Hello! I was diagnosed with menieres about 6 months ago. I'm 22 years old, with no family members sharing the condition or even symptoms of it, so it came as quite a surprise. I'm a full time student, and struggling. Between vertigo episodes and the hearing loss, I've missed most of the curriculum. My hearing fluctuates so people tend to think I'm making my hearing loss up. I'm getting relentlessly mocked for being clumsy (I'm always off balanced- started physical therapy to help with that) and also for not being able to hear. I'm learning sign language but I'm getting mocked for wanting to use it because I find it so exhausting to try to read lips all the time. I'm just overwhelmed. Any advice for a newbie? How did you learn to cope with being not quite deaf, and not quite hearing? How did you get others to take your condition seriously? How did you learn to embrace your new life? Thank you!
I'm sorry you're suffering, but there's a lot of good info here. Try using a cane for the balance issues. People take it much more seriously. Are you being mocked at school or work? You should take that up with the HR folks. They will put a stop to that. What meds have you tried?
I have the over-the-counter motion sickness pills, that really don't work for me at all. My doctor doesn't want to put me on anything. We discussed diuretics, but my blood pressure is on the low side of normal, and he thinks that putting me on them will lower my blood pressure and cause even more dizziness.
Personally, i would get another doctor who was willing to try new things. Many of us have found complete relief through various medications. This is where i got started on the road to recovery: http://www.mm3admin.co.za/documents/docmanager/6e64f7e1-715e-4fd6-8315-424683839664/00056616.pdf
As hard as it is to do.. Let the haters hate. Ain't nothing you can do about them. They want to believe what they want and that is up to them. Your struggles are real and you know it and we know it here and the people that love you know it and that is all that matters in the end. My friend used to tell me.. Life is hard.. As soon as you realize that it is hard and that some aspect of it you just cannot control it gets a little easier. If anything I have learned from all my dizzy moments is that there will be ups.. and downs.. and you will cherish the ups soo much more than anyone else
I think you should look into getting hearing aids too. And for the haters - what if they could, for just one day, wake up to our reality? I don't think they would say much after that.
I have hearing aids. My hearing just changes so much so quickly... and one of my hearing aids stopped working a few weeks ago (I bought them used). I have one for my worse ear, that helps a lot but I can't afford another one. I just gotta hope my better ear doesn't get worse. I'm at about 50% hearing loss in my better ear.
I'm so sorry you are going through this. I hope you find solutions that work well for you, soon. The anti-virals have worked very well for me, and even reversed some of my hearing loss. I understand that the sooner you get started with them the more likely that is to happen. This article was very helpful, too. It has a lot of things you can start with right away: http://www.zoominternet.net/~kcshop/JOH.PDF. John of Ohio is part of our community here.