So I finally sucked it up & got my own health insurance plan… Don’t even ask how much I’m paying o__O
Anyway, this means I can FINALLY go to a doctor and get some real help. Up until now, I saw an ENT [family friend]…only test he performed were the hearing test and that other one [forgot the name] where they put something in your ears and you get a lot of pressure in there [both tests normal]
He was no help so I finally went to my GP who diagnosed me with MAV based upon my symptoms. She has given me 20mg of inderal to take 1x a day. It was working for a while, but now I feel like it’s not helping anymore… back to feeling really lightheaded all day every day… it’s worse when I go into stores. Besides the hearing test and that other pressure test, I haven’t gotten anything else done… No MRI’s or other inner ear testing…
My question for you guys is… now that I have insurance, what type of doctor should I go see first? I wish I had a neuro-otologist close by but unfortunately the closest ones are in philly & new york (1.5 hours away from me). I was thinking to go see a neurologist? Or is it worth sucking it up and making the 1.5 hour drive to the neuro-oto?
edit: And as silly as this sounds, this whole time I didn’t have insurance, all I wanted was to go to a specialist and finally get some answers and get on the road to feeling better… now that I have medical coverage, I am absolutely SHIT SCARED to do this. I’m scared of all the testing procedures that make you dizzy, I’m scared of MRI’s… that I’d rather just stay in bed all day then pick up the phone and make an appointment, or go out and face the world. Has anyone else gone through this? How did you combat it?
I haven’t had to do any spinning test but in Oz at least for MRIs you can request valium (in advance ie when you make the appointment) to calm the nerves if you’re claustrophobic (so just lie LOL). Otherwise MRIs are noisy and boring but not at all scary
I would drive to see a neuro-oto. The closest one to me is 4 hours away, I was willing to drive but when I called he said he does not do migraine associated vertigo…ok. So I ended up with a neurologist. I still want to see a specialist who deals with MAV or balance disorders in general. I have been doing the doctor run around and its not fun.
@loracalon that is a really good idea! I think I am just scared of them because back in my teens I had to get a bunch… [funny enough cos i was dizzy and no one knew why o__0] and I was SO scared then… guess all those memories of fear have come rushing back
@mommyrebecca - I am leaning towards the neuro-oto too… only because all of my problems started with inner ear/vestibular neuritis crap. The doctor run around definitely sucks!!!
I remember being terrified at the thought of all the testing, as I couldn’t bare the thought of deliberately bringing on symptoms I was desperately trying to avoid! I have to say the testing was nowhere near as bad as I had anticipated though. The only unpleasant (but not dreadful) things were the caloric test (which makes everyone spin - people without inner ear problems too - although some people feel worse than others. I felt like I was spinning round for a few seconds, but it settled back down really quickly and had no after effects) and the MRI I found unpleasant as loud noises provoked my nystagmus, so every time the machine banged my eyes jumped. Strangely this probably was a good thing as the annoyance of that happening throughout the test actually took my mind of being claustrophobic!
@beechleaf - that is good to hear. Usually, we build up so much fear that when we actually go through with it, it wasn’t nearly as bad as we made it out to be in our head. I remember this being the case when I turned 18 and got my first tattoo, hehe
I am still debating between the neuro-otologist and the neurologist – as the neurologist that I found was mentioned on the “top MAV doctors” post on here… Both are as equally far away from me.
— Begin quote from "suki530My question for you guys is… now that I have insurance, what type of doctor should I go see first? I wish I had a neuro-otologist close by but unfortunately the closest ones are in philly & new york (1.5 hours away from me). I was thinking to go see a neurologist? Or is it worth sucking it up and making the 1.5 hour drive to the neuro-oto?Sukanya[/quote
Babe get someone to drive you to Philly or NYC - me? I’d fly to Mars if I had to. The sooner you get on board with someone who knows their sh*t, the sooner your recovery can start. You’ve got to grab this mofo by the horns and give it a fricken good shake - dont lie in bed all day letting it steal your life!!!
20mg inderol is a very low dose. I would talk to your GP about upping the dose to 40mg. You could even go as high as 80mg.
There is no need to be afraid. I know how you feel though, you have anticipation because you have been waiting a long time to see doctors. So now the pressure is on… But the tests dont usually make MAV patients too ill, and you WILL get better. It is a great sign that such a small dose of inderol helped you.