After two months of not feeling well, carrying a low grade fever, dizzy spells and many tests for cancer my family doctor refereed me to a doctor of internal medicine. She found I had a very serious blood infection.

I was immediately hospitalized and put on IV therapy with antibiotics, one of them Gentamicin. Further testing found I suffered from Endocarditis (an infection of the heart). I was then put on three transfusions of Gentamicin and two of Vancomycin a day. I spent six days in the hospital and six weeks of home health care with this schedule.

During the last week of this therapy I began having problems with my balance. I needed to hold on to stand and walk and the world danced in front of me with head movements. The doctor put me on antivert but after two weeks with no improvement she scheduled me for an MRI and referred me to a neurologist.

The MRI was unremarkable but the neurologist diagnosed me with damage to the 8th cranial nerve from the antibiotics. After talking with others I am convinced it was the Gentamicin. I have been able to compensate a lot with the balance but I will always stagger, have extreme difficulty walking in the dark and problems with images bouncing in front of me with head movements.

ED Rouk JR@aol.com