Hi.
So. We left off where I was experiencing vertigo, couldn’t walk straight, threw up not only everything in my stomach but I’m pretty sure there were bits of liver in my gunk, fell asleep and snored in front of the doctor I work for and me thinking I was never going to be normal again.
I’m happy to say, I’m normal again.
Or, whatever that means to you and however that defines me.
After that crazy episode, which lasted 20 hours straight and then I had another 15 hours of dizziness one day later, I’m happy to say I haven’t experienced any more vertigo, but I have had some dizzy spells.
Actually, more like wooziness. Like I’m standing there and things just sort of start getting ..swimmey. Wavy. Distorted. It was very disorientating but it wasn’t severe enough for me to get nauseous and thankfully, it would only last about ten seconds before going away. I had quite a few woozy spells on Thanksgiving day, one after the other, to the point where I felt like we were going to have to leave dinner because it was making me feel sick, but again, luckily, after about thirty minutes, they didn’t go away but they weren’t happening as often and I started to feel better.
But after Thanksgiving, I stopped having the woozy spells. I didn’t really notice I wasn’t experiencing the dizzy spells anymore for several days and then it was like, “Hey! I feel normal again!” And I haven’t had any more episodes since. I don’t know what I did, or what I didn’t do, but I’ll take it. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone.
I will say though, I have been careful with my head movements. I’m not living like a robot, but I definitely don’t bend over and blow dry my hair anymore as I’m afraid when I come back up, I’ll have a vertigo episode. Maybe I’m being overly cautious, but if that is what it takes NOT to experience that Funhouse Hell again, I’ll take it.
I put off seeing a doctor for a while. Again, I don’t have a primary care physician (PCP) and I really needed to become established with someone because you may be healthy, and that’s great, but if something happens, a PCP is a heck of a lot cheaper than Urgent Care or the ER.
So I bit the bullet and went to see someone. It was a nurse practitioner actually, not a doctor, but that’s okay. I really only wanted two things from seeing someone:
- A referral to Ear, Nose, Throat. (Because it’s a specialty and usually requires a referral to see someone) and
- Do a full lab work up to make sure my levels were good and my thyroid was working correctly.
To begin the appointment, I told her my vertigo experience. I didn’t give her as much detail as I gave you guys, but rather, the cliff notes version. I explained that it was my one and only, (God willing), experience and I have no idea what happened and I pray it never happens again. Shen then proceeded to look in my ears.
She couldn’t even see into my left ear canal. She said it was super small and she couldn’t see anything.
She then looked in my right ear. And though I have wax build up, (because you couldn’t PAY me to stick a Q-tip in my ear at this point in time because I’m afraid I’ll trigger something or knock something loose – also, you’re not supposed to clean your ear like that), it wasn’t as much as she would have thought given my experience.
She then told me that she would refer me to Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) doctor, (YESSSS, goal #1 accomplished) and that she wanted to do a blood draw and run some labs to check my thyroid and various other levels. (YESSSS, goal #2 accomplished).
She then said she wanted to make another appointment for me to come back for a full physical, including, but not limited to, a breast exam and paps smear.
*sound of screeching tires*
Um, no.
I get why she wanted to do that. I’m menopausal and I’ve never seen a family doctor so she needed a base line, but erhm, no. But I made an appointment, and then I promptly rescheduled it out a few months because … UGH, NO.
The physical is now in February – the end of February. I may go … (but probably not).
I finally touched base with ENT. I’m scheduled to see them the first part of February. Yes. I could have gotten in sooner but … UGH. I loathe being messed with, whether that’s getting my hair done, my teeth worked on, or my body looked at. I. HATE. IT. But I know I need to get this checked out if for no other reason than to see what is going on with my inner ears and how I can hopefully prevent this vertigo thing from happening again.
And that brings you up-to-date on the vertigo thing. Thankfully, I haven’t have any issues with dizziness since Thanksgiving and everything is looking good. I’m still very aware of the way I position my body and not bending over or hanging my head down. And I think that helps. I hope it helps. At any rate, I’m not taking any chances on triggering another “attack.”
I hope your 2022 is going well so far and that you’re staying healthy. We have a lot of people out sick at work and of course the hospital is freaking out about it because that’s what we do with this COVID nightmare, we over react.
More on that soon.
Write From Karen 