I take a quick dip in my pool some mornings to help jolt me awake. I like to go all the way under water, because half the jolt comes from your head being immersed in cold water. So I plug my ears with my fingers and dip under for about 3 seconds. I've noticed that this little dip under makes me mildly dizzy for the next couple of hours. So I usually won't dip my head. I've no idea how such a small thing could increase my symptoms like it does. (BTW I recommend doing this every morning, as well as taking ONLY cold showers. It revs up the body and enlivens the spirit as well. Pool today was 49F. They swim the English Channel at around 50F, so it's not deadly if you keep moving. At 60F you can actually stay in the pool and swim laps without much discomfort. But it's December in California and won't pool won't reach 60F again until Spring warmth arrives in April). So back to MM. There's a lot of seemingly harmless things that increase dizziness with MM. Like simply looking at yourself in the mirror. Someone said that here when I first joined, and I thought, "oh come on, that's a bit rich." Then it started happening to me.
One of the first things I was told when I was dx'd was that if I swam, I should only swim on top of the water and avoid going deep under the water.
Sure wish someone would have taken the time to explain what MM actually was and would do to my life.... Everything I learned was either experience or reading about it.
I remember being diagnosed by a dr 15 years ago. I was 21. My aunt and I sat in a small room waiting for him to come and tell us the results of the MRI and his diagnoses. My worst fear at the time was brain tumor. When the doc came in he had a somber expression and he told me I didn’t have a brain tumor but that I had Ménière’s disease. I gave my aunt a high five! No brain tumor! What was the doc so gloomy about. Welp, now I know. He knew what I didn’t. The struggles were ahead. Do not get me wrong, I wouldn’t wish for a brain tumor. It just stuck with me how he wasn’t really relieved about this diagnoses. I get it now.
When I was dx'd I had an idea of what Meniere's Disease was because I had read an article about it about a year before I started having problems. I remember thinking how horrible it sounded and what an awful thing for someone to get. I was 20 when I was dx'd and when I was told what I had, I cried.
When people ask me if Menieres is serious- I say yes it’s serious in its disabling effects. It’s not serious in the sense that it’ll kill you, it just makes you wish it would.
I've told people the same thing. When I've tried to explain Meniere's to people, more often than not they just don't get it--and continue to insist that it is an earache or ear infection and that they know just how I feel. Ugh. I've gotten to the point where I simply explain it as a remitting/relapsing condition and let t go at that. I once had one stupid person insist that the relapses were MY FAULT, that if I only believed that the relapses wouldn't happen, then they wouldn't.... I had to walk away to avoid punching the person in the mouth. I have zero patience or tolerance for that kind of stupidity.
LOL! It also would have been a wonderful opportunity for me to face an assault charge, even if was justified.