The 'E' in ENT - Part 1

In the past 2-3 months, M has started to have dizzy spells every now and then. And these giddy attacks have had such impact on everything, it's really quite worrying.

Amongst the earliest of these attacks in these recent months were:

1) several mornings when I would wake up at 5:30am to find her sitting upright on the sofa, sometimes awake and other times snoozing away;

2) several mornings when she would return from her morning exercise/marketing trips in a 'dazed' and uncomfortable state, almost always heading to the toilet for a quick shower before slumbing onto the sofa or onto her bed, not daring to open her eyes because the room would be 'spinning';

3) several times (including one morning, barely 10 minutes after I reached my office) when I had to rush home from work because M was feeling so terribly unwell that she called and asked in her most feeble voice, “LP 啊！我不知道为什么，头又晕起来了。我看你不可以去做工了！很要紧啊！”;

4) twice when she asked for housecall by that B51 Quack - once 'successfully' (B51 Quack 'happy' only!) and once not, because on that latter occasion, I managed to persuade M to go with R to the A&E instead for a more thorough check (the A&E doctors found nothing wrong after keeping her for observation for the entire afternoon that day, then sending her home with a referral to the ENT Specialist Clinic a week later);

5) at the ENT Clinic at SGH, M underwent some hearing tests and was given the all-green. The Senior Consultant examined M's ears and found nothing abnormal. He explained that our sense of balance ususally deteriorates with age and unless the giddiness persists continuously for 6 months or so, there is not need to go for further investigations or detailed scans. M was given biloba, which she took;

6) one day when M suddenly remembered that there is one 'very good' ENT specialist at Parklane Mall who had resolved her post-nsal drip problem, so R accompanied her there for a consultation. The doctor said that there was nothing wrong;

7) several times when she visited a Chinese physician at a community clinic run by the Buddhist Lodge - the Chinese physician concluded that M had a weak digestive system and that is why the 'gas' from the system would give rise to some 'pressure' which then travels upwards to the sensory organs in her ears and thereby causing her to feel giddy and nauseous - the recommended treatment is to strengthen the digestive system (with some medicine prescribed by that Chinese physician) and once this is achieved, the giddiness will 'automatically' go away or be reduced.

For several weeks, M religiously took the medicines to strengthen her stomach. Things went ok and all seemed well and good, until Deepavali.

That day, M was sitting on the floor to watch her tv programme in the living room while CP and WY were poring over some past-year exam papers. Then, as M stood up, she suddenly felt an acute sense of imbalance. And then, the 'spinning room' syndrome returned. With vengence.