After my last post, I had another episode that Saturday. It wasn't as bad as the one on Monday but it was bad enough that hubby had to come get me from school because I couldn't walk. I also had to be taken off of the Valium because it was causing the opposite effect on me than it should have. I started having a constant knot in my chest, much like you get right before you start crying and it didn't stop. I was always on the verge of tears. I told the doctor's nurse about this and she took me off of it and put me on Meclizine instead. As soon as I started decreasing the Valium, I felt the difference. End result- no more Valium for me unless I have an oncoming episode, in which case, I am to crush one of the pills and put it under my tongue so it enters my system much more quickly. I think that is part of the reason the episode that Saturday wasn't quite as bad. That and the fact that I was able to have enough time before it got really bad to take my anti-nausea medicine and let it get into my system.
However you look at it, my decision at that point was that I will NOT let this get any worse. In my studies through some of the academic resources I have the ability to utilize, I was able to determine that the doctors consider Meniere's Disease to be an idiopathic autoimmune disease. To dumb it down, it's a problem with the body's immune system and the doctors don't know what causes it or why it happens. They have found certain things that help with the most common cases but those "fixes" don't always work. So what does one do when they have a problem that the doctors can't fix and they can't allow themselves to not do something about it? I went to my Shifu.
Shifu has officially taken me on as a patient on Tuesday of last week. He started out with doing his energy thing that he does (where he has you sit in a chair and breathe, then takes his hands and holds them a certain distance from your body while doing what I can only classify as an examination of an internal sort). He then advised me I was to do taigong 3 times per day. Taigong is essentially breathing and stretching. It takes me approximately 10 minutes to get through it once. On the days when I can, I would do this twice, three times per day. My schedule doesn't always allow for this though, so on the days when I couldn't, I was able to do 2 times per day, doing 30 minutes of it each time. I did this every day until I met with Shifu again this past Monday (day before yesterday).
This time, Shifu did his examination again and led me through a guided meditation. During this one, he advised me to focus on my breathing and led me through the directions my chi should go and the areas I should concentrate on. While this was happening, it was very interesting that I felt a warmth going down through my head, my spine, focusing in my neck and lower back. By the end, my back felt warm all over with large amounts of warmth in my lower back. I don't know what he was doing while this was going on but I do know that I felt MUCH better afterwards. Then I had class as usual afterwards. I felt very happy and much more like myself going home that night.
Yesterday, I was very tired. I attribute this to the lack of coffee at breakfast. The day went well but extremely busy as I had to go downtown for my weekly allergy shot. This resulted in me being unable to meditate until bedtime. I had Tai Chi class again and felt like it was a very good class. I was happy to be back in class. I meditated at bedtime and fell asleep in the process so I can't really say much about it. I can say though, that since I spoke with Shifu and became his patient, my tinnitus has calmed down A LOT. It's back down to a low hum, with sometime intermittancy. The hearing loss is still there although it is not quite as bad as it has been recently and I feel more like myself.
Today has been busy, but I w up feeling very well rested and was able to meditate during my lunch break. I did not get the same warm feelings as I did with Shifu; however, I did notice that when I was focusing on my breathing and the chi movements up and down my spine, I had what I can only describe as warm "flares" when I would breathe out. It would only last a moment but it was very interesting. I also felt a mild tingling down my spine, although that could be psychosomatic... Even so, I thought it should be noted. I had a good amount of energy and was able to be productive at work. I also meditated before class this evening and felt less stressed than I had when I'd left work.
I have decided to keep track of my feelings and how I'm doing via blogging, so that I can also relay this to Shifu. I have been instructed to keep track of my dietary intake as well as how I'm feeling, what I'm feeling, etc. and to send it to him once every two weeks. I am keeping track of my food utilizing the My Fitness Pal app and will not be listing it here, unless those of my fans that keep track would like to know or in some manner let me know they would like for me to post that here. Otherwise, I shall be doing my best to post every day, or at least every other day how I'm doing and what I've done health-wise each day.
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