Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The path to a misdiagnosis

As mentioned in my previous post, I was brought to a clinic where they referred me to an ENT specialist... the onset of a major dizzy spell shouted "Inner Ear!" Too bad my brain couldn't shout back "Think again!" So off I went to see the specialist. I spent many days doing one test or another. I even got to wear a beautifully ugly helmet and matching goggles to watch a light go up, down and around a wall! The weirdest test I had was getting warm and cold water flushed into my ears. If a Dr ever suggests this test, I suggest asking for the cold water first. It caused quite a bit of pain, but the warm water felt like a massage to my ear drums.

After feeling like I was living in the crooked kitchen of the Science Museum for a month, all the tests came back negative. I was told it was most likely stress from my job. I believed the Drs as I had only been at my job for 4 months or so, I started right after graduating from college, and I was going through some quite overwhelming training. (I was learning international rules and regulations in terms of air travel) So back to work I went, without being any further ahead. I wasn't told to follow up with anyone or given any counselling as to how to help myself get better.

2 comments:

  1. It seems they never offer counselling for stress...
    I was only offered counselling once I was diagnosed with Wegener's....I refused, once I had a diagnosis, my stress level went down!

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  2. I too had the the testing you are talking about, my ENT sent me to the Balance Center to check out what was going on with me. I passed the tests, yes passed. The water in the ear thing, made me even more dizzy, then he decided to do the balance trick like a see saw on a board, yes, I almost fell off of it. LOL, I ask for my copy of the test, and passed it. I changed my ENT and with the help of the new ENT, got the diagnosis of Chiari. I was diagnosed with Meniere's Disease, and still have not been ruled out. The hoops you have to jump through sometimes takes several years to get to the bottom of what is going on. I am glad to know that there are other chiarian's who truly know what roads to follow and can help others.

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