My name is Diane and I started having dizziness and vertigo in April 1993 making it now 7 years. My husband and I went on a cruise and I had horrible sea sickness. It was so bad, that I had to have an injection while on board so I would stop vomiting. Several hours after this shot,I felt much better. On the third day of our trip, we went tubing (you know, when the boat pulls a big raft that you sit on). Well, the raft tipped over and I hit my head and ear very hard on the water, but really thought nothing of it. At the next stop though, I had horrible sea legs when I got off the boat and just attributed it to the cruise itself.

When we arrived home, I still had these awful sealegs. The room felt like it was spinning all the time, and just walking was difficult. I found it even hard to drive, and at the time I was working as a cardiac nurse for both the hospital and home care patients, so needless to say,working was more than difficult. I took a few weeks vacation after trying to go to work unsuccessfully. But things were not getting better. I found I was doing better in the morning, only to be incapacitated by the evening. I ended up in the emergency room one day after feeling so bad, and I found out I had carbon monoxide poisioning. Apparently, we had a slow leak in our furnace that was giving off low levels. Thank God I always keep windows cracked in my house. I'm still not sure if this has anything to do with my problems and I don't think I'll ever know. The leak was there before our trip too. Anyway, I was referred to an ENT who felt this was viral in origin. I had an MRI, blood work, hearing tests and an ABR,......all were negative but the ABR, which I believe shows problems with the vestibular nerve. The doctor I was seeing started my on a drug called Optimine, which is used as an antihistamine. He finds it useful for vertigo and is doing research in this area.

About 3 or 4 months after beginning treatment, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter and had to stop the meds. But luckily, I felt much better pregnant for some reason. I still had vertigo and spinning sensations, but not as severe and now only when I wasn't moving. After she was born, I had several weeks of severe symptoms again, and then it tapered to my "usual". I began treatment again with the same ENT and had another MRI which was negative. I also had a test where they inserted needles in my ears. I believe they were testing the cochlear function, but this too was negative. So they started the Optimine again and in another month I was pregnant again!!!!!!( I tease my ENT that he is really a fertility doc!!). I stopped the drugs once again, had my son in November 1997. When he was about 18 months, I was very ill again, not only with the dizzies, but I also was lucky enough to get Lyme disease. So I dealt with that first and it took me almost until now to get rid of those symptoms.

In April of this year, I started back with my ENT. He finally did an Eng..Negative ....and started me back on the meds. So here I am now, with the same symptoms, some days worse than others.But I constantly have the dizzies, and mostly when I stand or sit
still. I have a very difficult time sitting in restaurants, church or even at a kitchen table. I do best in a chair that swivels because I can block out my own rocking sensation. I have just begun PT on my neck which is a total mess and will see an orthopaedist soon to do an MRI of the c-spine. I have trouble with my vision as well. I do not work anymore, and quite frankly don't know if that would be possible. I do have 2 young children and that is hard work enough right now for me.Like many of you, I can't wait for the day to be normal again and feel like life is full. If I could be cured tomorrow, I'd never take for granted all the wonderful things out there that I could do!! People who are well and healthy don't realize all the things we miss out on. I think because we look well, they think we feel well. And I know I'm the master of disguise.....I don't like anyone to know because in the beginning, I had alot of people who did not understand. The dizzy lounge has truly been a Godsend to me. Everyone is so wonderful and
supportive and really understand the things we go thru day after day. I feel blessed that I found you all!!
Love, Diane