hello, hello, i'm at a place called vertigo

first off, thanks for all the well-wishes! no, my puke was not technicolor from all the m&m's :o)

it turns out i wasn't just feeling mentally unbalanced this past week. mid-morning thursday my tinnitis (yeah, it still hasn't gone away) suddenly got worse. when i stood up i could not walk straight and felt like i was going to fall over. after a few minutes i realized this was much more severe than the dizziness/nausea i had last fall, and told the guys i work with i wasn't feeling well. they quickly loaded me in the golf cart and drove me up to safety. my blood pressure, heartrate, sugar levels all checked out normal, so they called in an appointment to the local doctor (we have an account set up for the construction workers to get physicals). one of the safety guys asked if i was pregnant (what is it with nausea must = pregnant?) and i'm just thinking -- "dude if this is what 'morning sickness' feels like, i am definitely never having children". the room was spinning, i was shaking/twitching, and the nausea/lightheadedness was getting worse.

a co-worker volunteered to drive me to the doctor. the safety guys gave me a trash bag and practically carried me out to her car. the bag came in handy as i puked 5-6 times en route to the doctor / while waiting to be called back. by the time i was called it was one heavy, appetizing bag and i can only imagine how thrilled the nurse was when i handed it to her. i puked once more when the doc asked me how i felt. "well the room is spinning and" ... lean forward, grab trashcan, empty already-emptied stomach. low point, to say the least.

anyway the doc said i had vertigo and prescribed a shot (phenergan) and nausea pills (meclizine). i am pretty disappointed in the visit because he didn't seem to care about checking my ear even though i said it had been ringing/roaring for over a month. also i think everyone knows that the inner ear is involved in your balance, so i don't get why he wouldn't have looked harder there. basically he just wanted to treat the nausea/dizziness and not the cause of the nausea. that is my biggest peeve about medical doctors - often treating the symptoms and not the underlying cause; it's frustrating. i felt completely awful and could hardly function so i was onboard for the shot & pills as a temporary fix, but i asked what we would do for my ear. "oh it'll go away" he said ...sure it will, it hasn't been lingering for a month or anything.

the shot kicked in after about 30 minutes or so and the severe nausea went away. i went back to work, picked up my stuff (and my car) and went home to bed. josh was super sweet and took a half-day at work to drive all the way up from sc and take care of me. apparently i worried him a bit when i was too busy puking/feeling like death to respond to his calls or texts from 9-12ish. i took friday off and slept a lot. i went to the chiropractor saturday and slept even more. needless to say, running this week has been off, though i haven't felt nearly as guilty since i hardly have the balance to walk. i'm now basically feeling the same as i did before the new york marathon with constant, 'light' (vs how i felt thursday) nausea/dizziness. i feel best after just waking up from a nap - i wonder how i can work a few naps into the workday when i start to feel more woozy...