I have this problem too. A tiny, painless head bump or even moving or holding my head wrong can ramp the nerve pain, vertigo, and light/sound sensitivity way up for days. I take boswellia extract for it, and it seems to help a lot with the symptoms, especially pain, and bring the recovery time down to a couple days rather than a couple weeks. It still doesn't stop it from happening in the first place though.

It's currently my biggest issue as it makes it impossible to go back to work. 90% of the time I'm pretty functional, but once every couple of weeks something goes wrong and the symptoms become debilitating again for a day or two. I'm not sure how to hold a steady job under those conditions.

I too wonder a lot about whether it's psychological or physical. I find that spending quality time with friends and loved ones brings the symptoms and recovery time way down. So even though the cause seems to be physical, there's something to be said for the ability to manage the symptoms from the inside out.