Early in June, I woke with a severe case of vertigo. Now, I have episodes of vertigo 1-2 times a year, mild in severity, usually on waking and sitting up and they clear within a couple of hours. Nothing I can't handle. Latest theory on these episodes is that otoliths within the labyrinth of one or both ears have somehow obstructed the normal movement of things within that structure that's so vital to our sense of balance and the world spins - wheeeee.
There was nothing fun about the episode in June, however. I woke with a really vicious case of vertigo while laying flat on my back. I sat up and found it to be just as bad. When I stood up and walked, I found myself wandering off to the right while trying to walk in a straight line, all this time with the room spinning clockwise at a furious pace. After about a half-hour of this nonsense, combined with nausea, vomiting and sweating that I never have, I took myself to the emergency room. Yeah, I know, EMS people, I shouldn't have been in the driver's seat for this ride. Anyway, they did a work up to rule out a silent heart attack (a heart attack with no chest pain), diagnosed me with positional vertigo ("You have vertigo, but we don't know why") and released me to stagger out to my car, drive home and lay in bed for the next two days staring at a spinning ceiling, my ears also singing the siren's song loudly and more than a little off-key, otherwise known as tinnitus.
Cut to two days later when I saw my nurse practitioner, who was clearly out of her element and referred me over to an ears, nose and throat specialist. The sweating, nausea and vomiting were gone within a few hours of showing up -- nothing like a little IV Compazine in the ER to take away the barfs -- the ringing in my ears still quite noticeable, but the vertigo scaled back enough that I could usually compensate for it if I moved slowly.
Cut to three days after seeing the NP, when I woke with markedly less vertigo and tinnitus than I had gone to bed with, but now with left ear pain. Ah-hah! The culprit is apparently making itself known. Well, not really.
Cut to the next day, when I see the ENT specialist, a matter-of-fact, no nonsense kind of man that I couldn't even get a smile out of on initial greeting. He examined my ears and found nothing wrong. Oh, this just made me feel so wonderful (not). He suggested sodium overload (too much salt in my diet preceding the attack), which wasn't the case. Looking at the blood cell count I had in the ER and upon seeing that there was what's known as a 'left shift' to the white cell count, he asked me if I was taking steroids. I was insulted, although I shouldn't have been since people take steroids for benign reasons, too. I told him no. He ordered an audiogram (hearing test) and released me, wistfully remarking that sometimes the cause for acute labrynthitis, my official diagnosis, is never found.
Cut to yesterday, a month later, when I finally saw the audiologist for the hearing test. By this time, all symptoms are gone and have been gone for three weeks. This very nice man examines me, explains the tests and the results in detail (my hearing is perfectly normal), says I have the best hearing of all the people he's seen in the last week and pleasantly sends me on my way.
So, the ENT specialist was likely right, the cause will probably never be found. I have spoken unofficially to another ENT specialist as well as done a bit of research on vertigo, labrynthitis and the like. Viral infection involving the inner ear is considered a major suspect in this episode since my ER blood test results make the sodium overload theory crumple like paper and hit the trash bin, the steroid taking suggestion following suit. There was also no evidence of infection by anything that would respond to antibiotics. This made sense to me and I'll embrace that idea for lack of anything more logical. The other theory, not widely appreciated and more of an explanation for the milder vertigo 1-2 times a year, is the otolith concept. What's an otolith, you ask? It literally translates as 'ear stone'. Yes, someone's suggesting I have rocks in my head and that they're shifting.
Wait, they may be onto something. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions, however.
