Hi wonderers , ( lets make this happen)
I am a 25 year old female. 26 soon. This year was supposed to be a start of a good year for me as 2017 ended somewhat shockingly bad. Oh how i wish i can re-live that year over and over again and avoid the devil of this illness.
Beginning:
June 28th-2018.
I remember it being so hot that summer. It was odd as we never had a very warm, horrible, boiling heat in YEARS!.
I hated it. i was never a fan of heat, i loved and still love winter.
I woke up that morning feeling tired more than the usual. I blamed it on my sleeping routine. I got dressed, got on the bus and headed to work. I found that getting off my chair was a struggle, i felt disorientated and tired. my body was moving and i felt unsteady on my feet.
I thought it was my blood pressure or dehydration from the heat so i bought everything i could to hydrate and boost my energy back up.
Nothing worked and i just got progressively worse and worse. I started to have a throbbing headache that started at the very top of my ear and it felt like someone was stabbing me with a nail over and over again. It was a new sensation and i was scared.
I left work early and headed home. Dizziness got worse, anxiety kicked in and i couldn’t breath . Called my dad to call the ambulance as i panicked that this is worse than what i expected. The ambulance arrived 45 minutes later, paramedics checked everything and they said ” you’re fine, it could be the heat”
I went to bed , hoped for some sleep that never arrived and rested as much as i could. I decided to check in with my GP the day after and she diagnosed me with an inner ear viral infection and said it will ” pass”. So i Went home on a good note that it will ” pass”.
Due to my paranoia i was researching through the internet a-lot… i came across labyrinthitis and people talking about VRT ( vestibular rehabilitation therapy). VRT is a form of therapy that provokes your dizziness to retrain the brain to the damage that the virus may have caused to your balance nerve. I decided to try it out as there was no harm in trying. I had no ill effects, no dizziness and everything was going okay, so my brain said ” you dont have it, dont worry” .
The feeling did pass and i was on my way to work .
Everything was going okay, i was me again, so i thought….
22nd July -2018.
I woke up that morning , tired as usual and headed out to help my friend find a dress fpr her wedding
I met my friends for brunch and headed out to shop. As i entered the shop i felt the same sensation again, if not worse. I was dizzy, very dizzy and unsteady on my feet all over again. I didnt understand the feeling , i thought my virus had passed, why is it back????. I ignored the feeling and hoped for it to go away. I felt better when we left the shop and to my knowledge it was gone and it was just a feeling.
Things progressively got worse from there. I was constantly unsteady on my feet, dizzy, nauseous and tired all the time. The stab feeling came back , especially during and after exercise. It was a terrible feeling and i wanted it to end.
I decided to pay my GP a visit as the feeling was uncomfortable and scary to manage. The GP diagnosed me with Labyrinthitis. YES, the same thing i was researching came out to be true, but WHY?!?!?, WHY ME?!?!? .
I was told again, that it will ” pass” , but i needed an MRI to make sure its nothing sinister.
During the wait, i was still exercising and it was painful. It provoked my dizziness an awful lot ,but i decided to stick to it as much as possible as my brain needs to ”retrain” and this was the ONLY way.
The symptoms were bearable and i was able to function on a minimal level, until the 7th of August….
7th August-2018.
It was the first day of my new job, i was excited to start, yet nervous about my symptoms. I didnt know what i was expecting.
I was still waiting on my MRI and still struggling to avoid the fluorescent lights at work. Everything was too bright. I was tired, unsteady and TIRED. I kept swaying to the right , i couldn’t balance and my appetite was atrocious. Everything was going okay, few headaches and weird woozy feelings every few hours or so. I thought i was going to survive this and everything is going to be okay.
The team decided to show us around the building while using the lift.
MAN!! , what a BIG!! mistake that was….
I knew deep down in my heart ….that i will regret getting on the lift for some reason.My mind was warning me, it was telling to KEEEEEEEEEP! away, but i did not want to feed my paranoia anymore ( wrong time and day to do so) .
I remember feeling an intense pressure going from my head down to my body and as we got off i felt this instant spin that refused to leave me. I was nauseous through out the entire time and i forced myself to stay upright.
The work day ended, and for some odd stupid reason i wanted to go to the gym, and i did. It was miserable… i was dizzier than anything that day and i wanted to die… seriously DIE!. I went home right after , washed my face, swayed my way to my bedroom, laid down and cried about everything. I couldn’t sleep that night, i was so sensitive to noise, light, smell, touch, everything. I slept at 3am eventually and for some odd stupid reason ( if you haven’t noticed, i have a huge tendency to do stupid things) , again.. i decided to head to work.
The journey was mentally and physically exhausting. I wanted a car to hit me and kill me. I had enough of suffering.
I started at 9am and went home at 12pm that day and i headed straight to my bed. The journey started right there and then and everything up until now, is a heavy scary twisted horror story.
To be continued…