A Nanaimo husband was frantic after his wife was struck by another debilitating bout of dizziness. This episode was so bad she had locked herself up in the bathroom and threatened to kill herself, and her panic-stricken husband called Kitsilano resident Muriel Kauffmann, founder and president of the Balance and Dizziness Disorders Society.

"He was on the phone and I said, 'Tell her I want to talk to her before she kills herself,'" Kauffmann told the Georgia Straight, sitting in the living room of her third-floor apartment. "She was crying hysterically. There are many things that cause dizziness, and hers was to do with the alignment of her neck. A chiropractor was apparently able to straighten out her neck and she was fine a young woman in her 40s."

Kauffmann, 71, formed BADD when she was at her own wits' end after a particularly tough spell of dizziness. It was 1998 and Kauffmann was a newspaper columnist who had suffered periodic dizziness since age 29; it had worsened to the point it was tough for her to leave her apartment. Then came a chat with Dr. Graham Bryce, an ear, nose, and throat specialist at St. Paul's Hospital, after which Kauffmann decided to establish a network to provide support for balance-disorder victims who feel they have nowhere to turn.

"We have saved lives," she said. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind."

To maintain balance, humans rely on visual orientation (eyes), spatial orientation (feet), and the inner ear. It is inner-ear problems that lead to conditions such as Ménií¨re's disease, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), and labyrinthitis. However, it's not simple to see a doctor about something invisible.

When young, Kauffmann was told she had high blood pressure; in fact, she had periodic dizziness. Every time she got dizzy and went to a doctor her blood pressure was up, but doctors mistook this as her merely showing signs of high blood pressure rather than having it kick in because of something else.

"But looking back, I realized that my blood pressure was high because I was dizzy," Kauffmann said. "So for years I was misdiagnosed."

Kauffmann's quality of life is back up, as evidenced by the fact she is about to head to Australia on a trip, something she said she would "never have dared" in the days when she feared leaving her apartment after another "siege".

BADD's mission statement is broad, offering "support for people with balance, dizziness, and related vestibular [inner ear] and hearing problems". The society's former president, Jacke Palmer, told the Straight she has suffered from Ménií¨re's for 25 years.

"When I was first diagnosed, I thought I was alone," she said. "It was so nice to find others who were going through the same thing." Palmer said she has also suffered from BPPV for four years.

According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ménií¨re's is a disorder of the inner ear. Although the cause is unknown, it probably results from an abnormality in the fluids of the inner ear. Ménií¨re's disease typically starts between the ages of 20 and 50, with men and women affected in equal numbers, according to the AAO HNS. The symptoms, which vary in severity, are usually spinning or vertigo and a loss of hearing or even tinnitus.

At 4:30 p.m. on September 19, writer and former CBC radio host Arthur Black will read from his new book, Black Gold (Harbour Publishing, $19.95), at Hurlburt Auditorium at St. Paul's Hospital. He will also share his experiences of BPPV at the same event, which BADD is hosting. In addition, September 16 to 22 is Balance and Dizziness Disorder Awareness Week.

Bryce the doctor Kauffmann consulted in 1998 has not worked in the field for seven years since suffering a stroke, but the long-time Vancouver-based ENT specialist told the Straight he is on BADD's advisory committee, and his new role is more "advocacy-related" in terms of hearing loss and dizziness. (However, he asked that people not try to contact him directly.)

"The first issue is to make a diagnosis," he said, when asked about ways doctors can deal with the problem. "Even though on initial presentation not all patients could be specifically diagnosed, over time mostly they manifest with a clear diagnosis. Of course, the cause of the dizziness will determine whether or not it is easily treatable or whether it is something that has to run its course.”¦And even if you can't treat it but can determine a diagnosis, that is often reassuring to people and helps them manage their symptoms."

BADD board member Cynthia Wu, 60, told the Straight she has suffered from BPPV since 1989.

"When I move my head to a certain position, I feel dizzy and everything is spinning, especially up above with the ceiling or [looking up toward] the sky," she said in a phone interview. "Everything spins, and it is very uncomfortable. In severe situations, I have this feeling of falling down, like falling down from a high mountain to the bottom of the sea. It is a terrible feeling, and when it comes down to this I just have to grab on to something, anything, and scream."

Wu said physiotherapy gets her through the worst periods, and she noted that specific "manoeuvres" help her overcome positional problems on her right side. Like many fellow BPPV sufferers, she said she has to shift away from the problem position or move through it carefully. Tai chi is one method sufferers can use for this.

"Now I never let it [spinning] happen, so when it is about to come, I just shift out of that [problem] position," Wu said.

Kauffmann said that people in need of help can start by logging on to www.balanceanddizziness.org/.