This morning was not a typical morning. After today I rather think I prefer typical mornings.

I woke up a little earlier than usual – at about half past seven – and rolled over in bed, only to be struck with a unpleasant sensation of dizziness. The only time I have felt similar, is when I had gotten drunk on vodka as a teenager.

The room was spinning when I opened my eyes, giving me waves of nausea. I staggered out of bed, only to flop down on the floor because I was afraid of losing my balance. After a few minutes I managed to focus and get back on my feet, only to hug the floor again when the dizziness returned a couple of minutes later.

Any movement of my head felt like it was amplified a hundred fold, and if I looked up, even slightly, the dizziness was all the more intense. The only thing that helped was being on all fours with my head down.

Between bouts of crawling about in my living room I switched on the computer to get the number of NHS direct (a medical help-line). The nice young man and nurse that I spoke to managed to ascertain that I wasn't going to meet my maker any time soon (if it's God, boy would I feel foolish).

Long story short: it passed after an hour or so, leaving only a residual nausea, and I managed to get myself to the doctor who told me it was acute labyrinthitis – which I had self-diagnosed by reading Wikipedia. Naturally I nodded and expressed faux surprise – glad my job isn't slowly being replaced by a website. :-P

Fortunately, it is most likely a one-off, caused by a virus. A good thing – not even a cup of coffee could fix this morning!

That's one more ailment I can scratch of my list of diseases I have yet to experience!