March 30, 2012

I emailed P.W., who is a friend of my intern's mother. She went through the same thing I have been going through last summer. I would have never found Dr. Beal without her. I would be attempting to control it with the Elepy's maneuver, which has no effect on the imbalance of salt and potassium in my left ear. I would continue to have vertigo attacks, which would be unbearable. I let her know the good news. It turns out she has the same thing. Hers started in July 2011 and with Dr. Beal's help she is almost off the pills and back to normal. I cannot wait to be there. I owe her my sanity.

I went to Costco and picked up my prescriptions. I will wait until tomorrow to start taking them. I have already started to eliminate my salt intake. I am on the road to recovery, after three months of a nightmare.

March 29, 2012

Dr. Beal gave me his prognosis. I have endolymphatic hydrops. It is like being pre-diabetic. I am pre-meniere's disease. I am told it is 100% treatable. I will be taking a diuretic, which will flush my system of the excessive salt. It will also be eliminating my potassium, so I will be taking pills to replace it daily. This treatment will last for several months. After a month, he will attempt to cut the diuretic in half and see if the vertigo returns. If it does not, I will continue to take that dose for another month or two. The he will cut that dose in half and we will see if the vertigo does not return, and so on until I am no longer taking the diuretic and potassium. This is possible, if I attempt to eliminate as much salt as possible from my diet. This is my goal, to be able to control the vertigo via my diet. If that does not happen, then I will do whatever I must to never have another vertigo attack. Those episodes are the most vulnerable I have ever felt in my life. I had no control over what was happening to me.

After school, I drove over to the Alaska Native Medical Center, to get my prescription that Dr. Beal had faxed over. They had the prescriptions, but would not fill them because Dr. Beal was not one of their physicians. They told me to walk down to the emergency room and have one of their doctors rewrite the prescriptions for me. When I got to the emergency room, they would not let me see a doctor without checking into the emergency room (and paying for the visit). When I got talking to the triage nurse, she told me that their doctors would not just accept Dr. Beal's prognosis. They would have to run their own tests to determine if his prescriptions were acceptable. The five tests Dr. Beal performed cost me $500-$600 apiece. There was no way I was going to redo all those tests. Their doctors did not even offer to test me. They gave me 15 minutes of their time, determined it was Benign positional vertigo (BPV) and that the Elepy's maneuver would cure it. Now that another doctor came up with a different cause, they want to perform those tests. Well as far as I'm concerned, they lost their chance to bill my insurance for them. The money went to someone else. I told them to forget it and walked out of the emergency room.


I called Dr. Beal's office and asked them to send my prescription to Costco and went over there and filled out their paperwork, so that I would be in their system.

March 28, 2012 @ 5:41 pm

I had been feeling good throughout the day and made it through most of my masters class. My head began to spin. I took meclizine and prayed that I would make it through my class. As soon as the class was over, I logged off, gathered up my stuff, got myself home, and into bed. I slept through the entire night, without having the vertigo episode escalate to vomiting.

March 27, 2012 @ 7:00 am

When I got up, I had a headache. I took a couple of Tylenol and went to work. I got to school and I really did not feel good. My head was all out of sorts. I took a meclizine and waited to see if things got better. Classes were almost ready to start and I decided I did not want to chance having another episode at school, so I told Heather I was going home, while I could still get there. I went home and straight to bed. I ended up sleeping through the entire day. I woke up at 3 pm, got up and ate some food. I managed to stay up until 6 pm, when I went back to bed and slept the night through.

March 22, 2012 @ 1:00 pm

Just got back to school from 3 sets of tests @ Dr. Beal's. Got off the phone with an irate parent. Turned my head back to the computer, to type the conversation in the report, and it started. I persevered and got the report typed in and managed to close the computer down. I walked next door to the nurses office without staggering too much. She had me lie down. It just kept escalating and I ended up vomiting. Tried doing the Elepys maneuver, like the doctor instructed, twice. The right side was OK. The left side was horrendous. It felt like a heavy weight was forcing my head down. The vomiting did stop, but my head was still affected. Things calmed down to the point that I could sit up, so I walked, as long as I did not move my head in any direction, back to Student Services. They got my daughter to come down. She took all my stuff out to the car and came back and helped me walk out to my car. I laid back in the seat for half an hour, until my head felt better. At 4 pm, I drove home, went to bed, and slept through the entire night.

March 21, 2012 @ 4:00 pm

Bright sun shining on my desk. Headache at my temples and over heated. Took two Tylenol and opened the window to get fresh cool air. Tylenol kicked in an breeze helped. Still have headache, but vertigo hasn't taken hold. Had my masters class tonight. I made it through my class. Between the headache and the stress over the possible vertigo episode, I barely was able to participate. I missed some information and will have to ask classmates for clarification. I just pray that I can make it through this semester and that I do not have to put up with these vertigo attaches in June.

March 15, 2012 @ 10:30 am

After being under florescent lights for two days, was bending over moving a couch. When I stood up, my head spun. I laid down, vomited what was in my stomach, and slept for three hours.

I had been doing really well. I only felt a little out of sorts at Chena Hot Springs, when I got over heated. I would just get out of the hot water and cool off. This was the end of Spring Break. I had spent the night and morning with my sister. Her house has nothing but those florescent light bulbs (pig tails). They had been hurting my eyes all night. In the morning, my sister told me how upset D'Lila was about me bringing Renee's friend with us and not asking her permission. This really upset me. She is paying me half of my mortgage payment, $400/mo, for a 2000 sq. foot house in the middle of 5 acres. In essence, I am paying half the other half of the rent. This stress could have brought on the vertigo attach, according to my therapist.

March 7, 2012 @ noon

I had been working at my desk computer. Lunch had started and my head started to feel uneasy. I took a meclizine and laid my head on my desk with the garbage can underneath. One of the students turned the volume up on the movie they were watching and was unbearable. It almost sent me over the edge. I made it through lunch. Once all the students left, I laid down flat on the floor and covered myself up with a blanket. I sort of dozed for the rest of the school day. I had an interview, for the Honors 9 teacher, and decided to walk down and attempt the interview. This turned out to be a bad idea. I feel it played a good part in my not getting the position. I came back up to my classroom and laid on the floor for another hour and a half, until I felt like I would be able to walk out to my car and drive home, at 4 pm.

February 29, 2012 @ 9:43 am

I have a headache and buzzing in my left ear. I took Claritin and Tylenol before work. I've eaten two pieces of ginger (The therapist said ginger helps, sometimes, with seasickness.) Was feeling better, but now I'm feeling a pressure behind my eyes.

February 28, 2012 @ all day

Woke up with a headache and a ringing in my left ear, which continued all day. I went to physical therapy, ate a taco salad for lunch, and went home to work, While working on the computer and moving between documents (eye shifting from right to left) vertigo escalated until I was vomiting and continued until everything was out of stomach. Took dissolving pill before going to work. Took meclizine during 1st period. At home, tried lying flat and staring at a stable object. It sort of worked, until I moved my head, then I was vomiting. After vomiting, I went to sleep and slept for 3 hours. After that I could continue my work on the computer. The physical therapist told me that my brain would have difficulty dealing with over stimulization--it would find it hard to handle the headache, tinnitus, and the other demands. With  all that stuff going on, it would not be able to control the vertigo too.

February 24, 2012 @ 8:55 am

I was working at the computer and had just finished a cup of coffee, when I could feel it starting. I took a 25 mg. of meclizine and continued working. I had read in someones blog that they were prescribed 50 mg. Because it was not calming me down at 9:25, I decided to take a second one. At 11:51, I finally began to feel like the episode was not going to happen and I was calming down.

February 23, 2012 @ 11 am

My ears felt stuffed and then the aura around my eyes clued me into the beginning of an episode. I had a K-cup of chai tea just before it started. I wonder if the caffeine caused it. I took a mecilizine and sat at my desk. As soon as the class was over, I turned the lights off and took  two Tylenol for my headache. It never did escalate into a full blown episode. I rode with my husband to visit my son, at ARCH, and the florescent lights were to bright. I had to keep my eyes covered/shaded, because the lights hurt my eyes. The Tylenol took the edge off the headache, but it never did go away. I went home, to bed, and slept through the night.

February 15, 2012 @ 4:25 pm

Getting ready for my master's class; looking for something on the iPad and moved to the computer, when I felt the dizziness coming on. I took a meclizine and waited to see what happens. I vomited it up. I took the diasaprim and nausea pills, but they came up. I did not talk very much, because it made me vomit. When I began to feel better, I was able to type a few remarks into discussion. By the end of the class (6 pm), I was barely able to walk. With the help of my daughter's help, I got home and into bed. I woke up at 1:45 am with a headache, but no vertigo.

February 12, 2012 @ 5:30 pm

I've had a dull headache all day a very low on energy. I needed to chop the ice and shovel the walk for my 4-plex. After shoveling, I felt very light headed and clammy. I'm not sure if it is due to the work or the vertigo. I rested and the clamminess went away, but not the headache and the aura feeling around my eyes. I did take a Claritin this morning. Not sure if the Claritin helped or not.

February 12, 2012 @ 12:45 am

I am lying flat in bed reading FB on my iPad. I felt it coming on, stopped what I was doing, and laid still and prayed it would go away. The vertigo escalated to where I was dry heaving, with a fever and sweating. I took diasaprim and it came up almost immediately. I took a meclizine and the one for nausea. They stayed down for a little while, but did come up. I think my body absorbed some of it, because things began to settle down. As usual I got very chilled and had to use my heating pad to warm up. I was finally able to fall asleep.

February 10, 2012 @ 7 am

Since it starts as a pain across the bridge of my nose, like a sinus headache, I decided to take a Clarittin and see if the tinnitus goes away. Other than feeling a "little off" now and then, it seemed to work. Wouldn't it be nice if it was this simple.

February 9, 2012 @ 1:33 pm & 3:43 pm

I was at ANMC waiting for my mammogram. I was reading my email, on my iPad, when I felt my head go light. I pulled out my meclizine and tried to walk to where there use to be a fountain. People were looking at me strange, because I was having a hard time to not stagger. The fountain was gone, so I just swallowed my pill and stood there leaning against the wall for awhile. I concentrated on walking back to my chair and sat there meditating, to calm my mind, until they called me. At 3:16, my tinnitus was very loud, I had a headache and felt very tired.

At 3:43 pm, I am sitting at my desk working on the computer and I start feeling dizzy. The first thought was, "Not again!" I took a diazepam, stopped what I was doing, put my head down, and let it take affect. When I felt capable of walking, I went to my car and drove home. I went directly to be and slept through the entire night. I had no vertigo in the morning.

February 7, 2012 @ 5:57 pm

It is almost 6 pm and I'm fixing dinner. I went to sit on the coach for a moment and my head felt light. I took the meclizine immediately and sat back and rested. My daughter helped finish dinner. Once everything was done, I went to bed and slept through the entire night.

February 3, 2012

Finished my entire day at school and had been working on grading, when I felt light headed again. This was the worst feeling. It had been a month since my last episode and had thought I was done with them. I laid done on the floor and hoped the feeling would go away. It did not. I needed to get to my locker and get my phone, so I could call my husband. I knew standing up and moving would have me vomiting, so I just laid on the floor for awhile longer. I very carefully, with minimal movement of my head, I made to my locker and my phone. When my husband arrived, I tried to get up and lost all equilibrium and started to vomit. He brought my meclizine. The first tablet did not stay down, but the second one did. I waited about half an hour for it to begin to take affect. One of the APs brought up a wheelchair and wheeled me down to the front door. My husband helped me out and into his truck. At home, I made it on my own up to our apartment and into bed. I slept all night.

January 16, 2012

My first day back to work. I feel great. The doctors think I may have had a virus, in my inner ear. I don't want to every feel that way again.

Day One

January 9,2012 @ 10 am: I was conducting my class. An AP had just come in to ask me if I would be the principal designate for a trip to Fairbanks on Friday.  I got up and passed out a KWL and I felt light headed. I passed out the article I wanted the students to read and was feeling worse, so I sat at my desk while the students read. Fifteen minutes later, I went to stand up and knew things were not good. I stumbled into a desk, made it out my door to the security guard, and told him I was ill and he needed to get someone up to my room. He looked at me like he didn't understand. I turned and vomited into the garbage can.

I could not stop vomiting and went into the dry heaves. I was burning up and could not lift my head. Staff finally got a wheelchair up to the room and down to the nurse. I had to keep my head still and moving it or talking had me vomiting. The paramedics arrived and had to dry me off to get the electrodes attached to see if I was having a heart attack. I was not. They gave me a shot for the vertigo and nausea. I could not stand up to get on the gurney, they had to almost lift me.

At the hospital, they tried to take my temp. and it would not register, so they piled warm blankets on me. They put a tube in my arm, to re-hydrate me. I fell asleep and did not wake up until 3 pm and was released at 3:45 pm.

Image the very worse case of sea sickness and this is worse.