Several Days of Self Care

Aka Getting my Money's Worth from my Bus Ticket This morning at the hospital, I finally after five long months of waiting, had my Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) appointment. It isn't Meniere's! Well, the consultant doesn't think it is Meniere's. She had a look at my history and symptoms and all that was going on and because my audiogram is showing hearing levels of normal, (the same result as the November audiogram) then it doesn't correlate to what Meniere's should look like. Thing is, we do not know what is actually going on. I'm to keep taking Serc (betahistine dihydrochloride) and see how it goes over the next six months - it may settle and go away, or it may not. To be honest, the number of attacks/episodes that I've had has seemed to decrease but my ear does seem to twitch, ache and do a weird hollow sounding thing from time to time (which might be Patulous Eustachian Tube, how fancy). Dizziness I still get most days but this can be triggered d...

Aka Time for an Update! It has been a few days since I last posted and thought it worthwhile updating the good ol' blog. I've been back at work a little over a week and despite my apprehensions, it has been surprisingly fine. For me, it seems to be fairly quiet at the moment, so hopefully I can crack on with some training, and fingers crossed I'll be feeling okay to be back up to full time and can continue working my way up the Banana Seller career ladder. Mental health wise, it is Mental Health Awareness week! If I'm honest, I never really thought that mental health issues would affect me that much. I've usually considered myself to be pretty lucky in my situations, but I suppose everyone has a wobble at some point. For me it's now, with my ear and hair, the world at large, and a realisation of late that I quite often compare myself to other people which doesn't really help me with my self-esteem. However, I've got my appointment coming up the day a...

Aka How I Got Into This Mess in the First Place I started Several Days of Self Care because, as mentioned in the previous post, I was signed off sick from work for a week or so (hence several instead of seven ). As Julie Andrews' saccharine nun says in The Sound of Music, let's start at the very beginning. On 30 November 2018 I came back from my honeymoon. Feeling incredibly dizzy in the kitchen as I was about to cook dinner, I thought I was jet-lagged and went to bed. The dizziness however, persisted. After speaking to the audiologists we have at work and a trip to the doctor's, I was diagnosed with Benign Paroxysmal Positioning Vertigo (BPPV), a condition where crystals in the inner ear mess about with the balance system. I was told it would clear up within two weeks. It did not and I returned to the GP where I had the Dix-Hallpike manoeuvre performed (not as fancy as it sounds, you get pulled backwards over a bench and they look to see if your eyes are twitching), ...

Aka Things I'm Doing to Stop Myself Becoming a Sad Potato Yesterday I was signed off work with stress and anxiety. It's been brewing for a while and, whilst I feel guilty about not being there with my colleagues, it's probably the right thing to have done. Back in December of 2018 I was referred to the hospital as they suspect I have Meniere's Disease - a rare chronic illness that brings on bouts of vertigo and can lead to profound hearing loss in the affected ear. I won't go in to details here as I plan on leaving it for another post, but having the fear associated with that is where a lot of my anxiety and worries have come from. Alongside this, my hair has been falling out and I was diagnosed with alopecia areata, and I'm also going to have my bloods taken as well as my doctor wants to rule out any possibility of a thyroid condition. When I first had the Meniere's referral, and finding out it would take so long, I found myself despairing. Attacks happ...