Spike,
BPPV is one of the most common causes of equilibrium problems. It usually resolves itself in a couple of weeks and there's not much they can do. Some docs think that head-positioning movements/ treatments that can relocate the little grains of "sand" ( otoconia ? ) to a better spot to be resorbed.
Did you take a spill in the days prior to your first episode ? The docs told me they often see BPPV following a spill from a horse, water-skiing, etc...something to knock stuff loose in the inner ear.
If that's what you've got, they shouldn't give you too hard a time about it. Good luck.