Sandra

Happy Saturday everyone! I will share my story often so I can help anyone who needs it. I became ill one November. I felt dizzy, nauseous, and my vision was slightly blurry. I went to my family doctor for a sinus infection, who said I had an ear infection & sinus infection in my left ear (I had no pain or discomfort at all in that ear). I went on antibiotics and after a few weeks went back to the doctor. I felt like I was on the verge of vertigo but it never came on. My family doctor said I had a virus and told me to go home, rest, and drink plenty of water. A few weeks later I was still feeling very ill with severe motion sickness feelings. I went to my ENT, who cleaned out my sinuses with a suction tube and camera and my sinuses felt better but I still felt extremely ill. So, a few weeks later I went back to my ENT, who promptly sent me to the Emergency Room. I spent 10 hours there being tortured with tests and was feeling 1,000 times worse. No help whatsoever. The very next day, March 1st, I saw my vestibular and balance specialist. I have had vertigo twice in the past so I know what that feels like and this wasn’t vertigo, but I felt dizzy so thought he might help. He did. He performed the Frenzel Goggle test. He said I had gotten a virus that I never knew I had and it attacked my left inner ear. He diagnosed me as having a left inner ear dysfunction/weakness. I started eye balance gazing exercises at home immediately 3 times per day without fail, even though they made me feel so sick, and went to PT once per week for eye balance exercises. Nine weeks later I woke up and felt normal. I spent the next 2 weeks doing my exercises and then was 100% recovered. The thought of walking around sick to my stomach and still having to work, drive, and function like a ‘well person’ was one of the HARDEST things I have ever had to do. You CANNOT take any medication to make you feel better because it tricks your brain into thinking you are healed and it sets you back! I know that most people think to themselves, ‘I feel so awful, something really bad must be wrong with me…how will I ever get better?’ And because I say, ‘please see a vestibular and balance specialist’ ‘I can help you find one’…people think because these specialists aren’t DOCTORS that they can’t help. But they can, and they DO. Feeling so badly that you can’t get out of bed, well…I have been there but I fought hard to keep moving. I share my story so I can help others. Here is to believing in one another. I am always here to help and can find you a balance and vestibular specialist in your area. I am also a moderator in the VeDA forums (unless David M. beats me to it . )