If you do not suffer from allergies, you can just thank your lucky stars right now! Because allergy season can be absolutely miserable to those of us who do. And one of the worst things about allergy season is that it comes at the best part of the year. In spring, whenever winter is saying good-bye and everything starts coming alive again. The grass and trees and flowers. And THESE, unfortunately, are the things that cause me the most misery (Insert sad face here with a red nose and weepy eyes...).
Shortly after my wonderful outing at the park with Lila Kate, it began. The sneezing and head congestion and ear problems (ugh...). For weeks now I have been suffering with ear pain and fullness and I just kept going, doing Easter, traveling to Miami and working out at the gym. I tried to treat it myself, staying on Allegra, nose spray, allergy shots and even getting some ear drops. FINALLY, I cried "Uncle" and gave in and called my ENT.
When I went in, I told him that my ear was so stopped up, surely I had fluid in it. He looked inside it and said, "No" (sigh...). And then he sent me down the hall to the audiologist for some tests. When I walked in, I immediately told her I felt sure I was going to fail the test. She put me in the booth and we started. I had to, of course, let her know when I heard the beeps and part of the way through she asked me if I had any hearing loss. I told her I knew I had a mid-line hearing loss and she continued with the test, ending with having me listen to words and repeat them.
When I got back into the exam room, the doctor came in, looked at my test results and seemed pleased that he had a diagnosis: chochlear hydrops. The treatment? Taking a diuretic daily to regulate my body's fluid levels. I know...I don't understand it either but apparently if the body fluid is regulated if affects the fluid within the inner ear. I was put on this treatment for 7 days and then asked to return in a week. Yesterday was a week.
After a week of taking Dyazide (I have never taken a diuretic before), I could tell my doctor two things: One, I had pretty much peed non-stop and Two, my ear was not as stuffy as before and the pain had gone away along with the slight unbalance I had been experiencing. He seemed pleased with that update and sent me off down the hall for another hearing test which I thought HAD to improve. Well, I was sad to find that it had not. He told me that I would need to continue taking the Dyazide for another month and then return for another test. I asked if this would be an ongoing problem that would have to be treated on and off and he said that was a possibility. Bummer. However, I am really glad that I know what has been causing the problem and that there is something I can take for it. This medication has not really caused me any problems other than having to go to the bathroom quite a lot more. That requires that I also drink more to stay hydrated, especially when I am working out or in the heat and sweating a lot. I hope that after a month I can say that I am significantly better AND some of my hearing loss has returned. Until then, I suppose I have a valid excuse for not hearing some of the things Hubby says to me!
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