Merry Christmas from my life and Meniere’s disease

I thought that since today is Christmas I would just write a short note  wishing everyone a merry, non-dizzy holiday! I know that meniere’s can be a real burden during the holidays due to the stress of the season and possibly eating the wrong food (too much salt, too much caffeine, too much alcohol) but try to enjoy the company of friends and relatives during this festive season.


Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

David

Bad week with Meniere’s disease

Last week on Monday I was starting to prepare dinner when my head started to feel light and the familiar spinning of a meniere’s attack started. It was strange because it wasn’t spinning as quickly as it usually does when I have an attack and in few minutes it stopped. It really didn’t have much impact on me or the rest of the day. Unfortunately what happened on Wednesday wasn’t quite as simple as the previous episode. It was in the evening and I was sitting on the couch not really doing anything when an attack came out of the blue. It felt like something had slammed into the side of my head causing my vision to become blurred and my sense of control to become lost. I rolled onto the floor and yelled for my wife who knew what was happening.

The whole attack lasted only a few minutes but it was brutal, one of the worst sudden attacks that I have ever experienced. Why did it happen now? I’m not sure but I can certainly speculate about what could have brought it on. Over the past few months I’ve had problems with in congestion, ear aches and headaches. I have taken a lot of over the counter stuff and I can only wonder if that played a part in the attack.

Of course other reasons may be the stress of the holiday season and the ongoing tension of getting on social security disability (I haven’t heard anything in while). As usual it is a guessing game as to what causes Meniere’s disease to flare up.

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Sense of smell and Meniere’s disease

I have had Meniere’s disease for about 8 years and there are still so much about it that I don’t understand. But then again, meniere’s is a disorder that doesn’t have a cure and there isn’t a clear cut reason why it comes about, so I’m not the only person who has a hard time with it. The thing that amazes me is all the different things that can set off an attack. Too much salt in the system is one of the biggest reasons, at least for some folks but for other it could their eyes playing tricks on them that trigger an attack.  For me it seems that my attacks can come from anywhere but could they come from something that I smell.

I know that it seems like a stretch to think that a smell can give you an attack of meniere’s with full blown vertigo to boot, but it is something to consider. If you look at each of your senses such as hearing, seeing, tasting and feeling there are things there that can be connected to meniere’s. Seeing and hearing can certainly set off an attack and if feeling has to do with balance it may cause problems.

What made me thing about this was the other day I was cooking and I combined quite a spices together to cook a roast. While I was putting the spices together the strong smell of the spices was powerful and I got a good whiff of them. It probably wasn’t more than 10 minutes before I had to sit down, then lay down because the room was spinning.

I can’t say for sure whether a smell can cause you to start spinning but it certainly seemed to in my case.

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Roller skating and Meniere’s disease

If you follow this blog on Meniere’s disease then you know that I am really blessed to have so many readers who comment and contribute so much to this ongoing battle with this disorder and without that contribution I wouldn’t have much of a blog. I received another interesting comment the other day from someone who is a professional roller skater in New Zealand who has been diagnosed with meniere’s disease.

Here is part of the comment from Lauri M.

“Originally I was diagnosed with just severe migraines, I was having attacks once or twice a day and lost my job because my boss thought I was faking sick.. it wasn’t till a year later that we finally got a correct diagnosis and I now take buccastem (5mg) as soon as I start to feel woozy - but mostly I get drop attacks.”

Being accused of faking an illness (meniere’s disease) is so, so common with this disorder as most of you already know.  As for the buccastem I will have to look that up I’m not sure that I have heard of it before.

Lauri goes on to talk about how scary it is to skate and at the same time worry about having a dangerous fall, and that certainly would be a huge risk. It also sounds like she has had to deal with tinnitus and hearing loss.

It is always sad to see someone so young who has to deal with meniere’s disease especially when it interferes with activity that they has spent so much time and effort in.

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