Vertigo

I never really knew what the word "vertigo" really meant besides the fact that it was the title of a song by U2 and that it was a feeling of dizziness, how dizzy, I couldn't fathom. And then it happened.

Last Tuesday, I woke up to find my whole room spinning. My head felt heavy and my bedroom felt like it was tilting to the left. I thought maybe it was just me still feeling sleepy so I dragged myself out of bed and I struggled to get up and walk. I couldn't walk properly but I didn't think too much about it and made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Throughout the whole procedure the whole world was tilting to the left and my brain felt like it was spinning around like a top inside my skull. I found it difficult to stand still without losing balance and after I was done brushing my teeth, the urge to vomit came echoing through the depths of my esophagus and stomach. It finally hit me that I wasn't tired; there was something wrong with me.

I somehow made it to my mom's room and I told her that I wasn't feeling good but I was still determined to get ready for work. That was however brought to a full stop when I had to squat by the toilet bowl to get ready to expel the contents of my stomach. My mom checked on me as I vomited air and saliva and told me that I should take the day off as it seemed like I have vertigo, but it shouldn't be. But why wouldn't it be? Answers clicked as my brain spun like a ballerina on high amounts of caffeine.

The day before, my left ear was clogged, really clogged. Everything I hear with my left ear was muffled and I knew that it was definitely full of earwax. So when I got home, I asked my mom to help me get it out. That wasn't a problem but I was a bit worried about my left ear because the last time my mom helped me get earwax out, she had some difficulties with a hardened stubborn piece that was stuck in my ear and she accidentally hurt my ear canal and it bled. My mom looked into my ear and said there was a huge chunk inside. She cleaned out some of the outer ones and proceeded to get the huge one but disaster struck. While trying to get it out, she hurt my old wound in my ear and it started bleeding. My mom decided to stop at that and moved on to my other ear and cleaned it easily. I worriedly ask about my left ear and she said that it was bleeding just a little so we just let it as it is.

Back to me by the toilet bowl, I dragged myself back to bed and went to sleep after changing my clothes. My intentions were to sleep it off and then wake up later to go to see a doctor. When I did wake up about two hours later, my head felt a lot better than before but I was still dizzy as heck. I made my way down and told my dad my situation. I had breakfast and after that we headed out to the clinic near my house.

At the clinic, I registered myself and because it wasn't a busy day, I was quickly called to the counselling room. I was feeling mentally tired and my brain felt like it was gonna spin off my head so I struggled to tell the doctor my situation. He quickly dismissed my situation as "food poisoning". I was appalled. Food poisoning? I repeated myself that I am having a splitting headache and I want to vomit from my dizziness but he insisted that I have food poisoning solely because, one: I want to vomit, two: I have headaches, three: I will have diarrhoea. What kind of deduction is that? He didn't do any proper examination of any kind and he just passed off my situation as food poisoning just from listening to my statement. He started to show me the door and I quickly interjected by telling him about my ear. He had a quick look and said that I bled a lot in my ear. He then said he will issue me a medicine for my ear and once again quickly showed me the door. He didn't even think twice about my condition. I was aghast and greatly put off by his professionalism.

I went out and my dad was surprised at how quickly I came back out. We got the medicine and my medical certificate, paid, and left. I was very upset with the doctor's treatment but I was too dizzy to give any comment; the whole world was turning around and tilting, I just wanted to go home and rest. I was barely holding on when I got home. The moment I entered the house, I crashed on the sofa and went to sleep, the dizziness was too much to handle.

I woke up around 2pm but I was still too weak to eat so I had a small bowl of cereal before I went back to sleep. This continued on for a couple hours with me waking up feeling better and better with each time. Kathleen checked on me a few times I think, and it made me feel a lot better. By evening when my mom got home. I was feeling a lot better and I could walk around. My head was still spinning (or rotating) but it was like a slow moving gyroscope. If I moved my head too fast I would feel dizzy again so I had to keep my head still. I didn't vomit nor have diarrhoea so I complained about the irresponsible doctor to my mom. What a quack. By the night time, I confirmed that I didn't have food poisoning. I had experienced vertigo because of the imbalance in my ears. Certainly from this experience, I now know that my left ear needs proper care when cleaning. Maybe I need to see an ENT doctor (or an otorhinolaryngologist; after a quick Google search) for that.

The next day I woke up and sure enough, I feel a lot better. Quick movements in my head still make me dizzy and I can identify the pain in my left ear. All that convinces me that I really did have vertigo and not food poisoning (please close your clinic Dr. Hwa).

Today is the third day after my vertigo experience and it's still the same, I have small migraines when I move my head too fast and still no signs of food poisoning (please burn your doctor's certificate Dr. Hwa). Hopefully I can make a full recovery before this weekend as Quidditch will be pretty rough. (also, please reeducate yourself Dr. Hwa)