Hey there, welcome to my blog. My name is Sian, I’m 28, I live in Scotland and I have a chronic illness called M.E. What is M.E.? M.E stands for myalgic encephalomyelitis. It is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). How long have I had ME? I developed M.E 2 years ago at the start of September. I was about to start college to study beauty therapy and the day before I had a headache. Ok, no big deal, everyone has headaches. By the evening it had developed into a migraine (you know, when you can’t stand the light, or sounds, and you feel like you’re going to throw up). I didn’t think too much of it and hoped it would be gone by the morning. Well, it didn’t go. In fact, I had that same migraine constantly for 6 months straight. What did you do? I got on with it. I started college the next day, and I attended every day I was supposed to until I couldn’t handle it anymore, which was Christmas 2016. What ...
There has been quite a lot going on recently and I have neglected social media.
We had family come to stay, and there was a bit of a family emergency (everything turned out ok), along with struggles with my own health, so I've been quite quiet online lately.
The family visit was great, they stayed with Denys and I and it was lovely to meet some family from Denys's dad's side. The weather was unfortunately dreary (it is Scotland after all! Ha) so they didn't get to appreciate the lovely views, but I think everyone had a great time. Apart from my ongoing vertigo my health was pretty good, I used my walking stick for only one of the days and I was able to go out all day with everyone (I've had to stay home or in the car before when my M.E. hasn't been good and we've had visitors).
I have been unfortunately experiencing vertigo most days for 2-3 months, and today I saw my GP for a catch up. I have been taking Cinnarizine whenever I get an attack; it helps, but the downside is that it makes you drowsy, and I'm already tired 24/7, so if I take a dose, I often have to nap during the day. Thankfully, this combination works and I wake up feeling better. We had discussed the possibility of it being Menieres disease in our last appointment, and as it is still happening she has started me on Betahistine, which is a medication used to prevent balance disorders like Menieres disease.
Menieres typically comes with hearing problems, like hearing loss, which I don't think I have, but I have always had tinnitus. Sometimes one ear will go deaf and I hear a ringing sound for about 30 seconds, this could be due to Menieres. During an attack my balance is often affected and I feel as though I'm walking on a ship on a very choppy sea. If we are out, using my walking stick helps to keep me upright, as does Denys.
The preventative medication could take a while to take effect, so I will continue to monitor my vertigo and hearing to see if it changes at any point. As I am in a Menieres disease Facebook group I know it won't work 100%, but even if it takes away half of the vertigo attacks, and my need for Cinnarizine decreases, I will be happy.
I recently remembered that I had episodes of vertigo back in October last year for a week or so, but it seemed to right itself in the end. This time I haven't been as fortunate. I'm finding it quite hard to manage as an attack can come on very suddenly (like now for instance) and it makes life difficult, all I can do is take a tablet and go to bed until it passes. Fingers crossed the Betahistine gets to work soon.
Thanks for reading.
That ME Girl
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