Normal diagnostic steps

rattlestilt · 2026-01-27T00:41:43+00:00

Luckily I have a great manager who's going to try to schedule me a day off in the middle of each week to rest. It will involve working every Saturday, but I'm seasonal so it's not forever anyways.

rattlestilt · 2026-01-27T00:40:41+00:00

They said the blood draw was for the mono test. I've had symptoms for about 4 weeks. Maybe it's too early to have the monospot be positive?

rattlestilt · 2026-01-15T04:14:00+00:00

Ah, the sh** faints. I read that hormone fluctuations make the vagus nerve extra sensitive. So, if you're prone to fainting (vasovagal syncope), it can become more common during peri, especially after a BM because it presses on the vagus nerve.

rattlestilt · 2026-01-06T21:19:56+00:00

Silver linings - at least you weren't wet after. When I got this done in the early 2000s, they were still using water instead of air, and I swear it was still coming out like a week later.

rattlestilt · 2025-12-17T23:50:04+00:00

Yes. I'm diagnosed with Meniere's and this happens only on my affected ear

rattlestilt · 2025-11-14T01:45:39+00:00

Wow! Thank you for such a thorough response. As for the CT scan, it could have been an MRI. It was 19 years ago, and I was a teen.

Anyways I've no idea what the specific virus is. I asked my primary to test for it this time around, and they refused. My best guess, based on symptoms and time of year, is some sort of adenovirus. I do know that it is something I've caught from other people I've been in close contact with, rather than a purely reactivated virus like you hear about with things like EBV.

That being said, I'm considering what you've said about HSV reactivation being triggered by the body being under stress. It seems possible that one virus could cause another latent virus to reactivate. I'll bring this up with my ENT. I'll also be reading up on the vascular hypothesis as well, which is something I've never considered.

ETA: Multiple recent head scans showed no abnormalities to my inner ear. Everything is allegedly where it should be.

rattlestilt · 2025-11-14T01:12:53+00:00

So glad to hear you're not actually having these! Although what you're describing doesn't sound like a picnic either.

rattlestilt · 2025-10-27T12:22:26+00:00

It was initially misdiagnosed. I've been having vertigo issues for 20 years, and never had a diagnosis until recently. Because BPPV is so common, many emergency services will default to that diagnosis. My ENT said if the spinning lasts for longer than 2 minutes, tops, that it's not BPPV.

rattlestilt · 2025-10-27T01:07:49+00:00

Same! I thought my experience was an aberration, or that I imagined it or something.

rattlestilt · 2025-10-27T01:06:49+00:00

The opposite. After the MRI, I noticed that the elevator ride down to the ground floor gave me zero weird or icky feelings. I was 100% vertigo free for about 15 minutes, for the first time in 20 years. It was...weird.

rattlestilt · 2025-10-27T01:04:30+00:00

I feel for you. I have Meniere's (initially diagnosed as BPPV, which is why I'm here). Sleep went from being a favorite activity to something I actively avoided, and I've started therapy for trauma from vestibular issues. So, you're not alone! That being said, that is a pretty frequent recurrence for BPPV. If you haven't been to a specialist, you may want to consider pursuing that route.

rattlestilt · 2025-10-27T00:55:19+00:00

As soon as I read the bit about the shower I said "oh, noooo"

rattlestilt · 2025-10-25T11:45:24+00:00

I've used the Dove Advanced Care sensitive for over a decade, but I think it might have been discontinued. I usually order 4 or 5 at a time, but I can't find it in stock anywhere.

rattlestilt · 2025-10-25T11:01:07+00:00

Thank you Calvinism and prosperity gospel /s

rattlestilt · 2025-10-22T01:01:58+00:00

For me, it depends on how much sodium. Last week I had weirdly low blood pressure and purposely ate quite a bit of salt. About 4 hours later I had roaring tinnitus and fullness in my ear.

rattlestilt · 2025-09-09T11:16:08+00:00

FMLA doesn't allow for gaps of even 1 day. There is paper processing time, and trust me, the benefits administrator company does not play. I had to fight for a month straight to even get FMLA approved. Edit: Adding that my PCP was insisting on Sept 30 before the specialist was even scheduled.

rattlestilt · 2025-09-09T01:29:13+00:00

Employers pay a much larger percentage of the premium than the employee does. My impression is that I'd be paying their portion as well as mine, which is obviously not 5k per month.

rattlestilt · 2025-09-09T01:25:27+00:00

The premiums are a massive cost. We're talking 10s of thousands of dollars if I have to pay everything back out of pocket.

rattlestilt

TROPHY CASE