My kids love to read in the van, or to listen to books on tape so, we rarely hear, "Are we there yet???" As for me... God must be tired of listening to me saying it when it comes to my health.
It has been a long time since I've written and mainly it's because with homeschooling, sports, piano and trying to rest, is taking a lot of time out of my day.
Right now, our eldest son is gone to hockey and the three other are in bed sleeping so I have a few minutes to bring you up to date with my "issues".
To back track a bit. In January, I went to see the doctor because I was VERY tired most of the time, almost as if I was pregnant, but I wasn't. He had blood work done and some minor things showed up and he kept an eye on that. In April, I went to Bathurst and experienced dizziness, feeling faint and nauseous. I told my doctor and he sent me for an MRI but it came out fine so we concluded that it was "just" a migraine. The third week of July, I started having ear problems, mainly with the right ear. I thought it was just congestion and let it be. Then August 5th I had my first "attack". The doctor felt the symptoms showed that it must be Vagal which is known as Vaso Vagal, when your Vagus nerve is stimulated by either stress, or something you ate that is not agreeing with you and makes you dizzy, heart rate rise, blood pressure drop and vomiting. He could not guarantee that it would not happen again but what I've often heard is that one Vagal in a persons lifetime is normal. By September 11th, 36 days since my first "Vagal" I had had 5 Vagals. That was not normal. I was scheduled with Peter Ford, a renown Pharmacist, a cardiologist app., a holter for 24 hours, a hearing test and an ultra sound of the heart.
My doctor was convinced that I had liquid behind the eardrum and that was my ear problem. Well.... I had my hearing test yesterday and come to find out, I've lost 40BTU (I think that was the measurement they used) out of 100 of hearing. I knew I could not hear well in that ear! Then they also discovered that that my eardrums are fine, there is no liquid behind it. The problem is in my inner ear. I was told to expect a call from the ear, nose and throat doctor for an app. within the next two weeks at the latest. I got a call the next morning, today, from my doctor asking if I thought I could make it today. I said yes, the specialist called me a few minutes later and by 12pm I was being seen by the specialist. Drum Roll Please! (ha ha that's funny... DRUM... as in ear drum... ha ha... ok... never mind....)
The specialist told me that although my symptoms are similar to Vagals, these do not last 4-5 hours straight and leave you tired like I do. BUT Menière disease does. All the same symptoms but usually last between 4-6 hours and you are exhausted after, needing to rest for several hours after. That floored me to the exactness of the prognosis. Also, this disease is a inner ear problem and causes deafness. So, my ear did have something to do with all this. I found it strange that the only thing that changed since I started these "Vagals" was my ear.
Anyway, things get stranger. My aunt, my mother's sister, has had these same symptoms for almost 2 years now. We are pretty much at the same spot in our doctor/treatment/diagnosis journey. She told me that she couldn't wait to hear what they found with me because that would be what's wrong with her and visa versa with me. Another strange thing is that some believe that Ménière disease is often found within family.
Tomorrow, I have an app. with this specialist. She is going to give me a cortisone shot in the inner ear. ya... ... ... She said that she had to go through the eardrum and that will be painful but the hole will heal itself easily. I couldn't swallow nor talk for 15 minutes. OUF! I was worried about how long I wouldn't be able to talk... LOL
Anyway, I have a link if you want to read more about it. http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/balance/meniere.html
That is all for today, since I have some alone time, I'm going to vedge.
"We're almost there! ...."
