My Meniere’s Diagnosis

The allergist

I then went to the allergist as I had been referred and discovered that I was allergic to dust mites and a mold (aspergyllum…) They started treating me for the more severe reaction, dust mites and couldn’t really say that would solve my dizziness/vertigo, but diagnosed me with Eustachian tube dysfunction as a likely cause for all that. My shots began and I found out in the early phase of “once per week” shots I could come in as often as I like as long as I left one day between shots.

I was eager to get things going (and to get as much as I could on the 2007 year health insurance as we had already met our $5200 deductible.)

So from October through late December I got allergy shots 2 to 3 times each week. I managed to get in Monday Wednesday Friday shots many weeks. Through all this time I was feeling miserable. Fatigue, roaring/pressurized ear/constant mild dizziness and off-balance.

So, I called the doctors office again and asked for a referral to an Ear Nose and Throat doctor. I just wanted to have another opinion on getting my balance back. (The worst was a car ride Thanksgiving weekend. I felt like was still riding in the car a week after I got back.)

So I got a referral to an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat Doctor.)

Symptoms Part 5 – the Vertigo Strikes Back

The ear pressure and light dizziness varied so much after that first vertigo spell that at times I could forget that anything was wrong. Really it was as though everything was normal and then for stretches it was as though I had an ongoing affliction, unable to hear well, off balance, etc. I thought I had managed to prevent drastic spells with my sudafed regimen, but the Vertigo was about to come back with a vengeance.

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Symptoms Part 4 – Aftermath of the Vertigo

After I woke up from the exhausted stupor that the Vertigo left I was better. I was relieved to find that the room wasn’t really spinning that much. I had slept several hours. I felt as though I had jet lag though. I was exhausted and slow moving. It took around a week or so before I got to feeling more like normal again. The fatigue was hard to describe, but fortunately it finally passed.

I had been told by more than one person that I needed to see a doctor about this.

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Symptoms – Part 3 | My First Vertigo Attack

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.

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Symptoms – Part 2

I don’t remember when this happened but occasionally I noticed that when my allergies were particularly bothersome my right ear would stop up. I couldn’t hear as well for stretches at a time. It was always the right ear and I’d try to fight it with a few days of decongestants. Sometimes those decongestants would work, sometimes they didn’t seem to be as effective. It always seemed to go away in 3-5 days anyway, which is about how long it seemed like the cold medicines would take.

Things started getting a bit weirder though.

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Symptoms – Part 1

I’m going to start by going back to before I had all these “ear problems”. The first time I really remember having a problem with my right ear. This predates the Meniere’s diagnosis by about 17 years. I was a senior in High School and woke up on a Sunday morning with a sharp pain in my right ear. It turns out I had an ear infection, the membrane in there was visibly about 50% or more inflamed and I stayed home from school for about a week. I remember it VERY well because the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament was on that week. I think I saw part of most every game in that first round. I remember CBS had this trumpet fanfare that they started back from all the commercial breaks. it sounded TERRIBLE to me. The pitches in one ear were a little off from what I heard in the other ear.

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