FIVE YEARS & Meniere's

Last week, I hit the 5 year anniversary since starting this physical rehab. It is somewhat ironic that I've not done anything very much for 12 days due to a flare up of the Meniere's.

I will do a proper recap of the last year and take a look at the rehab side of things but, at the moment, my head is somewhat incapacitated by the Meniere's.

So, I saw the ENT guy a couple of weeks ago, on the Monday. He did a load of tests, including waggling my head around trying to provoke dysfunction in the inner ear. Monday evening, I had Pilates. Tuesday morning, I woke up feeling unusually exhausted after Pilates but went swimming anyway. I pushed myself to do just 30 lengths (instead of 50) and then called it a day. I was exhausted through the afternoon, had a thumping headache and generally felt utter drained. Wednesday was much the same, characterised by this thumping headache, including bad scalp tenderness/pain around the back/sides of my head.

Went to bed on Wednesday night and discovered that my tinnitus had gotten a whole lot worse. It raged on all through the night and I didn't sleep well. Thursday, I woke up and my ears had that all too familiar full/blocked sensation, my hearing seemed worse, the tinnitus remained at a high volume and the hyperacusis (hypersensitivity to certain frequencies) was worse too. All the symptoms, including the thumping headache, exhaustion and pour sleep, continued over the weekend and into the start of this week. I decided not to go to Pilates on Monday.

Tuesday morning, I got up with the worst vertigo I've had. For 3 hours, it felt like my head was being thrown around on the surface of a squally ocean, interspersed with acute, momentary episodes, every time I moved my eyes or head, where it felt like my eyes were rolodexing (spinning) in their sockets! Needless to say, I got to the GP and got some medication (which, incidentally, doesn't seem to be having any kind of effect).

So....varying degrees of vertigo are still ongoing. Tuesday through to Thursday were the worst. I just felt dreadful and the headache got to the point where I was lying in bed on Wednesday night wondering if I was going to have to get to an A&E for painkillers or something. Anyway, on Friday afternoon, I felt some improvement (having also finally had my first decent night's sleep in 10 days on Thursday night). Yesterday, the vertigo was again worse in the morning but I felt an improvement by about 6pm. I'm not sure yet today how I feel although it's not great.

I'm guessing this was all triggered by the ENT guy thoroughly irritating the inner ear systems. I shall tell him next time I see him!!

I also rang the hospital last week and said I'd changed my mind about wanting a hearing therapist referral. Apparently, hearing aids can help not only with the hearing loss but with the hyperacusis and tinnitus. We shall see....

It'll be another quiet day today, I think.

Rehab Concentration Dropped Off & Meniere's Diagnosis

Since my last update, I've done a couple of equipment Pilates classes and a swim. My focus on the physical rehab has dropped off a little and I'm exploring other things, like some local voluntary work. I guess I've realised that flogging my guts out in the gym, week after week, isn't really getting the returns. I'm hoping the Pilates and swimming will keep up progress but allow me to do other things besides recovering from exhaustion! We'll see...

I've also had my appointment with the consultant ENT chap at the hospital. I had a hearing test and various other balance/co-ordination-type tests. The outcome is that I do have a permanent low frequency hearing loss in my left ear, due to Meniere's or Meniere's-type disease (the consultant said we'll never know which). We discussed the idea of getting a hearing aid but, for the moment, I am coping just fine without and don't feel the need to go down that route yet. If my situation changes or the loss gets worse, I can reconsider. Everything will be checked again in 6 months time anyway, so I can reassess then, if needs be. All in all, the consultant was extremely helpful and informative. I was also pleased to hear that adding in work on the balance board at the gym had likely resulted in a good recovery/adaption of my balance system of after each Meniere's attack i.e. I'd done the vestibular rehab necessary.

I can't believe we're already into October. It's nearly 5 years since I started this rehab thing, but I'll reflect on that next week.