It all started with....A Sinus Infection???

Most recently, about 6 months after I had baby number 3, I started getting dizzy.  I did NOT lose my balance and my eyes could focus BUT my brain constantly felt like I was stuck on a roller coaster.  It would get worse when I closed my eyes and laid down....so the experienced party-girl in me(yes, I was a wild child), I would sleep with one foot on the floor!!  Sadly, it helped.  I went to the doctor a few times for it BUT the answer was always the same...Sudafed for a Sinus Infection...then again, I am NOT a "schooled" physician, so who was I to expect anymore??

Time went on, I was popping Sudafed like candy...but, I was still dizzy.  My husband thought MAYBE it was stress....so, he sent me on vacation to Wisconsin.  Yes, ALONE....no children, just me for a whole weekend.  This would have been absolutely amazing IF I were not so dizzy.  In the hotel by the airport, I had an attack so bad that I couldn't get off the floor (my first of this attack that involved an inability to balance myself).  I was able to right myself and the dizziness subsided BUT it was still there and more intense than I had experienced in the months leading up, but I could walk a straight line again.  I am no quitter, so on I went.  I had a good time with my friends and family.  Luckily, the ride home was uneventful....I made it, still dizzy..... until the next day.  

The next morning, I woke up early.  With the help of my husband, we got the family ready and headed down to Salina to my orthodontist appointment.  My dizziness was a little worse that morning BUT I assumed it was due to lack of sleep (went to bed after midnight and back up by 6am).  You know what they say about assumptions.....Anyways, we made it to the orthodontist and my daughter was up first.  I was not feeling so well, but after driving an hour to get there AND my husband having to take the day off to help me with my other appointments.....I was NOT about to reschedule!!  Finally, they called my name...I went back, had a nice little chat with the assistant, and then the world ended, or at the time, I was wishing it had.

The orthodontist's assistant leaned me back in the chair and instead of stopping, my world tumbled around me  and it did not stop.  I ran from the chair like a staggering drunk only to barely make it to the bathroom in time.  I was nauseous and miserable and felt as though nothing could stop it.  Finally, I was able to calm my stomach...just not the intense spinning I felt in my head.  I got up, and tried to hurry as fast as I could back to my husband waiting in the van outside.....all the while ignoring the questions and stares from the staff and other patients (I wondered later how drunk or hung over I looked).  

Once in the car, things did not get any better...but being the stubborn person that I am, I refused to go anywhere that did not involve my previous plans of running errands and taking care of doctor appointments.  So, barely able to move or speak, I forced my husband to take us to the next appointment, the eye doctor for my oldest daughter.  While he was inside, helping her....I was hit with another intense wave of nausea.  I got out of the car and the world fell out from under my feet.  I ended up face down on the ice, unable to move...it was then that I realized that this was not going away on it's own.  Luckily, I had my phone and was able to slowly and shakily remove it from my pocket.  I called my husband to ask for help, one of the hardest things for me to do...ask for help from anyone.

My wonderful, loving husband ran from the office and rushed to help me.  He drove as quickly as he could, while also trying to avoid fast stops, swerves, and bumps.  By the time he got to the hospital, I was unable to even walk or speak without heaving.  He rushed me inside and set me up to be seen.  Unfortunately, having three kids (at the time), he had to leave in order to find someone to care for them.  I am lucky to have a wonderful Mother in Law, who willing left work to come to our aid.  In the meantime, still worried about me, he called my Mom so that I would have someone by my side until he could return.  

During this time, things took a turn for the worse.  I was convulsively dry heaving with no end in sight.  I was scared...I was too young to leave my kids...and they were too young to lose me, but I could not imagine how on earth this was going to end on a good note.  Finally after a couple of hours, the doctors realized that all the anti-nausea meds they were pumping me full of were NOT working.  They did a CAT scan and blood work, but nothing was there and nothing they did was helping.  Fearing that I would suffer a stroke if they did not do something to combat the massive heaves coming from my body.  The doctors FINALLY put me out of my misery and into a medically induced coma.  

The next thing I knew, it was morning again....I was still dizzy, but I had my balance back and my stomach was no longer doing somersaults!!  I was so HAPPY, I could not wait to see my children.  After teaching me a few, anti-dizzy (no, not the medical term, but then again....I am not the doctor) techniques they sent me on my way with a diagnosis of "vertigo", which is a fancy way of saying I was dizzy BUT without any explanation or corrective actions.  

My regular physician set me up with an otolaryngologist (big way of saying Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist....see I do know some medical terms, thank you Aetna).  I went the next week, they tested, and still no answers.  They had no explanation why my ears were itching, and I was dizzy without the typical signs of someone who was dizzy....I was starting to believe I was a hypochondriac and had manifested my own symptoms!!!  

About two weeks, well no, it was exactly ten days after I was released from the hospital...I had a "whoops".  My husband and I believed in family planning, as previously birth control had failed on us.....BUT it only works if you following the schedule.  Well, being in the hospital, I was WAY off my schedule....but this was also the BEST thing that could have happened.  Within one week of conception, I was dizzy-free!!  My little Charlotte cured me....at least for the time being :) until my "hypochondria" would re-emerge!