Persistent Vertigo

After a trip to San Diego 9/6/14 and a couple of restaurant breakfasts, I had the onset of vertigo on Monday.  Out of the blue.  I was at work, sitting at my desk when the room started to spin.  It passes if I rest with my eyes closed.    I drove home to visit Mom mid-day and on the drive out, the spinning returned.  I had to have Holly drive me back to work.
The symptoms have returned without warning on & off all week.  I turn my head too rapidly and it spins.  Just walking and I get a spin.  Walking to work this morning and got some symptoms.  Not enough to disable.  Hasn't been that bad. Just bad enough that I notice and have to take precaution, grab a wall or stop walking.
Sitting at my desk today and spun my head to look at something.  Now the symptoms are moderate. No nausea but definite dizziness & spinning.     I can't take a nap under my desk like I did before with my new office mate.   Seems like I am becoming unstable.  Maybe its time to kill the ear.

Double Carl

Treated myself to a fast food burger on a Friday.  Sunday morning, woke up with vertigo.   Not out of control, vomiting vertigo, just a constant feeling of spinning and dizziness.   Tried to get up and function but couldn't shake it.  Had to go back to bed.  Slept about four hours and still had it when I woke up.
Figures it was a day when Mom was out of control.   Annie had to go over there and take her to the ER for a possible UTI.  I had to crash on the couch.  

Caught a Cold-Hearing Gone

Traveled on a plane for a diving trip.  Lady a few rows up kept sneezing.   I had a premonition that she was going to get everyone around her sick.  Came down with the cold at the end of the trip and had to cancel the last day of diving.  My hearing was immediately effected and I attributed it to the congestion and swelling.   Now, I am almost two weeks out and my hearing has not improved.  Taking Sudafed daily with little, and only temporary, improvement.   Starting to worry that this might not get better.  Having trouble understanding Annie in the same room.  Going to call my ENT for an appt on Monday.  Give it one more week to improve.
Just reviewed an old post, "and now allergies".   I talked about having the same fullness in both my ears like a normal person gets with altitude changes.  Used Claritin with some relief then.   Maybe I should switch from Sudafed to an allergy med?

Vertigo kept me in bed

All the holiday eating caught up with me this morning.   Got to admit, I felt symptoms coming on for a while now.  An occasional moment of spinning.  Tinnitus getting louder.  Hearing not as good for several days.    Then this morning, woke up to go pee and the room was oscillating back and forth. The ceiling light was moving right and left.   I tried to get up and had to hold onto the walls.   The waves of nausea caused me to sit on the edge of the tub waiting to puke.  It never came.    Got back to bed and closed my eyes.  Relief with my eyes closed and motionless.   Fell back to sleep until noon.
Drank four liters in the afternoon, trying to flush out.   Must have been really dehydrated because my urine production hasn't met that.    Remember I didn't drink my usual amounts while at work recently.  Have been out of my routine since going on to San Diego.  
Got to get back into my hydrating starting at work tomorrow.

deterioration

I suppose the natural course of the disease is going to have it's way.    My tinnitus has been bad for a while. Last week, I started having some mild vertigo symptoms.  I got in to see Dr Stewart locally for a steroid injection but did not have the improvement in symptoms that I had with previous injections.   I can tell that my hearing is worse lately.  I'm playing with the adjustments on my HA more.  Might be time to go in to have them adjusted again.
Still have some very mild vertigo symptoms.  If I turn my head, sometimes it keeps turning for a second.  Never had it so bad that I had nausea or was incapacitated.  What is really annoying is the ringing.  the constant ringing.  I think if that went away, I would hear better.  It really is the volume of ringing that keeps me from hearing things under that volume.
Hearing test this week.  It's been almost a year since the last one.   Fearful of what it will show.

Stable?

Had the audi and dr visit today.   The diagram is pretty much the same as a year ago-within 5db.  Discussed with Dr Stewart that the vertigo symptoms I was having led me to call for an injection and those are better.  The tinnitus is constant and fluctuates in volume.  The ringing is the worst hindrance to hearing.  When it is loud, I have trouble hearing speech under it.  
So, things seem to be stable objectively.  Dr did restate that the long term course of this disease is continued hearing loss and they have no way to stop that.   Oh well.   At least, it's not cancer.  

Temporary results

The success I had with the steroid injection has nearly completely worn off.  Tinnitus is back & constant.  Worse is that the hearing in my left ear is diminished again.  Not quite as bad as before but certainly down.   The hearing aids work to compensate.  Don't know if I can have another injection or if its even worth it for the temporary improvement.