Meniere's Disease - living with it

Again, it's been a very long time since my last post. I have battled dizzy spells for years now. Some are so bad that I am incapacitated for up to 24 hrs. Others have me down for as few as three hours. My daily symptoms are tinnitus and pressure that fluctuates in severity. My dizzy spells are spontaneous so I never know when one is going to present. I get a couple meniere's dizzy spells a month. These start with spinning then intense sweating followed by vomiting and diarrhea. I know I am "recovering" when I then get chilled, so chilled that I am shaking. I usually get in bed at that time, cover up and fall asleep. I take Meclizine HCI when I have an attack. My favorite brand, now that it's over-the-counter, is "Wal-Dram II Less Drowsy Formula" (Walgreens). I also take Triamterene/HCTZ (diuretic) and valium each night. The valium was added to help reduce pressure. About 4 months ago, in addition to my meniere's attacks, I started having dizziness that was different from my meniere's spinning attacks. These were mild "off balance" attacks. This dizziness wasn't spinning. If I sat still and didn't move my head, just focused fixed on an object, I could pull through it within 3 to 30 minutes. Problem was, rarely was I doing nothing and sometimes I couldn't just sit and focus.

This mild "off balance" problem continued and worsened until it became daily. When I walked, I felt others must think I was drunk. I couldn't put one foot in front of the other, when I was having these attacks, without staggering. Falls were often, if I was not holding on to something. My list of "things I cannot do" was growing longer than my list of things I could do. Tears were often.

I went back to my neuro-otolaryngologist. I was constantly "fearing" my next dizzy spell so Valium was increased from night only to night plus with dizzy spells. I didn't notice any improvement. My MD recommended an Intratympanic Steroid injection in my ear. The ear drum would be numbed (45 minutes) with a liquid drop then the shot is given through the ear drum into and through the middle ear into the inner ear. The excess numbing agent was vacuumed out then 8cc's of steroid was injected. I was laying on my back with my head tilted to the side. The shot did NOT hurt!!! The excess fluid was vacuumed out of my ear. I layed like this for an additional 45 minutes after the injection, for the steroid to absorb and not drain out. During this time, if I needed to swallow, I instead collected my saliva in a tissue, lots of tissues.

I almost immediately felt a little bit of pressure relief but that was substituted with a "fullness" feeling due to the liquid being put in my middle and inner ear. When I got up I felt okay. I was able to walk, experienced no dizziness but did have some blood dripping from my ear. The nurse put cotton in my ear. That was normal.

Following the shot, I had no restrictions other than no swimming or water in the ear for 4 to 5 days. Here is where my excitement begins and the reason I wanted to blog about this. The first day plus the following two days, I had a few very, very mild dizzy spells but without spinning. I was able to keep on doing whatever I was doing! I had some popping in the ear (which is normal). The ear also hurt when I sneezed or blew my nose. When I say hurt, it was just uncomfortable, due to the shot (I want to mention everything to give others a complete story in case you are facing these issues).

Day 3, after the shot, I had NO dizziness and no pressure. Days 4 and 5 (today) have also been excellent...no dizziness and no pressure. I still have tinnitus and it fluctuates during the day from about a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10 to about a 5. It is always higher in the morning when I wake up.

I fly often and flying bothers my ear. I sometimes would experience spinning dizziness when the airplane would roll in a turn. I also get a headache flying over 2 hours. I mention this because I flew 3 1/2 hours two days ago and 3 hours yesterday. I felt like I was going to get a headache but never did and after landing, the sensation cleared, without medication.

Apparently, my largest issue is the inflammation in my inner and middle ear. The steroid seems to be reducing that inflammation and allowing me to have normal days again. I feel blessed. The steroid will not last forever and will not FIX whatever problem I have in my inner and middle ear. I will enjoy relief while the steroid is working and it's unknown how long it will take for the fluid to build up again. I am hoping for months of "normal". I can get another steroid shot when my symptoms worsen, IF they do.

Other options: I considered the Meniett Device (a low-pressure pulse generator) and discussed it with my MD. He wanted me to try the steroid shot first, thinking I would get better relief. I went with his recommendation. My MD also discussed the Intratympanic Gentamicin injection, IF the steroid injection did not help me. That, of course, has permanent "deadening" affects which are scary but will definitely be considered as an option before invasive surgery. For now, I'm not even thinking about options since the steroid injection has worked (so far) for me.

I also continue to follow my low sodium diet (800 to 1300 mg per day) and I have eliminated caffeine and alcohol.

If you are reading this, my heart is with you and I wish you the best of luck in finding your "normal" again.

I've attached two links about the steroid injection. One is a you tube link showing the injection. Mine was different in that I was on my back with my head tilted (more than the girl's in the video, the whole time).

Wow, It's been a long time

I can't believe it's been almost a year since my last post...
I guess I have been very busy. I had a strangely tough bout with Meniere's Disease starting in May that first reappeared as I was enroute to San Francisco. About 30 minutes before landing I got very, very dizzy. We landed and I was the only one left on the airplane when a flight attendant asked if he could help me. I told him I was having a very bad dizzy spell and I could not stand. They helped me off the airplane in a wheelchair, put me in the gate waiting area and I almost immediately started vomiting. The scene was chaotic as people scattered from me (swine flu was in the news). I was meeting Rick (inbound from Cleveland) but he was not due to land for another hour and a half. Thank goodness I always carry Antivert. The spell gradually diminished. Dizzy spells seemed to be set on an every 5 day cycle and this series hit me like a ton of bricks with NO warning and always was accompanied with vomiting and diarrhea. I was unable to drive for about 2 months because the dizziness was out of control. Those dizzy spells completely changed my intended direction in changing my career. That is water under the bridge.

Elle started her second year in college and Liz had only the fall semester left before finishing her B.A. The best part of having adult children is enjoying their successes with them! Katy was laid off in March from the architecture firm she was working but will be starting a teaching certification program next week and hopefully she will be teaching math very soon and she will be a productive part of society again. She will be a degreed architect teaching middle-school math.

We have become grandparents, for a second time, on December 19th. Jen and John had a 2nd boy.

On a less happy note, Elle fell, after leaving her cell phone, chasing a cab as it drove away. She tripped on the train track divider from the street. Her right (dominant) wrist was broken and 7 weeks later it was determined that the break was the minor injury. She also tore her TFCC. She had surgery on the 14th of January. School starts on the 1st of February and she will be in a cast for 6 to 8 weeks followed by a splint and physical therapy. She has will not be back to normal use with her wrist until about April 14th. The school semester will almost be over at that point.

As I love to say......Life is what happens when you plan everything else.

FIX stuck pixels in monitor screens, reduce screen burn-in, etc.

My #4 daughter took her laptop to the computer store complaining that she has 2 pixels that have gone out. She was told that her warranty would not allow replacement until 5 have gone out but they recommended she run JScreenFix software on her computer to FIX the pixels. She ran the free version and it worked!!! The website is a bit confusing but this is what she did: open www.jscreenfix.com 1) left column - click on JScreenFix 2) scroll down page to Launch JScreenFix 3) you can run it for as long as you like but I think it's recommended for not more than 2 hrs (could be wrong about this since I have slept twice since she told me about it). My daughter ran it for 20 minutes.

JScreenFix is a software solution that can fix stuck pixels, reduce screen burn-in and improve the quality of images displayed on a screen.

What is a stuck pixel? A stuck pixel is a bright dot of colour most noticeable when the rest of the screen is black. Stuck pixels are fairly common on high resolution LCD screens. Stuck pixels sometimes start working again with time unless they appear black on a white background, these are known as dead pixels. JScreenFix repairs stuck pixels through rapid, repetitive operation and resonance. Most stuck pixels are repaired within 20 minutes.

What is screen burn-in? Dark patches on a plasma screen are the result of screen burn-in. Burn-in occurs on plasma screens if an area of the screen does not change for a long period of time. For TV input, channel logos often burn into the screen. This can also occur on LCD screens and is more correctly referred to as image persistence.

JScreenFix can eliminate image persistence on LCD screens and reduce burn-in on plasma screens. How do I check for screen burn-in?

JScreenFix deluxe can prevent noticeable damage by monitoring how a screen is used and equalising burn-in patterns.

High Fashion Home

Lauren enjoyed her first trip to High Fashion Home and High Fashion Fabrics where she picked up 74 fabric swatches. She will use the swatches for school projects. Great thanks to High Fashion Home for their friendliness and great merchandise. Lauren visited a fabric store in San Francisco where customers are limited to 3 free swatches and students are limited to 5 free swatches. The San Francisco store also offers stuffy attitudes and no assistance along with those free swatches.

www.highfashionhome.com

Lawn Maintenance

I ordered this fertilizer yesterday and hope it is as good as it sounds.

TEXAS TEE:

Tried and True - A Favorite Since 1987!
Texas Tee is the premier lawn and turf food for any application. With a 6-2-4 formula, it has the perfect ratio for all grasses, from healthy to deficient.
A “blended turf” fertilizer inoculated with a host of beneficial microbes, enzymes and amino acids and, with an N-P-K of 6-2-4 it is one of the most nutrient rich organic plant foods on the market.
Made with feather meal, alfalfa meal, soybean meal, wheat midds, corn meal, kelp meal, molasses, humates, yeast and compost Texas Tee will help achieve a healthy, safe and highly disease resistant turf.
Works great for container plants, trees, bushes, shrubs, and gardens.

The best price I found was at www.maestro-gro.com

Hallmark TV Valentine Advertisement

There are times that something starts bothering me and just won't go away......well, this is one of those times so today I became part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

I sent the following email to Hallmark today and then followed with copying and sending it to local TV stations asking them to either pull the ad or request that Hallmark modify it:


I have seen your Valentine television advertisement several times and become more and more troubled by it with each viewing. I am among the few who are less affected by the day to day problems presented by our country's troubled economy. I know I personally am blessed so for others, today, I am writing to you. I own a business and I see my clients who are suffering, suffering terribly. My auto repairman is calling customers to ask if there is any work he can do for them, my neighbor who is an engineer just lost his job yesterday, movie theaters and restaurants are virtually empty, some of my clients have taken pay cuts just to retain their jobs, most my clients who own business have 20% to 50% declines in business volume. We have all suffered severe losses in our investments. I find the Hannah Montana Valentine card ad terribly inappropriate for this economy. I have no problem with you selling the card but you are degrading the loving, caring parent who put an apple with heart stickers in her daughter's lunch and the parent who shaped her daughter's sandwich in the form of a heart and instead implying that only if a family buys a Hannah Montana Valentine card will the recipient be "COOL". You are belittling the poor families who can't afford your $5 card. You are saying, spend this $5 on our card instead of on food for your family so your child will feel "COOL". These families, who you are insulting are doing their very best to maintain day-to-day existence and you have the audacity to imply that they are not as good as your family who has the money to buy your Hannah Montana card. You should be ashamed! Advertise, fine, spend your advertising dollars promoting the Hannah Montana card but DON'T do it at the expense of poor families who can do no better than an apple or sandwich. Keep in mind that a lot of thought, love and creativity goes into the apple and sandwich idea! Does your card offer that? Your tactics have offended me. I am one who can afford and have shopped your stores often but I will question my return to your stores. This is a time we must ALL pull together, support each other emotionally and reach out to those who are struggling due to no cause by them. Please pull this ad and substitute it instead with one that does not ATTACK the unfortunate circumstances people may be facing.

Microsoft Excel - Charting

Another find in reading Smart Computing Magazine - October 2008

A shortcut for creating charts when using Microsoft Excel.......

From your Excel spreadsheet, highlight data and press F11. A chart creates that you can then change according to your needs. A tool bar, to accommodate chart changes, should pop up on the page. If the tool bar doesn't pop up on it's own then, from the View Menu, select Toolbars then select Chart.