Two years ago, I got stuck with a horrible illness called “vestibular neuronitis.” That’s an inflammation of the inner ear nerve that governs your sense of balance. I was more or less immoble for several months, and then, with a lot of physical therapy, some determination, and some luck, got to the point where the doctors say I’m just barely within the normal range of variation for balance. No-one would know, from looking at me, that I have any impairment at all. I can do everything most people do in a normal day most of the time. I can even hike on rocky terrain, if I make sure that I have someplace to lie down directly afterwards. But my days as a gymnast and avid cyclist are over.
When I first got on the never-ending roller coaster that is vestibular dysfunction, I was given courses of steroid anti-inflammatory drugs. Each time I was treated with the medication, I would get better for about a day and a half, but after the initial high doses of prednisone were tapered off, my sense of balance would dwindle by the hour. By the time my dosages had been tapered off to a measley half pill a day, I was back to residing on the Tilt-A-Whirl from Hell. I’d be reduced to lying on the floor with my eyes closed, clutching the carpet and praying that it was, indeed, impossible to fall off the floor.
So…what does all this have to do with you, you ask?
Well, I recently went to the doctor with a complaint completely unrelated to my nerves. I was prescribed steroids, those miracles of modern medicine, to reduce inflammation. Well, they’re working–not just on what I’m officially taking them for, but also on those pesky nerves in my inner ears. So today, I’ve had nearly perfect balance.
I’d forgotten how good it feels to NOT SPIN. EVER. To NOT have to plan my day around my ear’s daily cycle of cooperation and obstinance. To have that effortless feeling of solidity and stability, that unconcious ease of movement. To be able to dash around all day, dance all night, and wake up from 6 hours of firm, steady sleep feeling completely refreshed.
I’m excited. I’m hoping that after gaining what a rather expensive and miserable test tells me is seriously improved nerve function, that this time, the prednisone will have the permanent effect it was supposed to two years ago. And I’m definitely going back to my doctor and begging for more if my balance slides back to its post-sickness self.
But I’m not getting my hopes up.
I live in Columbus, Ohio, in the campus area. So, Columbus area Dopers–the steroids have started to really kick in today, and I want to make the most of it. Starting about now, I think I’ve got 36 to 48 hours to really whoop it up. I feel like a neurological Cinderella–I’m under a euphorically wonderful enchantment until Midnight on Monday. After that, I go back to being part vegetable.
I have plans on Sunday and for most of Monday, but no-one wants to go out with me and have fun tonight. If anyone wants to, say…go ice skating, or dancing, or generally have a blast until the wee hours of the morning tonight–please, please, PLEASE let me know. My friends here are all busy doing other things, so I’ve got no-one to enjoy my short reprieve from the Roller Coaster of Rapid Exhaustion with.
Thanks.