Serious injury from drop attack

I have read Dr. Hain’s Website throughly. There is a lot of good detail. I live in Canada and go to the dizziness clinic at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. I am seeing surgeon next week.

 

K, I assume the labby is not an option in your right ear - correct?

 

I am entering week 3 since breaking my neck. The first 5 days I was in the hospital, the time went by fast. I would have stayed longer if they let me as a was a little scared to be home by myself. I have a nurse come in a couple times a week and a personal support worker who cleans up and cooks for me. Luckily this support is paid for as I live in Canada. I research a lot on the internet about mm and possible solutions. I also watch a lot of TV and rest. I am only 47 and I was walking 3 to 4 miles a day before but I cannot do that. I am not sure how long I will be off work. Again I am lucky with my employer as they are not pressuring me. I can do some work from home via emails. I wake up every few hours when sleeping.

Pupper, how do you spend your days?

 

Yes, I am in a neck brace 24 hours a day. I have wear it for up to 12 weeks, which takes me into Feb. yes, I can walk around, I have cane as they took piece of my hip bone and grafted it into my neck. I am slow. I cannot drive with the brace on. I have personal support worker who comes in 3 times a week and cooks up proteins for me to last a few days.

 

Well, has my steroid injection about 45min ago. Now back home lying on my side. I had 3 injections 20 months ago and they did not really help at the time, but I am willing to try again. I onlly have to go 10 min to see the local ENT to do the injection. I am having 2 more over the next 2 weeks. Not a fun experience, but I am hoping it will help help vertigo attacks at bay.

 

So, I met with the surgeon today at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto about options since I suffered such a serious drop attack and broke my neck. We met for close to an hour going over all options, from a heavy dose of gentamicin injections, sac decompression, vns, and the labby. In the end he feels the labby is my best option if I want to ride myself of drop attacks. The other procedures would offer at best a 50 percent success rate of eliminating drop attacks, where the labby was 99 percent. He actually wants to try and get me in soon, basically jump a head other people on the list for surgery. I would be giving up hearing, my bad ear still has 70 percent hearing, and we are not 100 percent sure I am not bi-lateal, but all my symptoms right now are coming from right ear, although I do have some hearing loss in my left ear. That is a risk I have to take. They will give me a cochlear implant at the same time. Due to being in Canada, there will be no financial cost to me so I am thankful for that.

The surgeon explained to me that drop attacks are not like a vertigo attack, and they now believe it is a different part of the damaged ear that causes drop attacks, which is why the labby is successful. He said many mm patients think they have had drop attacks, but in fact very few have, they are mistaking it for a bad vertigo attack where they fell. A drop attack is much different. I am one of the unlucky ones who have experienced one.

It is a lot to decide, but I have tried every other option, antivirals, JOH, dex injections, over 50 different supplements from around the world, even urine therapy. I seemed to stopped the brain fog and general dizziness symptoms, but cannot get ride of vertigo and drop attacks.

On top of that, my ex has served me with legal papers challenging my ability to care for my 5 year old son when he is with me due to drop attacks. I have to demonstrate that I am proactively resolving my health issue.

I know there are members on here who have had the labby, and some of you have responded to my earlier posts. I am hoping to reach out to you and ask about your experience with the labby and learn what I can expect.

Travis

 

I am hoping I can gather information from those you have had the labby done, either on the main message board, private message, or by telephone. Maybe others will also be helped by seeing the responses. I believe a know of a couple on here who have had the labby, but I assume there are more out there, or they simply left the forum after their surgery.

Questions to start with:

1. How long were you in hospital?
2. Did you have vertigo, or dizziness immediately after the surgery?
3. How long after were you able to start moving/walking?
4. Did you need to use a walker or cane at first?
5. How old were you when you had the labby? I am 47.
6. How much care did you need to recover when you went home? I live on my own.
7. How long did you take off work?
8. How long before you were able to drive again?

I really appreciate any responses.

Travis

 

Could not find any member named CGR.

 

Nothing in the archives either for this name.

 

So I have been spending a lot of time in the archive data base reading about those had surgeries. It would appear there were more members in past that had Labbys and vns, compared to current members.

Questions for members who had the labby. Did anyone have relatively good hearing in the ear before surgery? It seems almost every post I can find says they had almost no hearing left. That is issue I am struggling with; go with labby and lose my hearing, or go with risker surgery of. Vns to save surgery. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

Meant to say have the vns to save my hearing.

 

Update:

I have not provided an update in a few months. If you read this thread then you willl see I had a drop attack last November and broke my neck. I was in a neck brace for 13 weeks. During this time I started a high dose of Serc, and stopped taking lysine and The JOH supplements. I have gone 5 months now without a vertigo attack. I wave having a lot before, in 2017 alone I had 91 attacks in 10 and half montha before the drop attack. I have not gone 5 consecutive months without a vertigo attack since August 2015 - I track all my attacks in a spreadsheet. However, I have still had some mm symptoms during this time, ear fullness, tinnitus, and some nausea. But in reality, the most logical reason for me feeling better is that I am simply in remission, meaning nothing I did actually stopped the vertigo attacks.

When I met with the surgeon a few weeks after breaking my neck back in December he suggested we move to the labby. However, they could not do the surgery until I was out of my neck brace, and while I was waiting I found out I had atrial fibrillation. The reason I found out was because it was suggested by one of my ENTs that I should get my heart checked out due to my drop attack. After wearing a heat montior for 14 days I got the results. Still working on the best course of action for that issue. Once my surgeon found out about the atrial fibrillation it caused an issue. He needed my cardiologist to sign off that I was ok for surgery.

Well, while I was waiting for all this, and being in almost remission, and after a lot of research, I decided to proceed with Endolymphatic Sac Decompression- without the shunt instead of the labby. The reason I am choosing this surgery is because if it does not work they will move to the labby shortly after. I still have relatively good hearing in my affected ear as well. After everything I have tried, and it has been a lot, including brand name Valtrex, at the full dose for over a year, and through a lot of research and talking to others online, I believe my mm symptoms are being caused by cochlear hydrops. Sac decompression seems to be more successful with patients who have cochlear hydrops.

Knowing that I can (and will) move directly to a labby if the Sac decompression is not successful is somewhat reassuring. I am scheduled for surgery this Friday (April 20). I will keep people updated on my progress. Thanks to all those who provided support to me on here after a broke my neck.

Travis