Sat up and knew immediately something was really wrong....
That awful nausea.... the room tipping and spinning.....
What happened last night???
I got to my feet and I stumbled in the dark down the hall.... wobbling from side to side, feeling as though I was going to vomit.
WHAT THE HELL???? WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME???
The last I remembered I'd been falling asleep beside my toddler waiting for my wife to come back to bed.
I turned on the lights, drank some water, tried not to vomit.... confused and afraid....
After about 15 minutes it passed and settled into a mild nausea and an occasional dizziness.
Went to the doctor at 11.
Turns out I have BPPV....
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
Very common... caused by the little crystals in your inner ear going wonky and the treatment is to do some weird exercises to set them right again.
But holy wow..... at almost 5 years sober that was really scary and the horrible feeling, the waves of nausea, the way the room tilted to and fro.....
It was one hell of a way to be reminded how grateful I am for sobriety.