I had completely never heard of caloric testing before, but I’m hoping it will reveal something about my (potentially?) damaged vestibular nerve. If you’re like me and had never heard of caloric testing, here’s Wikipedia’s definition of it:

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?).

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I thought a good way to start out here would be to describe my first experience with severe vertigo. It happened 3 years ago, when I was studying in graduate school.

I was under a great deal of stress, in my job, my relationship and at school — with the added pressure that I now was graduating and needed to find a permanent job. When I think back on it now, it was an incredibly difficult period in my life.

At the time, I was drinking what I would say is an above average amount of alcohol to deal with the stress, smoking too much, not to mention eating poorly and not getting any exercise. My lifestyle had really hit rock bottom, and I was rewarded with an upper respiratory infection that lasted over a month.

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I’ve been trying to sort out many of the issues I’ve had with balance and anxiety for several years now, as I mentioned in my first post here. Part of the major problem I’ve had though, is that I’ve found it tough to nail down exactly what is caused by what.

I would imagine that this is a phenomenon that is experienced by many people who have an ongoing illness — you start to confuse benign everyday things (like a headache from not sleeping enough, or a lightheaded feeling from being hungry) with more serious symptoms.

For me, being tired or hungry make my balance issues much worse. I have to always ensure to get enough sleep, not skip meals, take my vitamins and not overdo it with caffeine or alcohol (I’ve always loved having a coffee and having a beer, both of which I’ve had to limit severely).

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I’ve decided to start this website after my second round of having to deal with vertigo — something which unfortunately happened to me yesterday morning. Vertigo, disequilibrium, dizziness and anxiety are stresses I’ve been dealing with for just over 3 years now, and I wanted to find a way to vent those stresses.

And just in case you’re someone who’s not familiar with vertigo, here’s Wikipedia’s definition of what vertigo is:

Vertigo, a specific type of dizziness, is a major symptom of a balance disorder. It is the sensation of spinning or swaying while the body is stationary with respect to the earth or surroundings. There are two types of vertigo: subjective and objective. Subjective vertigo is when a person feels a false sensation of movement. Objective vertigo is when the surroundings will appear to move past a person’s field of vision.

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