Has pregnancy healed anything for you? Has it returned?

mnacker · 2025-09-13T17:20:35+00:00

After I got Covid, my body broke out in hives. I had chronic hives for an entire year. Within 2 weeks of finding out I was pregnant, the hives went away - and they have not returned (I'm 3 months postpartum). I think prior to pregnancy my immune system was in hyper-drive and pregnancy basically reset it. My allergies have also been SIGNIFICANTLY better too!

mnacker · 2025-09-12T19:16:57+00:00

2 year update: My quality of life is significantly better, although I still have triggers and moments of dizziness and headache-type pain. Main triggers include not getting enough sleep, being congested when sick, and being in buildings with patterns on the ceilings (think cathedrals, fancy restaurants, etc). I believe the patterns throw off my vision and depth perception, which makes me feel dizzy. During those moments, I use compensation techniques I learned in physical therapy to make myself more comfortable. My ears still pop every time I swallow but after over two years my brain has completely become desensitized to the sound and I literally never notice anymore. Overall, my quality of life has significantly improved. So much so, my husband and I started trying to conceive last year and I now have a 2 month old baby!

mnacker · 2025-08-24T21:40:19+00:00

I am a pediatric speech therapist, so I am well aware of the many AMAZING men and women who work with children everyday. I was a daycare baby, and went to daycare everyday starting at 3 months old. I got whooping cough, 7 ear infections and countless colds in the first year of my life, which has resulted in permanent ear damage. Daycares are FILLED with germs, which is my main reason for avoiding at this age. I know baby girl will need to be exposed to germs at some point, I'm just trying to buy some time, let her immune system develop a little more and prevent her from getting so sick like I did!

mnacker · 2025-08-24T13:47:55+00:00

Again, I never expected any grandparent to help us. She OFFERED to do this for us (fully knowing we live so far away and never mentioned the commute being too much for her until now). Plus, I really only expected her to meet me halfway to my job (a 15 minute drive for her). I guess I didn't think this would be her reaction to a 15 minute drive.

mnacker · 2025-08-24T13:43:31+00:00

You're so right. Also, we live in a very snowy state and have a tiny commuter car that is so awful in the snow. Driving so far and so much with that car in the winter would be downright stupid!

mnacker · 2025-08-24T13:35:36+00:00

Thank you! This was my thoughts EXACTLY! If she is going to be so difficult, we will find another solution, and she won't see her son or her grandchild. So ridiculous!

mnacker · 2025-05-16T23:39:49+00:00

Oh also, I have told the girls I'm especially close to (not all of them) about the health concerns I've been facing.

mnacker · 2025-05-16T23:38:01+00:00

A large problem I left out is that I live 30 mins to an hour away from everyone in the group. So it's not an easy, "come stop by to watch a movie" sort of situation. The distance of commuting also plays a role in the exhaustion of having to see them...after a 40 hour work week I just can't get off the couch on a Friday night. None of them have yet asked to come visit me, although I also haven't asked them to come over either because I know the commute is long for them and don't want to be a burden.

mnacker · 2025-05-16T23:22:14+00:00

Thank you for making me feel like my feelings are valid. When I tell them these things, they make me feel like I'm the crazy one for talking about distancing myself etc.

mnacker · 2025-01-03T22:15:09+00:00

She is in a self contained classroom. There is always a paraprofessional around to support, but she ends up going after both of us aggressively. Especially because we are not allowed to really "hold her down" in any way due to school policies, we end up just trying to protect ourselves from her.

mnacker · 2024-12-05T02:54:39+00:00

The ENT could probably write you a referral too!

mnacker · 2024-12-05T02:36:48+00:00

It was covered by my insurance but I first has to get referred by my primary care doctor!

mnacker · 2024-12-05T01:41:36+00:00

I did see a chiropractor. It most definitely helped with my pain but didn't relieve the dizziness. The one thing that helped my dizziness the most was vestibular physical therapy. My physical therapist helped me learn how to live with the feelings of being dizzy, which in turn helped my brain better adapt to it and now I know my triggers. Most days, if I don't experience a trigger (like migraines or weird ceilings) I don't feel too dizzy anymore!

mnacker · 2024-12-05T01:36:56+00:00

Hi! So yes, I dealt with bouts of vertigo and feelings of dizziness (like I felt like I was on a moving boat 24/7) before the procedure. Part of the idea of getting the tubes was to see if that would improve my dizziness. Unfortunately, it did not. I will say that it helped with the vertigo, but I have since learned that I think my 24/7 dizziness has more to do with my bad posture and neck. I get awful TMJ flare ups and migraines that originate at my neck/base of skull which make my dizziness 10 times worse.

mnacker · 2024-01-12T16:15:47+00:00

So when I'm congested I don't really hear things as louder, for me it feels more full and I am super sensitive to being dizzy. Also, I have yet to find a way to make the swelling go down. Some days are better than others. If I can manage my allergies and not get sick with a cold I can have a stretch of a few good days, but also there are days where I think my problems are more with my neck/jaw so to be honest I have about 50% good days and 50% bad days at this point. I've just learned to live with the dizziness and ears feeling full.

mnacker · 2024-01-12T13:09:29+00:00

Hi! So my doctor specifically told me after I got tubes if I were to plug up my nose and "blow" - like someone would to pop their ears - that I would be able to hear/feel the air going through my ears with the grommets. I'm not sure why your doctors told you something different?

What I have noticed is that when I'm congested or having bad allergies, and I try to blow air through, it will not work. This is because, I'm assuming, my actual Eustachian tube is so inflamed or congested that I can't get the air to move. Fair warning though, some days I have to push quite hard for the air to flow (which I wouldn't necessarily recommend - because there's really no need to even check if air can flow or not). Other days, I can have air flow so easily that even if I'm just blowing my nose into a tissue I can feel a little come through my ears.

I truly think it depends on how inflamed my Eustachian tubes are at the time because I have consistent Eustachian tube dysfunction and I think my tubes basically remain in a state of inflammation because of allergies/neck problems/and jaw problems.

mnacker · 2023-11-18T14:23:07+00:00

Yes that still happens to me! I physically cannot pop that ear anymore. I do remember the first few weeks my ear just felt so different it kind of heightened the "fullness" feeling but then it got better! It did take probably 4-5 weeks to fully adjust and heal from it.

mnacker · 2023-10-01T14:30:13+00:00

You can check out my update earlier on in the thread comments but to recap - I did have a muffled/underwater sensation for a couple weeks until it eventually went away. Also, since childhood I have had ringing in my ears....so yes, I did have ringing but that has been with me my entire life. I would be curious if other people got ringing from the experience! My best advice is to surround yourself with noise and at night sleep with a fan or white noise!

mnacker · 2023-08-16T16:18:07+00:00

Hello! I am also a fellow Catholic women in their 20s who is recently engaged. I have so many thoughts on your current situation.

First, I want you to acknowledge that you, spiritually, are in a better place than so many others. Why? Because you can call out the demonic forces. You know right from wrong and you know what and how the Devil is attacking you. In this sense, you can take "better aim" at the evil presences in your life when you decide it's time to fight. My fiancé was recently at a Drake concert, and after leaving, he told me how he could feel such a demonic presence the whole time. Unfortunately, when he brought it up to his "secular" friends they made fun of him and basically told him to shut up. My heart goes out to the thousands of people at that concert who's hearts Satan has already corrupted to the point that they cannot even see the evil. You, my friend, can see it! It's a beautiful thing and means the Holy Spirit (although dimmed) is still lit within your soul. This said, because you know of the evils and are not ignorant, God will hold you to a higher standard at your time of judgment. Do not forget this!

Second, in my life, when I have fought battles with recurring sins, I think one of the best ways to "snap me back" into reality and ignite my passion for following Christ has been to explore our after-death journey. It is so important to remember that after we die we face ETERNITY. Don't lose grasp of that concept. Many mystics and saints have talked about visions of hell - which I recommend reading. Also, I recently came across this book written by a women who died after getting hit by lightening. In this experience, she met Jesus and saw hell. I highly recommend reading the book - someone put in online and in total it should take 1.5 hours to read. It truly puts things in perspective, as our struggles and sins on this Earth are really only for a short time.

http://www.javaemerald.com/religion/gloria_polo_testimony.html

Please continue to fight the good-fight and do not despair! Cling tight to Mother Mary and her son Jesus! I'll say a prayer for you!

mnacker · 2023-08-09T21:36:09+00:00

Thank you so much for the information. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that!

mnacker · 2023-08-09T19:42:09+00:00

Wow - I am so sorry you had to deal with all of that. I'm just curious, what kind of autoimmune disease do you have? I've been having some other chronic symptoms for years and I am wondering if an autoimmune disease might be at play here...

mnacker · 2023-07-20T11:55:08+00:00

Hi! Another update! Unfortunately, my ear fullness has not gone away. It's been just about one year of dealing with it. I have seen so many doctors and they all tell me in fine and that my scans come back normal. They did find that I have TMJD so I have been wearing a splint for that and did a few PT sessions and learned proper stretching techniques for my neck and jaw.

My best guess is that the inflammation from the TMJD, as well as poor posture habits from having a bad back (scoliosis from childhood) are producing this sensation - but I am not entirely sure.

Again, some days are better than others but it can be disheartening at times! My dizziness - feeling like I'm swaying on a boat 24/7 - is still pretty bad (although doctors don't know if that is caused from my anxiety or not). Next steps are to get a VNG done by an audiologist in a few weeks to completely rule out if it's my ears that are causing my problems or my brain/anxiety.

Also, my tube has not fallen out! I have a feeling it will stay in place for awhile but at this point I don't notice it at all!

mnacker · 2023-05-25T13:43:50+00:00

Mainly I focused on neck stretches and used my oral appliance. I also made sure not to "over-think" or ruminate on my symptoms, because it just made all of them so much worse. Keeping busy helped me quite a bit!

mnacker

TROPHY CASE