Patient Spotlights

The Vestibular Patient Experience

Vestibular disorders are invisible. You look fine on the outside, but inside you’re struggling with a myriad of debilitating symptoms. It’s easy to feel like you’re alone, and no one understands what you’re going through.

Reading about others who have been in your shoes can validate your experience and give you tips on what to expect and how to deal with it.

You can also share your story to spread hope and increase awareness about what it’s like to live with vestibular dysfunction.

Gary Breitbord

Meniere’s sucks. I apologize if I offend anyone with my language, but I bet people who have a vestibular disorder are nodding their heads vigorously in agreement. Well, maybe not too vigorously, because they can’t

Paul Bacon

When I was young I used to run along curbs for fun. As I aged I found I would fall off. To me this was just part of aging. Then by accident it was found

Patricia Thompson

I had a dream job - flying, photography, great boss, fun work environment. Then my world started spinning and my dreams all came crashing down. I was in photography school when an instructor recommended me

Kim Striber

Hi, my name is Kim. I am an adventurer, a world traveler, a craft brew enthusiast and I have a vestibular disorder. I was humming along in life with a full career, family events and

Kelly Helsel

It took 7 years to be diagnosed with Autoimmune Disease of the ear, which affects my vision, hearing loss, right ear few decibels left and the left a few more. May have to have cochlear

Tamar Schwartz

My vestibular disorder, Migraine Associated Vertigo, is also sometimes called Vertiginous Migraines. When people think of migraines, they think of someone in pain, and that part is true. But migraines, which vary in severity, can

Anne Kirchheimer

On a recent annual visit to the radiation oncologist who treated me for cancer nearly 20 years ago, I was asked to fill out a form prior to examination. The answers enable the doctor to

Susan Papa

I was first diagnosed with Meniere’s disease was in 1991. My symptoms were mild in the beginning - uneasiness, nausea, a feeling of fullness in my head. They were generally worst when I spent too

Elaine Schissel

I am 65 years old and live in Atlanta, Georgia. In June, 2010 MdDS changed my life. My symptoms started while my husband and I were aboard a ship waiting to disembark from a long

Patricia and Aviva Banks

We leased a brand new house in 02/2007 in southwest Florida to work with the hospital system. In about 3-4 months we began feeling weak. My 2-year old daughter began hearing sounds much louder than normal

Karen Meyer

The symptoms began innocuously enough—a return of preadolescent motion sickness, jiggling vision during teeth-brushing, apparent cognitive decline—and I shrugged them off, attributing them to middle age. By the time I reached 50, they grew more

Bill Haywood

Writing this has taken me a long time to know that it is something I wanted to do. Having always fantasized about writing a book, I could never come up with a subject I thought