New to forums, nice to know I am not suffering alone. I am a 48 year old woman who was diagnosed 3 years ago, prior to that, I was just told I had chronic ear infections. I had a Labyrinthectomy 4 weeks ago after years of suffering with the disabling vertigo. My ENT tried all avenues, Valium, Meclizine, Maxide, sodium restricted diet, physical therapy, countless Epley manuevers, middle ear injections of dexamethasone for 3 days straight (that helped for about 5 days) I was already at 80% hearing loss in my left ear, so at that point, after having missed so much work, much to the annoyance and displeasure of my employer. It got to the point that I was unable to drive myself to work and drop son off at school on the way. Thankfully, he has his learners permit, so he had to drive himself to school with me in the passenger seat hunched over a bucket (whom we have lovingly named Ralph), he would get out, i would stagger to the drivers side and drive the 1 mile to my office. That gave me at least 30 mins to recover and try to go on about my day. This was a short lived answer to the on going problem, my MD was getting worse. I was having cluster attacks, they would hit me daily, whenever they felt like it (you know how it is). I would try to tough it out and pop a valium and meclizine and try to keep on working, eventually, someone would walk by my office and see me hunched over Ralph, holding my head, praying for the world to stop spinning. This in turn would have my boss send me home. So, now I am dizzy, sick, and you want me to drive myself home?! Phone call to hubby, he would have to leave work, come get me, drive me home, (we live 30 mins from our work locations) and then return to work. The next morning, he would have to take son to school, me to work, and we would try all over again. It got to the point that on May 28th my boss pulled into the parking lot next to my car, where I was white knuckled holding the steering wheel, Ralph in my lap, Valium taken, Meclizine taken, and my boss said, you need to get your dr to write you out of work. So onto FMLA I went. I lucked out and my Dr. (with my persistance) referred me to a specialist at UNC Chapel Hill. I was seen within days and he said our last option was the Laby. At this point, if they told me drinking snake venom would stop the spinning, I would have tried it. So, I lucked out once again and UNC Chapel Hill is doing a clinical trial study with Med-el and I was given a cochlear implant at the same time my Laby was done. 3 weeks after surgery, I begged to return to work (ran out of leave, no paycheck for me made it tight on bill paying) so, I returned last Monday. I have not had a single dizzy spell since the surgery,had to relearn how to balance and walk (at first I looked pretty drunk) but Saturday, I came down with yet another ear/sinus infection. I suffer from these chronically and wonder, did anyone else with MD suffer with ear/sinus infections, like 6 or more in a year? So, now, I am home sick, written out until Thursday, much to the displeasure of my boss. Ok, that was a lot. Any insight would be awesome!
I get sinusitis a few times a year since I am a young adult, I am an old adult now In fact most on the forums know I just got over a bad sinus infection, again. So glad though you have your symptoms controlled now! Many of us with MM suffer with sinus issues and stomach issues as well.
Most of us have some sinus issues . I had the Laby in 2011 and it cured most of my issues. I also had sinus surgery in 2014 which between the two surgeries plus allergy shots has made me 99 % normal. I would see about allergy shots and sinus surgery if I were at the stage you are now.