You must have a very severe case for it to stop you working altogether though, is it bilateral?
Yes.
In more detail I only had it in my left ear from around the age of 14. I barely noticed it and I only had vertigo attacks around once in a whole year at first.
By the time I got to uni, the hearing loss in my left ear had become very noticable and moderate so I went to get it checked. They couldnt diagnose anything wrong as everything looked healthy and I had no idea about any other symptoms or what vertigo was at the time.
Also at this point I began getting 'indescribable (vertigo) attacks', the same as what I had experienced in my teens around every 1-2 months. They pretty much felt like I was going to collapse and die, I couldnt walk and felt like I had severe flu / fever symptoms and I had to go to bed. They normally lasted around 8 hours during which I would cursing / swearing in my head telling myself 'I need to go see a doctor, I need to go see a doctor etc etc etc'.
The following mornings I'd wake up and be completely fine, and think, oh that was actually nothing? Hmmm, I wonder what it was, most likely a migraine or something'.
This kept on going on for several years (about 4 or 5) while I was very active at uni and with a part time job and lots of extra curricular stuff. Everytime it happened I would have to go to bed, or if I was anywhere else call a sicky for this 'thing that I had no idea how to describe or what it was'.
In my final year of uni (and also work), my right ear began losing hearing very suddenly and sharply around March / April. After completing the year at uni I got a 36 hour contract for my basic supermarket job, the plan being to carry on working there while applying for better jobs.
Over the summer, I went from having the 'indescribable attacks feeling like death and doom' from monthly to weekly. At times I even had them several times per week. My absence rate skyrocketed, and a few times I was calling into work saying 'I'm too dizzy to even walk down the stairs or leave the house and walk to work'.
Following that I had a disciplinary interview, in which I was given my final warning (no more absences for 3 months or sacked), and during this one of the managers mentioned that if I was having dizzyness problems, this could be due to this ... that .... or the
EARS. My brain was like 'OMG you herp derp, You should have known that'.
I didnt really manage to go long without having another (now know to me from a little research) vertigo attack, and called up to my job and told them that since I was on my final warning, I wouldnt bother going back. I called up the parents and asked to move back home.
I found out that I had Meniere's Disease from my own research and proceeded with seeing doctors and getting NHS appointments, but it took me two more years and 3 hospitals to actually get it diagnosed, but the Jobcentre put me on the lowest rate for IB from 6 months after I had left work, and 2 health assessments later I was on the highest rate permanently (or so it should be until I'm 65).
Several years after that, I had permanent balance loss / dizzyness / lightheadedness / cognitive dysfunction and cant walk or even sit anywhere outside or in busy buildings with lots of sound without getting vertigo attacks. Traveling in any automobile (car or bus) makes me feel extremely faint / passing out sensation, and upon leaving the vehicle, I get a rather splendid 'Bouncy ball / ricocheting vertigo where I feel like I'm being constantly pushed forwards and backwards. I also get occasional migraine associated vertigo attacks now that can last anywhere from 3-5 days, but with how many I keep on getting I've pretty much learned to just /ignore them and stay sat in my chair during the day, but I cant go outside.
The last time I left the house to go to A+E for my lung infection, I was pretty much sat in the waiting room feeling like I was constantly spinning, and very lethargic and fatigued as I am if i even try to do some shopping at the supermarket or sit at a bus stop (not a very common occurrence anymore, but I used to have to go from Bradford to Leeds General Infirmary which was the place that managed to finally diagnose me in my first appointment from my past medical info).
Also almost everytime I cough or sneeze, I get sharp shocks of vertigo like my head is being clobbered with a giant hammer and my eyes shake and vision goes blurry (vestibular nystagmus). But all my brain scans show that theres nothing wrong, and everysingle physical test shows that my body is physically 100% healthy (meaning I cant get DLA). The only detectable things are the hearing loss in both ears, and complete failure at balance tests.
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