My World is Spinning: The 'Benign' Illness That Feels Like Dying

Vertigo can make you feel the floor is rushing at your face. For writer Rebecca Shaw, it literally turned her world upside down. She suffers from Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV). The condition happens when tiny crystals inside the inner ear shift. This tells the brain the body is tumbling, even when it is perfectly still. Shaw objects to the term "benign." She argues that just because an illness will not kill you, does not mean it cannot make you feel like you are dying. The sensation can strike without warning. A simple turn of the head can make the world violently lurch. For those with BPPV, the ground can feel like it has suddenly shifted off its axis.