Meniere’s and a Cold

Okay,  it’s been a while since I’ve mentioned my Meniere’s Disease, but I have the cold from hell, and  I am about to whine.  Feel free to move on to other blogs.  I’m also probably going to get into a few graphic details that no one really needs to know about, so you should probably just stop reading now.  It is enough for me to get this off my chest (since everything else is sitting on it right now).

Everyone knows that if you already have an “ailment” or two, adding something else to the mix is never good.  Like adding vinegar to your hot chocolate – not really wanted.  Like adding a cold to Meniere’s — never wanted.

A cold should just be a cold.  But after two weeks, when you are still coughing up phlegm (sometimes throwing up), you are wearing incontinence pads because your little drops have turned into gushes,  your ears are so plugged you consider borrowing your husbands hearing aids (or his drill), your cough is waking up the neighbours dogs, your back aches because you can’t lay down to sleep without coughing up a lung, brain fog has turned to smog, and your dizziness threatens to turn into vertigo at any moment, it’s time to go to the doctor.

Of course, that is when I find out he is on holidays.   Not that it matters, since he’s relatively new to me anyway, but you know, when you are feeling down, it’s just one more thing to complain about.  I chose to go see his replacement.   Then I worried about spreading whatever I had, or being made to stand outside while my coughing fit scared away the pedestrians and other patients. As it turns out, I should just go sit in a doctor’s office for 45 minutes.  Not a peep from my cough.  The doctor, when finally seen, was great, even knew what Meniere’s was (although all she said was “I bet this is making your symptoms worse”.  No shit!  Anyway, she prescribed antibiotics, an inhaler, and told me if I wasn’t a lot better in 48 hours, to make an appointment with my own doctor next week.  I could have kissed her.  I was going to get better – in only 48 hours!  I may have only heard what I wanted to hear.

Moving on.  Why do I read the warning labels on drugs???  Both may cause stomach upset…which was already not good from all the dizziness, the painkillers, the cough candies, and the cough syrup which I had tried.  Then the kicker….both read “may cause dizziness”.  Why the hell would a doctor give me something that is going to worsen an already existing condition???  I don’t even know what to say about that.  And that inhaler….I always have a coughing fit after using it – nobody mentioned that!  Hard coughing with Meniere’s is always a dizziness inducer for me….now it’s a spins inducer. Not pleasant.

But it doesn’t matter, it’s now been 96 hours (48 hours of course was on a Saturday), and there hasn’t been a noticeable change, so I’m waiting for an appointment with my own doctor…..

I know I’ll get better.  I’m just frustrated, and need to vent.  I will survive this “common summer cold”.   Hope everyone out there is having a good day….or for some, at least part of a good day!  Take what you can get.

p.s. special thanks to my husband who has been beyond patient.

Meniere’s

Okay,  I know, I’m a book reviewer.  That’s what my blog is all about.  But I warned you, occasionally I will digress.  There is actually more to me than books.  Much more, well maybe not MUCH more.   But, every now and then I have to rant.  Today is that day.

I have Meniere’s Disease.  It will not kill me.  Some days,  I question that.

Meniere’s is a disease of the inner ear, causing dizziness, vertigo, tinnitus, ear fullness, and deafness.  You can have it in one ear or both ears.  You can have the symptoms daily or every 6 months.  You never know when it is going to hit.  You can do everything right, and still be on the floor hugging the toilet.  Drop attacks are not unheard of.

I know that if I have too much salt, within 15 minutes my ears are plugged  — it’s a little like going up or down a steep hill in a car, only not being able to “pop” your ears back open.  Stress, of course, is forbidden.  I can no longer ride in a car for more than about half an hour.  Traffic going by throws me off, and the buffeting of the car makes me dizzy.  East winds blow my whole world off kilter.  Low barometric pressures bring on dizziness.  High barometric pressures bring on headaches.  For some unknown reason, I am worse in high humidity.  Sunlight moving through the trees is dangerous.  Busy carpets should be abolished.  Uneven ground was not meant to be walked upon.  Fluorescent lights are a nightmare.  Shopping without a cart is dangerous to me and my surroundings.  Big box stores have the worst lighting imaginable.    Restaurants are too busy, and their lighting sucks.  Movies theaters do not entertain me.  Music has become an annoyance, the base goes through me til I want to scream.  Too many people, too much noise….just lead me to my bed now.

I miss a lot of events.   No, it is not because I am lazy or because I don’t like you.

But it could be sooooo much worse.  Thankfully, my triggers do not include chocolate or coffee.   I’ve become great at predicting weather changes two days before it happens!  Yes, I’m dizzy at some point every day, but true vertigo occurs only every few of months.  Yes, my tinnitus and ear fullness hits almost every day, but I’m not deaf yet.   I am lucky.  There are so many people who have this terrible disease much worse than I do, and there are so many people with diseases much worse than mine.

There are so many things I enjoy.  Reading.  Sitting out by the pool.  Reading.  Playing with our rescue pups. Reading.  Watching television, playing games, etc. with my husband.  Reading.  Writing book reviews.  Did I mention reading?  Meniere’s does NOT affect all aspects of my life.  It can’t.

These are the things I try to remember when I’m having my pity party….like today.