Somara even having such a problem was news to me when she told everybody at breakfast on Sunday. Namely her ongoing issue of it for 4-6 weeks. I’m not going to discuss the why at this point because it’s irrelevant now.
Somehow it hit critical mass yesterday, enough to make her want to go to the doctor before her follow-up on the Mayo Clinic program we’re in (I’m winning on the weight-loss/exercise part). So she scored an afterwork appointment with Austin Regional Clinic and we rushed down MoPac to get there.
The good news is that the nurse found the probable cause; some kind of weird crystalizing in the ear canals which are involved with balance. Then through some yoga-esque turning of Somara’s head and torso, we learned about how the dizziness tended to manifest more often when she turns left. Thankfully it’s an infection, not the genetic thing her dad and siblings have with deafness; this also affects their balance, ask Jose about my father-in-law’s driving in the Aladdin (now Planet Hollywood) parking lot. I blame our cat Nemo since we had been battling something in his ears for several months and he tends to sleep in my region of the bed while I’m away.
Currently the plan is some powerful antibiotics, saline solution to rinse out and the yoga lite. Somara read other details of this via the Internet about vibrations near the troubled area helping. On the drive home I joked about renting the paint shaker at Home Depot to help her out. I don’t think anybody uses nor builds those silly weight loss machines from old-timey movies. You know, the devices resembling an outboard motor with a belt on it.
We should see results (or not) in a week. I’m confident the drugs should do it. I’ve had nasty blockage behind the ears in the past. Thankfully, it was only painful but I could still drive.
That “crystals falling on hair cells in the cochlea” problem you mention is apparently not uncommon. It was one possible diagnosis for my loss of balance a couple of years ago. And the common treatment seems to be “lie on the affected side for 30 seconds, head hanging over the edge of your bed, then slowly roll onto your back.”
Unfortunately, it turned out that my balance issue is “mild seizure activity” on the left side of the brain, as well as permanent damage to the cochlear hair cells. On the bright side, it wasn’t vertigo (so I avoided the nausea), Depakote (a migraine med) treats the brain trouble, and physical therapy taught me to cope with loss of balance.
Here’s hoping Somara’s dizziness is even more easily and effectively treated.
–Les