Dizzy Dame has a great post about the difficulty of dealing with a condition that is essentially invisible to others. I completely agree that this condition is a really tough thing to explain to someone, especially when I function and act normally all the time.

I think it starts to make other people wonder if you’re really just making it up or think it’s all just in your head. For some people however, there are other very unfortunate side effects of a vestibular illness. Take my sister for example.

Like me, my sister was diagnosed with something that either vestibular neuritis or labyrinthitis, and she suffered from the same horrible vertigo that I did. Unfortunately though, she went completely deaf in that ear within a few days of being sick. Yep, that’s right — totally deaf in one ear. So while she’s totally lost her hearing, it would be pretty difficult for anyone to say she’s not really deaf.

Unfortunately, there are many people who have problems with their ears and end up experiencing vertigo. And believe me, I feel terrible for anyone who has to go through the horrible experience of vertigo — there’s nothing else quite like it (and not in a good way).

As I said last time, it’s hard for someone who has never experienced problems with their balance to understand how difficult it can be to deal with. We end up suffering a great deal, but no one really seems to understand how much we actually do put up with.

On a (somewhat) related note, I’m taking a break from the meclizine for the first time in about 5 days, just to see how I do. It’s been about 4 hours since the last one wore off, and I seem to feel not too bad right now. Going to bed will be the real test however.