If my posting seems a little slow it's because I've been a little preoccupied lately. I had a nice nap in the emergency room last night after a nasty spell of vertigo. Not anything new to me, but the timing, right before a trip to see the kids for Father's Day, was troubling. They ran all the scans, tested all my motor skills and watched my eyes as they moved my head around just to be sure I wasn't having a stroke. In the end they agreed with me that it was the Meniere's disease causing the vertigo. Lots of past injuries likely contribute to this, and it's no fun at all. Meclizine is a wonder drug for the terrible spinning sensations and the nausea they cause. When it kicks in I can still feel the room starting to spin, but it's as if it can only go so far before the drug catches it, and turns it back to zero. I was prescribed enough to get me back from this trip, and to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist when I get back. I've had no symptoms for many years, and thought it had gone away, as it's expected to do as I age. I guess it isn't quite gone yet, and it came back with a vengeance yesterday. People with heart conditions carry nitroglycerin pills in a vial on their key chain. I carry Meclizine. Won't leave home without it.
I'm thankful the medication helps, and I can suffer through the rest. I worked with a Marine Gunner that had it so bad all he could do was lay in bed perfectly still until it passed. I would bet that every Navy Corpsman who ever prescribed Motrin knows about Meclizine. Just like Flexeril for back pain, it's one of those drugs that's a little spooky how fast it works, but it makes the difference between being crumpled in the sand and charging up the beach.
Something that I may have missed last week could be related to the situation I'm dealing with today. I had a big pain in the neck...No not that one, she was up here visiting the kids... It was only on the left side and I only noticed it when I pressed on it. I was kinda stiff and sore all over, having cut all the grass before the rains came in again. I always get all sorts of allergy symptoms after mowing in a dust cloud. I noticed that I was sore from my shoulder all the way up behind my left ear, and it was most painful when I pressed on it. I thought it was probably because I'd been doing all the heavy lifting on the tractor with my left arm. Now I wonder if there was a little mastoiditis going on. Mastoiditis is an infection of the mastoid bone (the honeycomb-like bone directly behind the ear). It's an aching kind of pain even when I had it really bad. The biggest thing I remember about it was the sounds inside my head. Clicking, ticking, almost like doors slowly opening and closing. I helped diagnose another guy that the docs thought was schizophrenic, since he said he was hearing noises they couldn't hear. He was hearing the ticking and clicking as distant conversations he couldn't quite make out. I was lucky to have an old country doctor friend who diagnosed me before I descended into madness from the infection. I had thought the shoulder pain cleared up on it's own, but how could the mastoiditis infection be cleared up? A massive dose of antibiotics like the amoxicillin I have to take (as a precaution for folks with replacement joints) before a dentist appointment would sure knock it out, and that's apparently just what happened. The shoulder and neck pain went away and the vertigo started about a week later. It was after two days of physical therapy that involved neck stretches. I wonder if this is all related to the inner ear issues with Meniere's disease? It'll sure be an interesting conversation with the ear, nose and throat specialist.
