About a week ago I had a nasty surprise. It was Monday, and we had really stormy weather over the weekend. I was feeling off and sounds felt unnecessarily loud. I came home and had a light dinner, and sat down to watch the news. All of a sudden the television volume was loud. It is set on 27. I turned it down to 13. Then I experienced spinning dizziness as in taking a narcotic type dizziness on top of my head and in both ears along with tinnitus.
I got really nauseous, and barely made it to the bathroom where I threw up dinner.
I was intermittently sick for about an hour. By 7PM the nausea had subsided, but I was tired and decided to go to bed and sleep off the dizziness. I felt fine the next day, but my stomach was still unsettled, so I didn't eat anything which might upset my stomach.
The whole experience was unsettling because I was a kid who never threw up on carnival rides or got car sick. I just rarely throw up.
Well, I contacted my otolaryngologist's office - he was also my surgeon - and heard back from the nurse.
The single-sided deafness which I described in an earlier post - wasn't single-sided deafness at all but vestibular migraines.
I have a history of migraines. I have had hormonal migraines - caused by hormonal changes during menstruation, and I have had diet and stress induced migraines. As I have gotten older, I have "outgrown the headaches" but not the migraines themselves.
If you ever have had a migraine, it is usually accompanied by severe throbbing headache on one side of the head, nausea and vomiting, extreme sensitivity to light and noise, and the need to go to a dark quiet room to sleep.
A lot of people, including myself, were unaware that there is also a link between migraine, the inner ear and brain mechanisms that influence hearing and balance.
The vestibular symptoms are these: Vertigo, Imbalance, Dizziness, Unsteadiness, and extreme sensitivity to motion. I have definitely had four of these symptoms. The sensitivity to motion, rarely.
The hearing symptoms are these: Muffled hearing, ear fullness, tinnitus or ringing in the ear. I have had all of these symptoms.
I also am affected by changes in the weather, especially a change in barometric pressure. Anytime the weather gets stormy, whether it is rain, snow, extreme weather changes, I feel it, or rather, my body feels it.
After reviewing my medical history and symptoms, I was told my Monday night episode was most likely a vestibular migraine (without the headache) especially as it was closely related to weather changes. I was really shocked, yet not surprised.
I have been watching my intake of salt, sugar, chocolate, red wine, cheese, and stress, so as not to trigger another vestibular migraine.
Hearing is on a spectrum. There are waves of sound, and even with two cochlear implants, my hearing fluctuates. My office is a noisy atmosphere, and there are people who work in my office who are loud. They don't do this deliberately, but they are loud.
Environmental sounds are loud to me right now. It is not painfully loud, but my brain has not tuned out the loud environmental sounds. Voices still sound scratchy, as do lyrics. My speech discrimination is slowly improving, but I am not yet at the point where I can chatter away on a smart phone.
I spent a nice quiet, relaxing lunch with my younger sister, her mother in law, and two of my nieces yesterday. They were in town to attend a baby shower later that day. The food at the restaurant was delicious and we had a good time. I was able to carry on a conversation with everyone, and only had to ask the waiter once to repeat what he said. That's a good thing.
I will have another "tweaking session" in about four weeks. I think I will ask my audiologist to tweak the cochlear implant processors so that the environmental noises are not quite so loud. I also want to get rid of the scratchiness in the voices.
Still, hearing with two cochlear implants is wonderful. Hearing is such a gift. I feel blessed beyond measure.
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