VertigoMe's risk score is built on a simple picture: the bucket, sometimes called the threshold idea. It comes from migraine care and fits conditions where spins come in attacks, such as vestibular migraine and Meniere's disease. Once you have this picture in your head, the app makes more sense.
The bucket
Imagine you carry a bucket. Every trigger pours a little water in:
- A short or broken night of sleep.
- A salty meal.
- A drop in air pressure.
- Stress, a busy supermarket, a long screen session.
Nothing happens while the water stays below the rim. When it overflows, a spin starts. The rim is your threshold.
This explains something many people notice: the same trigger does not always cause a spin. A salty takeaway on a calm, well-slept week may be fine. The same takeaway after three bad nights may tip you over. The trigger did not change. How full the bucket was did.
Warning signs count too. If your ear starts to feel full or your tinnitus gets louder, a spin may already be on its way, so logging that warning sign adds to the bucket.
The bucket drains again
The bucket also empties with time. Something from this morning counts a lot. The same thing from six days ago barely counts. In VertigoMe this is the decay curve: each logged item fades day by day until it stops counting.
How the app uses it
Your risk score on Home is the water level, worked out from the triggers and warning signs logged over the last 7 days. Each one counts more when it is rated more severe for you and when it is more recent. Some are logged by you, and some are added automatically from your watch, phone, weather or food log.
The coloured word under the number shows which line you have crossed:
- Low (green): plenty of room in the bucket.
- Mild (amber): things are piling up. A good day not to add more.
- High (red): close to the rim. Be gentle with yourself.
You can see and change the lines yourself under Risk Model in the Settings menu. With Premium or during your trial, the weekly recalibration also suggests changes based on which days actually came before your spins.
Where it fits less well
Not every vestibular condition works like a bucket. BPPV spins are set off by head position, not by a build-up of triggers. PPPD and MdDS are more constant. The bucket is still useful for spotting what makes a bad day worse, but it is a model, not a rule.
Why this is useful
The bucket turns spins from something random into something you can sometimes influence. You cannot stop a storm, but on a day when the bucket is already half full you can choose to protect your sleep, go easy on salt or skip the crowded shop.
This is general information only. It cannot tell you what is causing your symptoms. Please speak to your GP, ENT, neurologist or audiologist about your own situation.
