and now I wait.....

Yesterday was a little disappointing.. It started off being a great day, I’ve had a great week full of birthday celebrations and a large project at work that I’m really looking forward to… However, that being said I’ve been extremely worn out and tired all week.

Approximately 4 years ago I would start to getting really tired every few months, after a few days of being extremely tired I’d realize that I had no clue when the last time I ate was. Then all of a sudden my hearing would start to fade and I’d begin to feel nauseated meanwhile the room would start spinning and I’d lose my ability to keep any type of balance. To experience vertigo is NOT a fun adventure to say the least. These issues would last 2-3 days at most.

The first time this happened I went to my physician and was told I had an ear infection. A few months later I went back again…. Same thing…… He gave me an antibiotic and some eardrops and would send me on my way. Over the last 4 years it’s been a regular experience. I started to notice that every time I had an “episode” I had either been really, really busy and hadn’t been getting enough sleep or I had been super stressed about something. This last January he finally said to me; Kristi, there’s a good chance you have a condition called Miniere’s Disease. Next time you start to feel crappy I’d like you to go see a specialist!

While at work yesterday morning I felt like I could sleep for 9 days straight and still be tired. I also realized that I had only eaten at birthday celebrations this week. So I called 11 Otolaryngologists (ear, mouth and nose) and none of them treated this so called Miniere’s Disease luckily I found Dr. Anderson who works with the disease and was able to see me right away. By 11:00am I was in his office taking hearing and balance tests. Which I passed with flying colors. As we started talking about my history and symptoms he became almost certain that I do in fact have Miniere’s Disease. Unfortunately that’s not the only possibility, there’s also a small chance that I have some minor brain damage caused from one of my numerous accident prone moments.

With Miniere’s Disease there is a chance that it could spread into both ears and I could eventually go deaf and or have constant vertigo. However if I stay away from alcohol, tobacco, caffeine and salt it can prolong this. Most people aren’t diagnosed with this condition until their 40’s and only 0.2% of Americans even have this condition. There haven’t been many studies about it so there’s always a chance for a cure before I would get to that point.

Brain damage…. Well that could be another story, which we didn’t really talk about since he’s not a Neurologist…..

Anyhow I’m waiting for my insurance to approve an MRI and some other tests so I can get to the bottom of this and start working on fixing myself. Wish me luck!