Auto-Immune Disease: Menieres

Menieres

Living with Menieres is living with an invisible disability. As nobody can see you are disable like those who carry a cane when they have a stroke. They are noticed. Menieres is an auto-immune disease is like so many auto-immune disease in that it will strike when it wants and can also go in to remission similar to MS. Therefore, you can go happily along for weeks, months, even a year without any dizziness that is debilitating to the effect that it throws you off balance to cause you to stumble or even fall or make you to grab a wall to steady yourself. You can't drive when you are experiencing this type of dizziness as it can cause you to get into an accident. So you must then rely on others. You need assistance sometimes just to get back to your chair when it hits so suddenly that you feel as if the whole world is spinning out of control and the rug is being pulled out from under your feet. For three years I spent three times a week going into the Emergency room of the local hospital due to falls occurring from this dreadful disease. Ending up with minor sprains or even twisted ankles, sprained wrists, severe concussion/terrible headache (from hitting my head) or even a broken finger at times. At this point I almost gave up on having a normal existence and began wearing a home alert button around my neck to call the ambulance to my house, when I was alone, in case I fell and couldn't get up. I even had to have home health come in so someone would be here in case I got dizzy while I was in the shower, which happened at least fifty percent of the time. It was a dreadful way to live. Then I had TMJ surgery on my side that had the affected Menieres ear (where I lost part of my hearing due to Menieres) and the dizzy spells lessened. "Wow" I thought this is great. After eight months of only having small spells that lasted only five to six minutes. Instead of two hours to four days in length like before. I asked the doctor if he felt I could go back to work. I went back to work again. It felt great to work again.

Then about a month ago. BAM! Menieres reared it's ugly head again. And now I can no longer perform my duties at work as my work requires my use of sticking patients with needles and bending over. I can not with good conscious injure a patient. Therefore, I found a need to resign. I am devastated. Now I must once again struggle with this confounded invisible disability in which little is know as to what causes it. Not only am I plaqued by dizzy spells but by a variety of other aches, pains, my migraines have also worsened dispite the medication I am on, I have insomnia, and I am also continually fatiqued. My doctor has sent me to a specialist for testing for other auto-immune diseases such as lupus or fibrmyalgia. I got myself off of SSD while I was working and was proud of that fact. Now, I must go back on until it can be controlled again.

Many people in society do not understand nor think that you have should draw Social Security Disability if you don't seem to have a problem they can see. arAuto-Immune disease e such an illness that many people have no understanding/concept about as most are typically invisible until they have flare ups.I know their are alot of disabilities out there that society believes are all in our minds and that we are faking. Just because they are not visible like strokes and paraplegics etc. However, we must somehow educate society on the lesser known diseases and disabilities known as auto-immune or invisible in order for them to have an understanding of what we are undergoing. I hope by writing this in hopes of educating people about auto-immune diseases. I also hope to educate and make the public more aware that there are "real people" that are in "real need" due to "true, unseen disabilities" that are not trying to take advantage of the system. Some wish they didn't have to rely on Government Assistance for help, because in most cases it's not as much as they could earn if they were actually working. When I worked, during the time my Menieres was in remission, I made nearly three times what I had been receiving on SSD and brought home twice what I had been receiveing on SSD per month. Therefore, my lifestyle was of a much higher standard and I was much happier and not at all depressed. I still have hopes that I will again get everything once more "under control" and one day be "back to work."