Very interesting. I have had similar problems. I had OHS surgery in April like extraO. I had a heart attack then emergency OHS for double bypass, and On-X valve.
Post surgery I was put on warfarin and atenolol. Despite my cardiologist's recommendation, I refused to go on a statin, however I finally gave in in June when a cholesterol test came back too high and my GP felt it was necessary.
In the first week of August I started to develop "dizziness" that was "positional". However it was unlike any BPPV or "vertigo" I had ever experienced before. I had a lot of experience with vertigo/dizziness and BPPV in my twenties and early 30's but this was nothing like those. This recent dizziness had very little if any visual component, whereas vertigo for me in the past was always accompanied by everything spinning around on a vertical plain in front of my eyes. This recent dizziness was accompanied by pressure/pain in my head, which I never had before, and I didn't see things spinning much at all, it just felt like I was rotating around, had no balance, felt faint, etc.
In the past with BPPV, or more serious vertigo attacks that I had (where they said I had a "virus"), it always came on suddenly, that is I would wake up one morning and it would be there, in full blown intensity, and for boughts diagnosed as BPPV it would last a couple weeks or months, then one day be completely gone like magic. But with this recent crap, it grew in intensity & symptoms slowly - when I first started having it it was ONLY when I would lie down, and not happen EVERY time. Then it started happening not only when I lied down, but also when I sat up. Again, not doing this ALL the time just SOME of the time. Then it progressed that I would feel dizzy after already being stable lying down if I rolled onto one side.
Originally my cardiologist, without so much as examining me in any way, not taking my BP while lying vs. sitting or anything else to establish if it was a blood pressure related thing, said it was the Atenolol and had me cut the dose in half. This had no effect whatsoever, and in fact the extent of my problem simply worsened, in that it reached the point that it would happen to me ALL the time when I lied down, ALL the time when I sat up, ALL the time if I rolled over etc. I was even feeling weak/dizzy just walking around if I should tilt my head backwards or forwards to look up or down. This was in about the second week of August.
At the time I was going to physical therapy for a shoulder problem, and would get very dizzy as I lied down/sat up on their table, and in further discussions with them, I asked that they measure my BP when lying, then sitting up, then lying etc, and we saw not much of a difference - my problem did not appear to be BP related.
I then saw my GP doc, and he diagnosed it as "BPPV". He performed the "epley maneuver" on me to supposedly try to combat BPPV (move deposits out of various inner ear canals). This did not help at all. I saw him the next week and he did the maneuver again, and this time what he did actually invoked the worst attack of dizziness I had experienced yet, I thought I was going to fly off his exam table and he had to grab a hold of me to keep me from falling, which he felt was not normal and didn't make sense for me to react so violently. However there was no additional followup on this....(I have learned so much the past 6 months about how ignorant, unknowing, uncaring, contradictory, full of b.s. doctors are and will not even begin to try to go into that point anymore.....)....so I gave up and hoped the dizziness would eventually go away.
In the next 2 months though I have been experiencing multiple other issues which after research have led me to conclude that the statin I was taking was causing all sorts of problems - including possibly the dizziness. In response to one of complaints (muscle weakness & pain) my GP suggested I cut the statin dose in half which I did, but after 3 weeks I was still having problems so I stopped taking the statin completely. This was about a month or so ago....and since then my dizziness has gradually subsided - I can lie down, sit up, roll over, and not feel anything dizzy related now about say 95% of the time. I can't say for sure, but it is very possible my dizziness is linked to the statin I was on. That drug can cause all sorts of muscular, nervous system, you name it, types of damage, WHICH THEY DO NOT TELL YOU ABOUT.
ExtraO, by any chance, are you on a statin?
