I had another visit to the neurotologist (which I mentioned last time) — and I asked to have VEMP testing done. While the testing wasn’t much help (since it came back normal), I decided to ask the woman doing the testing if she knew of a good neurotologist.

She suggested one of two doctors, both of whom I haven’t seen before. They came highly recommended from her, so I’m starting to think it’s time to go and get a second opinion about what’s happening with my balance issues.

I was also taking a diuretic for a while (several weeks), which seemed to make me feel worse than I already did. While the neurotologist suggested eventually doubling the dosage of the diuretic (he prescribed it since he thought I might have Meniere’s, and it would rid my inner ear of any excess fluids), I had to stop taking it because it made me feel that bad.

I didn’t really realize how much even a small dosage of a diuretic dehydrates you — I was drinking a ton of water every day, but I still constantly felt nauseous and dehydrated. Not to mention that my balance problems were not any better when taking the diuretic.

Now that I’ve also concluded my experience with vestibular rehabilitation therapy, I’m not sure what the next steps are to me feeling better. Both the neurotologist and the vestibular rehabilitation therapist told me that they think there’s really not much they can do for me at this point.

While I know she meant for this to give me some hope, the therapist’s suggestion that I would see “significant technology improvements” in my lifetime which may improve my symptoms actually had the opposite effect. It made me feel like there really wasn’t much hope for feeling better now, which is kind of a tough pill to swallow.

So I went in with my fingers crossed, not quite knowing what to expect. I saw the same doctor as last time, and he had the results of my caloric test in hand.

I was completely shocked when he said, as he was flipping through the pages, “It looks like your results were normal.” I didn’t quite know what to say.

I was prepared for anything except that I think. I asked him why the tester had seemed to indicate that results pointed to damage in the right ear, and he said he had no idea, that the results he had in front of him indicated normal function in both ears.

I then asked quite a few more questions (since I was quite surprised by the results), and he said that sometimes, the brain can compensate for the damage completely, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll feel totally normal.

I was a bit disappointed by this answer, since I had hoped there was more that could be done. I told him how much the symptoms were bothering me, and that I was having trouble even walking around some days. And how driving and other movement-intensive activities make things much worse.

He was empathetic, but said that he had a limited capacity to help make me feel better. He then prescribed 12.5 milligrams of meclizine, which he said could possibly help with the sensations coming from a damaged vestibular nerve (if that was actually the cause).

I then asked about vestibular rehabilitation therapy (VRT), which he didn’t think would be useful at this point, since it had been so long. I have actually heard otherwise — that VRT can still be useful even after quite a bit of time has elapsed.

So I was insistent on the VRT, but it looks like I’ll have to pay for it out of my own pocket (ouch). I hope it’s not too expensive, or that my drug plan at work will cover it. But at this point, I’m willing to try anything to feel better, no matter what the cost.

I hope there’s better news in store for me soon.

I then did a test where I had to watch a red light move back and forth, both vertically and horizontally. I didn’t find it particularly dizziness-inducing, I was more dizzy just having to lie on an incline.

We then did the caloric testing, starting with warm water in the left ear. I had thought before that the caloric testing would be one quick squirt of water, not a continuous jet of water into your ear. The warm water in the left ear made me quite dizzy, which the tester informed me was actually normal.

We then moved onto the right ear, and the heat was actually quite painful. I didn’t really end up feeling dizzy at all after the water was squirted into that ear — which apparently is a sign that something is not right in that ear.

The tester told me that both ears should be about the same — if you feel very dizzy in one ear, you should feel about the same in the other ear. Or if you feel only a little dizzy, you should only feel a little dizzy in the other ear as well. That was definitely not the case for me.

So now that we know something is wrong, I’m hoping the doctor from neurotology can figure out what to do for me. Like I said last time, I don’t really know if there’s a solution, but I’m really hoping that there is, as I find this to be very difficult to deal with day to day. I’ll just keep hoping.

In medicine, the caloric reflex test is a test of the vestibulo-ocular reflex. It is used by audiologists and other trained professionals to validate a diagnosis of asymmetric function in the peripheral vestibular system. Calorics are usually a subtest of the electronystagmography (ENG) test battery.

So basically, what they do is squirt warm and cold water into your ear. In a normal person, the eye will move in a particular way — but for someone with vestibular dysfunction, the eye will move less (or perhaps not at all?).

Funny enough, the medical literature uses the acronym ‘COWS‘: Cold water causes fast nystagmus (eye movement) to the Opposite side, wheras Warm water causes nystagmus to the Same side.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m not a doctor — so if you’re curious about learning more about this, I would highly suggest speaking to someone who is a licensed physician.

I’m a little nervous that this test is going to make me even more dizzy, but I’m also kind of happy that they can finally test for what’s potentially wrong with me. I guess I’m also a little freaked out that the results will be totally normal, and then I’ll be back at square one.

Anyway, I’ll write again about this after I get the tests… how bad can it be, right?