Getting out More

I wonder what it would be like to be able to get out more. I really envy the people in my life that get to go any where they want. Just get on a plane and travel or drive on a road trip. People constantly tell me me you need to "get out more".
I want nothing more than to do that. But that just isn't my reality. Even doing the most simple of tasks and errands are becoming a battle field for me. Grocery stores pose an ever growing challenge. Walking down the aisles and turning my head causes violent spinning. I am left with a sense of anger and fear.
There are times when I can barely walk the few feet to my laundry room or garbage shed. Why I wonder is this still happening to me after over 35 years. In my search for answers I am super frustrated.
The doctors I see don't really know how to offer an treatment that I can rely on to help my symptoms. It's always more pills, more pills. But no answers. Meanwhile my attacks are getting worse. I spend way more time being sick, than I do being well which means I don't get to do anything fun anymore. I might get 4 to 6 days of wellness out of the month. The rest of the time I am in and out of a dizzy spell, that keeps me from doing any real activity.
There must be answers out there I just don't know where to look.....

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No More Meds

I am finally off the last medications that my doctor prescribed. I can't exactly say that it was helping or hurting my overall problems with dizziness. The one thing I did realize was that the side effects where just too much. I had to make a decision about my overall health. I don't really feel bad about that, what I feel bad about is that now my doctor feels as though there is nothing else she can do for me.
If I'm not willing to take a pill then I am pretty much left on my own to wade through this illness without any real answers. I've decided to try vestibular rehabilitation. Something I have nether done nor have any real knowledge of. But I've tried everything else so trying this couldn't hurt one bit.
Because this is such a long standing problem for me. I really don't know how I shall proceed next. Looking into Eastern treatments will also be something I am exploring. I don't think at this point I will ever find a cure. But it would be nice to find something that will offer me some relief.

Balance, and Inner Ear Problems and the Value of Chiropractic Care

This article has some basic information on the different types of dizziness. Also covers forms of treatment available. There is a nice video attached as well.


http://help2health.co.cc/balance-inner-ear-problems-and-the-value-of-chiropractic-care/


Starting to feel better from my attack from last week. Hopefully it is a short one and I can get on with the things I have to do in life. Never can tell I just play it by ear and live day by day with what god and my health give me.

Riding the Wave Again..

I hate when I start to get the pressure in my head and it starts to get harder for me to walk around. I have to lean to the left more which kind of sucks. Not sure what that is about exactly and I to squint my left eye a lot when I walk it helps me steady my self. It's like inside my brain or eyes there's an internal roller coaster going on that I don't have any control of.

Seeing the world travel back and fourth is still such a mystery after all these years. My medication doesn't really help my illness. Nor take my symptoms away. When it comes it just comes. I ride it's wave no matter what. So the pressure is back which means soon I will be back to spinning violently in a week or so. Unable to leave my home and bed ridden. The ebb and flow of my dizziness is like clock work that is something that can be counted on. It is very regular and very methodical. I try to explain this to all the doctors I have seen over the past 34 years but it seems to go in one ear and out the other.

It's hard not to get lost in the never ending sea of pills and medications and doctors that I swim around in. I surface from all of this with no real answers to what is the real cause to what is going on in my brain. Or what right dosage is gonna work so I can get my attacks to a manageable level so I can work again.

Ups and Downs...

Its been awhile since I posted but I've been in good spirits. I found a new doctor at a new hospital that I thought was a great facility that was giving me some good options for my balance disorder. I am on a new medication (Topomax) with a supliment (Magnesium) I can't say that they have helped or hurt. I still get dizzy and sick.  My illness comes and goes at its leisure. But there is still a bit of hope and I do feel a bit better and it doesn't seem to be lasting as long as it normally does.

I just have to take a lot of pills throughout the day. I still have to start and stop my activities and my life. But I try and focus and be thankful for the things I do get to do on occasion.

Times are hard right now and I am glad I have a freaking roof over my head and food in my fridge period. I still do a lot of research on the internet for new studies about balance disorders and vertigo hoping to find some answers because I can't give up the search for some kind of cure or relief.

I will try to post more often and when I find articles on balance and vertigo and dizziness, I will share... Peace

New Doctor New Hope

Last Monday I got went to see yet another doctor about my unexplained dizzy spells. No matter how many times I go through this I always find it a source of apprehension because I have to spend ages giving 30 plus years of history. So with this new doctor I did just that. Described my symptoms, how severe they have gotten over time, how many medications I have been on over the years, all the test I have undergone, all the different diagnosis there have been.

After that she gave me a full examination, that tested my ears and eyes and my coordination, all of which is normal. Then I she suggested that she agrees with one of my previous doctors that I might have MAV, which is Migraine Associated Vertigo. And I got prescribed yet another medication for that illness. Now I am taking something called Topomax. So far I can't tell if it is doing anything other than making me have more extended symptoms of my illness.

But only time will tell. The one thing I'm not going to do that I have done in the past is stick with something that is clearly not working, and trust that the doctors no what they are doing. I want to have trust in the process, but I just don't anymore. I have been failed by it far to many times. Meanwhile my life is passing me by with very little answers. Yet I am being made to live with this burden and it is very hard.

Something To Ponder

Sometimes I think to myself who am I to advise or instill hope into others about how to live with vertigo. I am not even remotely close to have anything about this illness figured out. All I know is that it comes every month like clockwork. To be honest it is more regular than my freaking periods each month. I can count on it to appear around the same time every month without fail.
This being said, what is a person to do? You try and live bits and pieces of your life, but mostly you are just waiting till the next attack comes. Your world becomes consumed with how much you can accomplish and get done with only a few days or weeks of decent health. Then you get thrown back into the cycle of being sick again.
You take your medications and submit yourself to more and more test. You travel to doctor after doctor hoping that this time they will be an accurate diagnosis. Still as you wait for these things, your attacks get worse and you still must struggle with the burden of having an unexplained illness.
Meanwhile, it feels like you are a passenger watching your life and dreams pass you by. I can’t count how many times in 34 years of living with this that, I’ve had to start and stop a task, over and over again. The whole time feeling useless because I accomplish very little. And the things I do accomplish aren’t enough because I don’t ever get to enjoy them to the fullest.