I generally consider myself a very healthy person - I don't have allergies or asthma, I've never been hospitalized, never broken a bone, I'm not constantly fighting off colds or mono or strep or swine flu...
But, since summer 2008, I've suffered from miserable bouts of Vertigo often occurring after flights or trains, etc.
And when I describe it to people, I often feel like I'm making it up, like I stole it from an Alfred Hitchcock film and there's not possibly something out there really entitled Vertigo.
But now that I'm in almost a constant state of Vertigo (thanks public transportation), I've decided to enlighten everyone on the symptoms of this random/weird malady so that people can feel sufficiently sympathetic toward me when I complain.
First, my eyes get really red and watery.
And then I feel as if I am constantly moving: mostly falling or sloping downward, but if I'm in a chair or lying in bed I feel like I'm on a boat bobbing in water...
This is not to be confused with dizziness or motion sickness. I never feel dizzy or nauseated.
When it's really bad I run into walls.
...it's very disorienting, even scary, because it's so inescapable and it becomes harder than normal to function in society.
Since the source is some sort of inner ear equilibrium mechanism that nobody knows how to explain to me in a way that makes any sense, my ears begin to pop and ring.
I then go to a doctor who gives me glorified sleeping pills and instructs me through a series embarrassing stretches/exercises that do not help. As of right now, time seems to be the only cure.
According to Web MD, I will either be living with this for the rest of my life or am dying of a brain tumor.
