Vegas and Flying with Meniere's

[SueR]

Well, I survived my business trip to Vegas. It had it's ups and downs. Pertinent highlights:

1) I did not drink any alcohol, per doc's dietary restrictions. I didn't watch my sodium or caffeine though. I don't think it affects me much (if any) at this time and I just didn't have as much control over that as I do at home. I still have caffeine at home, and didn't drink any more or less. I am trying to cut back more, but wasn't the time to cut back more.

2) the hearing was difficult at times. I did fine with the bells and whistles of the casino but the more sounds that I heard, the more roaring in the right ear and made it difficult to hear. and sometimes it was just too loud to hear what was being said. No pain though. No dizziness either, while I was there. I did wear ear plugs a number of times, but not always.

3) my flights had some issues - on the way there, I had ear pressure that bothered me. I had taken Sudafed before going, recommended by a flight attendant I know as well as my doc. That was it on the way there. On the way back, I had the roller coaster feeling with every slight banking of the plane. I took two legs there and two back. The first leg on the way back was "interesting"... and only part of it is pertinent (the roller coaster feeling).

my crazy flight:
so the two flight attendants were doing drink service and when they got to my row, one guy was messaging on his mobil device and said to the other one "I need to go to the back. Really fast. Now." Very calm, but purposeful. He never came back. Then I smelled something like chinese food(??). We were 3 hours into a 4 hour flight. Apparently the nose doesn't always know!

I felt like the descent was all over the place with the banking. Nobody else seemed to be bothered, but I was feeling very very green, just like i had ridden a roller coaster. brain scramble! ugh....
When we landed, the guy next to me said we had made record time... he said that a few times. It was MUCH quicker than he has ever experienced. and a guy made a call someone and said "we landed - on 1 wheel, but we landed" *chuckle*" -- okay, so maybe it wasn't just me.

We're leaving the plane and as I'm exiting, two emergency folks are trying to get one... one with some kind of kit, and the other with a fire extinguisher.

Needless to say, when I was on my second leg, and we sat on the tarmac for an hour for "maintenance issue" (but didn't need to go back to the gate), I was a bit anxious. But I didn't have as much motion sickness this second leg, thankfully. I also didn't have as much ear pressure. I also don't think we were as high either... a much shorter trip.

I'm home now... and have to start packing for my move.

 

[Teri]

Thanks for your update, Sue. Do you think motion-sickness pills would have helped? Or, maybe they cannot be taken with Sudafed. Did you have difficulty flying before the onset of T/M/H? My husband has to have motion-sickness pills before flying and he is not bothered with T.

How is your dizziness now? I wonder if it developed later? I am still struggling with slight dizziness. How long did it take after being diagnosed with M and having T, did your dizziness start to subside? Maybe it will be a symptom that will come on and off with having M.

Glad you had a fairly nice trip with no major problems.

 

[SueR]

I'll try to hit all of your questions.

I still think my dizziness is mild. I'm always wondering if M is the right dx, but going with that for now. My main issue (which I still consider mild) is my hearing issues. It's still not back to pre-Vegas, but it's better today. My dizziness is gone too. Timeline: H started Nov. 18th, 2013. dizziness first appeared mid-January. brief episodes off and on for a couple of weeks, then short bouts a handful of times since... never really bad.

I used to do roller coasters, but last summer (July 2013), I had a very hard time dealing with the mid-range coaster, and some "kiddie coasters". I decided at that point I was NOT going to do them anymore. I felt icky the rest of the day. It was NOT fun (so why do it??!)

The elevator gave me a small sense of motion sickness, but it as not too bad... and I was on the 59th floor. The plane was very much like a roller coaster... maybe not Kracken, but mid-range coaster.

by the time I was dx'ed with M, my symptoms had already subsided. My dizziness was less frequent, my H was doing pretty well, and the normal T is in my non-M ear. For me, my H kicks up (with roaring in my M ear... which I call reacctive T because it's in response to auditory input). That is still up today. But, it's not life-altering at this point. I just need to have people on my opposite side so I can get more input into my left ear because the right ear gets louder with input.