Vertigo _{Page 7 of 8}

thank you.

i have been feeling lately as if (given the nature of M.E.) perhaps i have needed to be more patient and give myself more 'breathing room' between remedies. and then of course there have been the antibiotics.

for what it may be worth, i have observed that certain remedies can cause peculiar reactions and must take that into account. for example sulf iod helps with my rosacea (no acne, just the redness and pain) but makes my scalp itch to where i am almost literally tearing out my hair, which is falling out fast enough without my help.

i have also to consider the possibility that my ear/sinus problems are, in part, yet another manifestation of the core disease. i went back to my resources when something reminded me of the severe earaches i strted to experience shortly after onset (of M.E.) more than 25 years ago, and indeed among common symptoms is ear and sinus pain. there has been infection at least five times over the past year (when a dr looks in one's ear or throat and says 'oh my!' one assumes there's something unmistakable), but it's probable that the pain and swelling have also, at times, been as much symptom as specific ailment. these are so closely intertwined i'm not even trying to sort them out at this point.

i am feeling now as if i must address the 'fatigue' (such an inadequate word) before anything else can be accomplished, as this is the foundation upon which everything else stands. i am doing this with the commonsense methods employed in the past (rest, nutrition, and so forth) while hoping that a remedy exists which will address my profound levels of incapacitating exhaustion.

i am hoping to be able after a few days' rest to do a bit of research and ask some questions. i will post whatever information i may come across, just in case it should prove useful.

one remedy i recall freqently hearing about (for the treatment of M.E. and other post-viral ailments) is China. i don't know if it would apply in my case, but i thought to mention it while i remembered.

Namaste

no better, getting worse. pain extending upward to my left eye, which feels like it's swelling from within. i am wondering if anything has presented itself as a possibility.

namaste

after much thought, months of observation, and going over past history, i think i may be barking up the wrong tree as far as my ear and sinus pain goes. i have had infections ... that's not in question ... but the constant symptoms are pain and inflammation of the ear/sinus network regardless of whether infection is present or not. i think the inflammation is symptomatic of M.E., but i also think that the muscle contraction found in both M.E. and Fibromyalgia are strong contributing factors working from the outside inward. i recall when receiving extensive massage therapy that i would often hear crackling in my ear and sinus when she worked on my face, neck and scalp (which brought tremendous if temporary relief after only a few sessions) and i find that if i stretch the muscle/skin away from the opening of my ear, this gives relief until i let go, at which point the pain returns.

i don't know where this takes me, but it makes sense to me that if the problem isn't coming from the inside outward, so to speak, then the reverse must be true. i don't know if this makes any difference in terms of remedy choice, but i can't help feeling it is in some way significant.

ok. i can do that straight away as i have some here at home.

thank you

can't say as i'm noticing any difference. i'm continuing to decline to the point where it's impossible to identify individual symptoms except in a broad generic kind of way. the only real change had nothing to do with the remedy ... i had a bad fall 3 days ago. i'm in a lot of pain all over, and managed to re-injure my neck in the process.

never a dull moment, eh?

namaste

hm, i'm not sure what else to add, so i'll start with the symptoms you have listed.

i can't say that i fear poverty per se, but i do experience anxiety occasionally regarding homelessness ... which given my circumstances is not an unrealistic concern.

i have a tendency to fall, period, probably due to impaired balance. i can fall from a complete standstill on level ground. however, vertigo will make me fall (usually to the right)

i would have to add overall weakness and debility despite strong and well defined muscles, which can fail suddenly and inexplicably and are easily fatigued.

disinterest in food with very rare cravings for such things as vegetables or fruit,

'brainfog' (confusion, poor cognition, slow reaction).

severe full-body muscle pain (as if over-used),

severe headaches, typically from nape of neck upward and/or on side of head, centred over temple (both sides, tho' slightly more often on the left).

weak (thin, papery) deformed fingernails, hair falling in large quantities, dental problems, skin tending to itch or burn; skin of face intolerant of cold, direct sunlight, acidic foods.

my eyes have been tested often and are declared to be 'just fine', yet quite often i can't focus; everything is a blur. i experience occasional eye pain, as if the eyeball were swollen and pressing out of the socket.

i'm sure there are many things i've left out, but they're not coming to mind as i am very weary.

it may also be significant that recent examination indicates a 'plug' of hardened mucus in the eustacian tube, probably originating with a bad cold last winter and worsened by the fact that i must blow my nose quite often, especially when exposed to wind, which makes my eyes and nose run. i must be very careful not to 'pop' my ear when i do blow my nose, as this leads to aggravated symptoms and pain.

i hope this additional information is helpful.

thank you

n

i knew i'd overlooked something:

full moon doesn't aggravate symptoms, though it usually causes sleep problems, as does the new moon.

i have sepia 200 at hand.

namaste

no change ... no better, but at least not much worse.

didn't i already do that?

ah. ok, thanks. i tried to find it in this thread but my eyes aren't working so well.

i see it has been even longer than i thought since i last posted. my apologies ... have had assorted difficulties with both computer and state of health.

at least i can report with certainty that the silicea 200C had no effect whatsoever.

my symptoms have, for the most part, worsened since last i posted. the cooler weather reduces some symptoms (such as 'sweats') and makes others ... e.g. arthritis and general muscle ache ... worse, and my feet are always painfully cold. i have discovered that even if i keep my ears, nose and mouth covered when outdoors, simply having any part of my face exposed to cold will cause a flare of pain in the left ear, throat, and sinuses. i am finding ways to deal with this pain and inflammation which do not involve remedies which might interfere with any particular remedy action already in place, and which allow me to avoid having to visit a doctor every few weeks (six months later i'm still waiting for an appointment to see a specialist who might at least be able to identify the problem and give me a better idea of what's causing it ... i think it may be time to start nagging ;)

at any rate, that's where things are at the moment. i enjoy an occasional day when i'm mobile enough to do a few light chores or, if i can get transportation, a few errands seen to, but for the most part i'm essentially housebound/bedridden with profound exhaustion, a never-ending headache, and severe body pain. with my muscles having grown quite rigid in my neck and shoulders especially, i'm seriously considering a second dose of the arnica 1M ... fibromyalgia is a chronic problem, which means that the muscles will continue to contract and pull at my cervical vertebrae (as well as all joints and between the ribs). the pain isn't intolerable, though it does take some effort of will to keep it from becoming overwhelming, but the effect on my neck is a pinching of the cervical nerves affecting balance, which has caused the return of extreme dizziness with episodes of vertigo. i am also experiencing a return of sacral pain, which the arnica had eliminated up until very recently.

anyway, that's probably as much update as anyone can stand, and i need to get out of this chair before my back gives out on me.

namaste

the vertigo itself is caused by nerve damage; it is unrelated to the M.E. and FM which are the source of my other difficulties.

because FM tends to cause muscles to contract and drag, it repeatedly pulls things back out of alignment, causing old injuries to make their presence felt, so in that regard, the arnica was very helpful in terms of the body pain.

at this time, i am primarily concerned about the vertigo because if it keeps me incapacitated, everything else becomes moot.

N.

regretfully i must report yet again that i have experienced no effect. either i'm leaving out something important, or the condition is more complex than i realized.

meanwhile, on a somewhat related matter, i have finally found out what is happening with my left ear. it seems that i have an ETD (eustacian tube disorder) caused by repeated sinus and ear infections. the tube is scarred and deformed (has always been deformed and now is permanently damaged and narrowed even further by the scarring, which is causing an inequalization of pressure within, which is the source of often incapacitating pain). fortunately, the ENT is an open-minded young man who didn't reject my preference for more natural approaches to my health problems, so apart from a few cautions about ensuring i not let an ear or sinus infection go unattended (to do so would be to incur more damage) he said by all means, explore your options, which of course i intend to do regardless ;)

armed with some solid information (at last!) ... at least as regards the ongoing ear problem ... i have been thinking in terms of how to keep the pain at minimum. to do this, i must of course ensure that i do everything i can to avoid ear/sinus infection, but also am looking at ways to reduce the virtually chronic swelling of my throat glands. swollen glands and lymph nodes are part of the ME picture, so are unavoidable to some degree, but i'm sure ways can be found to at least reduce the swelling which in turn would reduce the pain caused by the pressure of these glands on the ear structure.

ah, life ... whoever it was who said it's an ongoing challenge wasn't kidding ;)

namaste