So!

Many things have been going on the last few weeks. Most of it was good (flea market, trip to Victoria, Canucks party)...some of it was annoying (still no job) and some of it was very odd.

On Friday night I had a major dizzy/vertigo attack that lasted all night, and almost all of Saturday. Thankfully, I've had an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist for the last six weeks in order to ask about my various dizzy spells. Today was that appointment.

It turns out that I have something known variously as Maladie de Meniere's, or Meniere's Disease/Syndrome. This is a chronic syndrome that no one knows the cause of, or the cure for. It explains many, MANY things over the years...ie:

-dizzy spells
-nausea
-feeling sick after eating popcorn (nearly always) and drinking cola (more than occasionally) (salt and caffeine are two of the major triggers)
-REALLY bad hangovers, fairly easily (alcohol is another trigger)
=inability to focus on what someone is saying
-complaining about things being too loud, but not being able to hear people talking
-car/motion sickness

etc. ad nauseum (pun not intended...)

I'm lucky...I don't have NEARLY as bad symptoms as many people online do, but it still sucks. It's really nice to have a name to put to this and I'll write more later, but...well...I drank a diet coke tonight...my last one for a while, and now I feel gross. I'm going to go low salt/no caffeine for *SOB* a month and see if that helps.

For more info, here are a bunch of sites that I've found tonight.
Meniere's.org
Forums at the above
A website by Karin and David...from BC. SO BIZARRE!!!
A dizzyness and balance disorder site
A great concise definition of what Meniere's is.
A letter describing what it feels like...again, I don't have the symptoms nearly this badly, but that doesn't negate how awful it feels for me when it happens.