For years Phil Schreck has played a key role in delivering the news to you and your families. But earlier this summer, Phil found himself in the middle of a health scare that would make HIM the subject of the news — and the feature of an Avera medical minute.
From the Studio to the ER
He says it felt like any other day — finish up the early newscast and head home for a quick break with family — but Phil’s night was about to take a big turn.
“I was making dinner and just standing in the kitchen. All of a sudden, I just started feeling dizzy. I'm like, man, what's going on? I lay down, I'm like, man, I still was spinning. And so I just yelled to my son, Luke, we’ve got to do something, we’ve got to go somewhere. I don't know what's going on,” said Schreck.
It’s not every day a local celebrity walks through the Avera McKennan ER doors, but for Dr. Lucas VanOeveren’s team it was just another Wednesday.
“Yes, I know you're the TV guy, but that doesn't matter here. You're a patient and you have symptoms that were serious enough for you to know that you needed to come to the emergency department. So let's start working through what you're experiencing,” said Dr. VanOeveren.
“So the first thing they did is an EKG to see if this dude is having a heart attack. Let's find out,” said Schreck.
“In addition to the EKG, we did some basic labs to make sure his electrolytes were fine, blood counts to ensure he wasn't markedly anemic or something like that and he didn't have a fever. And then then the next step was to move on to getting an MRI of the brain,” said Dr. VanOeveren.
Thankfully, the scans came back clean. With heart attack and stroke safely ruled out, the diagnosis became more clear.
“I'll give the doctor credit. I mean, he said right away, it's probably something with your inner ear going on,” said Schreck.
The Common Cause of Vertigo Symptoms
To be more precise, a vestibular neuritis or infection in his inner ear was causing his vertigo sensations. That meant a referral to physical therapist Josh Olson in the Balance and Dizziness Clinic to help him overcome it.
“We worked on some basic exercises as far as getting used to utilizing only that vestibular system by removing his visual and his sensory balance centers and making him rely on that more to help his brain understand that it wasn't working great before, but it's working well again and we need to reintegrate that,” said Olson.
The bulk of that retraining was by using a virtual simulator and sensory organization testing — a high tech device that allows patients like Phil to safely push their balance limitations.
“All these lights are flashing at you and the floor is moving and of course you're strapped in so you're not going to fall over. But it's just to help you figure out how bad your vertigo is and what maybe we can do to get it to be better,” said Schreck.
“With his eyes closed, his body didn't 100% know exactly what to do, especially since that inner ear wasn't providing with the information. So in those instances when we're going through some of the testing with him, a lot with the eyes closed, he had significantly more sway, a lot more unsteadiness and just not as much of awareness of where his body was at any given moment in time,” said Olson.
Training the Ear to Control the Spin
Josh says the inner ear is like a muscle so the more you train it, the better it can withstand those balance issues.
“You do the head movements up and down, sideways, diagonally, things like that. Just to try to get the nerves in your ear to get used to being back where they used to be,” said Schreck.
“And then as time goes on, as things improve, a lot of the times we work on getting toward a maintenance program where it's outside of the clinic, where you can continue to maintain that and feel better and better and hopefully stay on your feet and away from falls and stuff like that,” said Olson.
This meteorologist may have missed a few newscasts, but he’s put in the work to keep the dizziness at bay and hopes others can find their own strength when the room starts to spin.
“I just hope people will take away from this that if you do get this vertigo, don't panic. I know it's a scary thing, but it's going to get better. Just make sure you do the physical therapy, like any other sort of physical therapy. That's really the key.”
Phil says he’s almost completely back to normal, but will still be extra cautious on quick movements and thankfully has the tools to better manage vertigo symptoms should they pop up. Learn more about the Balance and Dizziness Clinic.
