Wednesday 22 February 2012

Dizzy

Disclaimer: The following post is not a bid for sympathy, more just an expression of my bemusement at events of late.

[via]
I have an ear infection that is causing dizziness. I think. I did go to the doctors, but I'll explain in a bit why I'm still somewhat unsure. Firstly, the irony of the whole thing. 

I have mentioned previously, that one of my 30 things to do before I turn 30 is to swim in the ocean. The reason for this is that I nearly drowned once, and since that time have never gone in the water at the beach above my knees. I basically have stood there for a little bit, started to feel a bit uncomfortable with the waves and just gone back to the sand. However not this past weekend but the one before I'm happy to report that I did go for a swim. Husband and I went for a nice walk on the beach that is not far from our place, and realised it was great swimming weather. We quickly came home and got swimming attire and went back, and I swam! I had a great time (with Husband being told to stay close just in case he had to rescue me), and was especially pleased when later I realised I'd crossed another thing off my 30 before 30 without actually intending to. So the ironic part is, it's most likely that this is where my ear infection is from. D'oh!

So after a few days of dizzy, I decided to go to the doctor. Unfortunately the one I like was not there, so instead I saw this very old dude. Seriously, he had to lean closely towards me to hear what I was saying, and would sometimes go off on waffling tangents. When I told him I felt dizzy, he asked me to follow his finger with my eyes and then said "you have an ear infection" (is it mean I also found it a bit ironic/amusing that the hard of hearing doctor was telling me I had something wrong with my ear?). I haven't actually had much ear pain, but apparently no further tests were necessary and he said "the dizziness might go away in a couple of weeks". Err - great. There's the slight problem of not really being able to go anywhere or do much in the meantime however, but he actually wasn't going to prescribe me anything for it until I specifically asked. Just as I was about to leave, he said "Oh wait, is your cycle regular? BUT DON'T GIVE ME TOO MUCH INFORMATION! You're not pregnant are you?" I found this also amusing, since well firstly I wasn't going to give him too much information, but also surely he's heard it all by now since he's obviously been a doctor for a long time!

When I went to the pharmacist to pick up my prescription, it turns out it was for anti-vertigo medication, and nothing to treat the infection. When I expressed my surprise at this the pharmisist looked at my prescription and said "Oh you saw Dr -----? Yeh he's... interesting isn't he?". Not the most comforting thing to hear! However I will say that I Wikipedia'd Labyrinthitis (cool technical name hey) and since it can be from viral infections, antibiotics may not have done much anyway. So I guess I have to wait, and hope this medication helps until the dizziness subsides (unfortunately a big side effect of the medication is being drowsy).

Irony #3: I actually feel like doing uni work, now that it's quite difficult to do so! 

Question for you:
Have you ever had an illness with a cool sounding name? Feel free to share - but perhaps refrain if it's something a bit overly personal or gross :P

P.S. To answer a potentially obvious question: If you're so dizzy, how did you write this? Well, it took a long time, that's for sure! 

9 comments:

  1. Oh jeez, you poor thing! Ear infections are AWFUL. I know from experience, having had about a hundred million of them as a kid. (Note for the future? Never get on a plane with a middle ear infection. The pressure changes will cause your ear drum to explode in the middle of the night, leading to screaming and trips to hospital because it's a Sunday and all the doctors are closed...)

    ANYWAY. I once got a horribly itchy red patch of skin on my neck (EW). In hindsight, it was probably an allergic reaction to my perfume. But I went to the doctor, and he went "It's either dermatitis, a very mild patch of eczema, or pityriasis rosea." I got VERY excited about the last one because pityriasis rosea (not nearly as exciting as it sounds - it's just a rash) kept coming up again and again in the patent medicines I studied as part of my honours thesis, and so I started going on about my thesis and the doctor was like "Okay, you can stop talking now. Here's a prescription."

    Hope you're feeling less dizzy soon! :)

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  2. "Don't give me too much information"...haha. I really enjoy the way he freaked out as soon as he asked the question. Come on, man. You're a doctor. You saw it all before you even started med school.

    I hope the medication takes effect soon. At least Labyrinthitis is a pretty sweet name for a disease. Makes you sound like you're in a 1980's David Bowie flick or something like that. Feel better!

    ~Shane

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    1. Hahah yeh I have to say one of the first things I thought of when he said that was David Bowie as well!

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  3. I'm with Shane. That is a pretty awesome sounding name for a not awesome condition. I hope you feel better soon!

    As for me, I sometimes suffer from costochondrites which is just chest pain but it has a better name than "chest pain."

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    1. Chest pain would definitely suck - but that is a pretty fancy name!

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  4. Ear infections are horrible :( Feel better soon!

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  5. Awww I hope you feel better soon! Ear infections are no fun!

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  6. My mom made me go to the hospital after I was experiencing vertigo. I had never had it before and it was so bad that I had to lay down, be very still and close my eyes. I went to the hospital and 6 hours later found out I had an inner ear infection, there was no known cause or cure for it and it was about $250.00 just for the visit. They prescribed me Meclizine, which just helped relieve the vertigo. They told me to avoid foods/drinks with salt and caffeine. I haven't had problems since, but I try to take pre-cautions when it comes to health of my ears. I know that sounds weird, but I did swimming and diving while growing up and have had multiple ear infections and even a ruptured ear drum, which has made me afraid of putting my head under the water when I swim and I stopped diving. Anyway, I sympathize with you and I hope you feel well soon!

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  7. I was once so dizzy I fell off a chair.

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