Still Spinning?

Well yes but less so.

After 6 weeks of hell with Labyrinthitis the end is in sight.

I was told at the start that antibiotics were useless cos its a 'virus' innit? So like a good patient I believed the doctor's and sought alternative cures. Two hundred quids' worth of acupuncture later, it was worse than ever, tho the acupuncture was an interesting experience to say the least.

The last couple of weeks were the worst as it began to affect my balance onstage. I had to grip the mic stand a few times to stop me collapsing onstage. Dangerous stuff, if I'd gone down I'd have taken the front row out with me!

Working with Ian Moore the other week got me thinking. He had the same thing a few years back and taken antibiotics, with the result that it cleared up in three days. This was obviously back in the day when you didn't need to have pus dripping from every orifice to get pills!

So yesterday I managed to get an emergency appointment at my doctor's, the emergency being that I was beginning to stumble just walking down the street.

Armed with a whole internet's worth of info about the disease, including the fact that there's two kinds of labyrinthitis, viral and bacterial, I told her my symptoms and begged her to give me something other than anti-nausea tablets. She ran a whole load of tests, assured me it wasn't a brain tumour, recommended a visit to an audiologist, and eventually wrote a prescription for some bug blasters.

I rushed out and got it filled, and took one right away.

This morning I got out of bed, and for the first time in six weeks, my head didn't feel like there were massive waves crashing around inside of it. I felt a mild dizziness, but nothing like the sensations I experienced when I got up yesterday morning.

So here I am, still fuzzy-headed, but a million times better already, with only 4 tablets inside of me.

I totally understand the medical profession's reluctance to over-prescribe antibiotics, it makes sense that the bugs were building up a resistance to them, but I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't done my homework regarding this illness. Would it have dragged on for weeks, months or years like some of the cases I've read about over the last few days?

I'm not out of the woods yet, but I can see the clearing ahead.

Hurrah for research!