continue all those hobbies.”
Of course, McPherson has had to recognize his own limitations. “I do act my age and walk five miles every other day and ride my bike 10-15 miles every other day now,” he says. “My life is great once again. It just takes a little adaptation.”
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