My Meniere’s Diagnosis

Symptoms – Part 3 | My First Vertigo Attack

November 15, 2008 10:06 am admin symptoms

So, I was in a bit of a routine, sometimes my symptoms were more active and would give me light dizziness, preceded by stuffiness in one ear, pressure/roaring in that ear. That seemed to be preceded by times that my allergies were a bit worse. Spring and fall seemed to be more peak times for me. It didn’t seem to match any particular named pollen that I could notice.

Then things took a spin for the worse.

I remember that day as clearly today as the morning I was in a car accident. It’s ETCHED in my memory and I suspect will be with me til the day I die.

I was on my way to an appointment in the morning. It seems as though it was a 10 AM appointment in April 12, 2006 to be precise! I was on the way, my ear had been pressurized as I went. I remember taking Ox Creek (winding road) up to the Blue Ridge Parkway en route. I attributed the extra dizziness to the curvy road and went on. I made it to my appointment and when I stepped out of the car I had a hard time standing up. I did though. I put on a happy face, greeted my client and when he asked how I was doing I admitted that I wasn’t feeling too great, I was somewhat dizzy but thought it would pass.

I explained that I’ve had slight dizziness like that before, but this was a bit heavier than what I was used to. Anyway I proceeded with the computer appointment. (Computer service is one of my several jobs…) I remember working on the task at hand and I had to keep turning my head from straight ahead to about 90 degrees to the right to talk to him. He had this big wheeled office chair that rocked and swiveled and as the appointment went on and on I felt worse and worse.

I started feeling flushed and then cold sweats and within 40 minutes of my arrival I told him I would need to visit his bathroom as I just was not feeling well. I had to hold onto the walls on my way there and when I made it in the door I was about to throw up. It was all I could do to keep my head over the toilet. I remember being there more or less on my knees trying desperately to keep my head still over the toilet, but it seemed as though the toilet was violently moving.

Finally after a few moments things subsided a bit. I cleaned up and returned to finish the job I had been called to do and then apologized for scaring him as I headed out. He suggested that I should probably see a doctor as this seemed very severe. He asked if I needed to wait or a ride, or to call someone, but I told him I would be fine. All I wanted was to get home before I was sick again.

When I had returned to the task at the computer I could feel that this wasn’t going to subside quickly and the motion of the chair and my head was making things worse again. I was getting flushed and cold sweats again. But all I wanted was to get out of there and get home. I didn’t know what was going on.

I realized that this must be vertigo. I had never had it before, but once you have it YOU KNOW.

I remember struggling to drive home. It seemed as though all my peripheral vision was a whirling tunnel like those amusement park tunnels that you walk through with all the lights and such spinning around. It was all I could do to focus my eyes on the road and make it home. I was desperate to get there though. I did get there and I stopped the car, stood up to get out and fell on the ground. I don’t know or remember how long I laid there with everything rotating around me. It was a terrible period of time that seemed to go on forever.

Finally I felt a little bit better and climbed up using the side of the car and managed to get in the house and make it to the bed to lay down. I laid across the bed and called my parents on the phone. They live across the road and I explained what was going on. My Dad came over and brought me some Sudafed (psuedoephedrine) That was my go to medicine to clear out my sinuses at that time. I remember I didn’t like taking it because it made me drowsy. I took the sudafed though and fell asleep and didn’t remember anything else for hours.