what is worse then vertigo? putting things into perspective.

Vertigo is bad, but is it the worst thing one can experience? What have you experienced that puts vertigo to "shame" (can be anything not only a medical condition)

please share and help us all see things in perspective

 

There I absolutely nothing worse than vertigo. It is te worst human affliction there is.

Laying on the floor unable to move barfing for hours at a time while shitting yoursef at the same time, nothin can b worse. Vertigo is simply the worst thing going. Once one attack I over all we have to look forward to is the next attack.

It is life limiting and the reason why people destroy their inner ears, so they don't have to live with it.

 

I would rather be in a wheelchair than with my head in a bucket twice a week for hours at a time. Vertigo is life limiting, Wheelchair means independence, freedom, Normal life in many regards.

 

I'll be interested to see what people post here.

For me, I have never experienced anything as bad as vertigo. No amount of pain or sickness has even been in the ballpark.

I have a good friend that had a bone marrow transplant for leukemia and she was violently ill during the chemo/radiation part of that treatment. I wonder if that would be similar to vertigo?

 

Vertigo is horrible but for me experiencing "drop attacks" is worse. My first drop attack knocked me out when I was slammed to the ground while I was out for a walk. I now have a shoulder that will need surgery, but I was lucky I was not killed. When I came to I could not figure out what "hit" me. Drop attacks took away my independence and to me there is nothing worse. I have to agree with Bulldogs, when something like this strikes there is only one way to be sure that it won't happen again. It took 4 drop attacks before I decided enough is enough.

 

Having no ears is better than vertigo and drop attacks.

I choose to never live with vertigo again.

 

I agree with "Drop attacks" as being worse than the vertigo because when it happens you have no control of your body and no way to break your fall. I had 3 of them over a years period but none since then and that was over 5 years ago. Imagine what would happen if you had a drop attack while driving a car going 65-70 MPH. I ended up in the ER because I fell in a car dealership and banged my hear on the marble floor. OUCH!!!

Piggy

 

I would rather have hearing and deal with the vertigo than to have no hearing at all.

Piggy

 

Piggy:
you are lucky to be alive!!!

 

Piggy:
do you have a ci?

 

I'm just the opposite - I would trade all my hearing for no disequilibrium - based on losing all vestibular function and most hearing. I could still hear a little with a hearing aid, so I don't know what total deafness is like, though.

Either way, it's not a good bargain.

 

For me vertigo is indeed awful but there is nothing worse than the death of a loved one. I can recover fairly well from a vertigo attack but I can't recover as well from losing a loved one.

 

I can think of one suffering with worse things than vertigo, such as a terminal illness or death, but vertigo is certainly the worst thing I have ever experienced.

It is totally disabling and invisible to others which is probably as bad as the frustration of somebody or anybody not knowing what you are experiencing.

If I was still experiencing vertigo constantly I would definately kill the ear. Fortunately I am not but I have alot of sympathy for anyone who is.

 

I agree that vertigo is a horrible experience and I've been there on that floor sweating and barfing and in a total state of helpless panic for up to three hours. However, would you trade that for:

1) Inoperable brain tumor that has you also helpless and unable to function for months knowing that you are going to die.
2) Having a wife or child or grandchild with the above inoperable brain tumor knowing that you were helpless to do anyting about it but watch the aforesaid wife, child, grandchild suffer.
3) Having, or seeing a wife, child or grandchild suffering and dying with any other condition you care to look up....Lou Gehrig's disease is a good choice. It gradually takes away your power to move and then even the power to eat or breath till you die a horrible death sufficating in your own bodily fluids.
4) Being a quadraplegic like Steve Reeves was, unable to move from the neck down, having a machine breath for you and being a complete burden to all of your friends and family for as long as you live.
5) Having a really debilitating stroke and becoming enough of a vegitable to prevent you from living or really communicating and being a burden to your friends and family for as long as you live
5) I could think of dozens more but I'm tired of typing.

Listen folks, as horrible, miserable, life halting, and embarrassing as a violent vertigo attack can be, it's usually something that's over in some matter of time with some level of normal living in between. As uncomfortable as the tinnitus and hearing loss is, it's usually livable. Like jaypr said above, being helpless in a vertigo attack is probably the worst thing I have "fortunately" had to experience thus far in my life. If I'm really lucky, maybe it will continue to be the worst thing till I get hit by a train or shot by a jealous husband on my 99th birthday.

 

Good point Poppa - there are many things that could be worse.

My dad had a great line one time I was talking to him. It was right after I lost all the hearing in my left ear, but we were talking about MM in general. He said that he was sorry that all this was happening to me. My reply was, thanks for that, but at least it's not my wife or one of the kids that has it. His reply, "Good point".

 

I've never had severe vertigo as described by so many on this site. But, I can't help but wonder about the title. What is it supposed to represent? That there are things worse than vertigo goes without saying. I know I've never had one but there are so many physical and psysological things that could be worse. To recount them makes it more liveable or makes one be able to endure it more easily? Just what is the author trying to do here?

May I ask who it is helping to count those things that are worse? That seems to me that it makes the vertigo people who suffer more feeble for not being able to 'handle it' because 'it could be worse'.

The title caught my eye and so I read the answers. It was depressing to read people recounting that in their life which made them more unhappy and more miserable than vertigo. What's the other perspective? What's better than vertigo - well, not having it of course.

Sorry, I don't intend to be mean but I know it's coming out that way. I just don't understand how this topic will help people live with this disease. 'It could be worse' and 'it's really not the worst thing that can happen to you'. Tell that to the many people who've said that during a vertigo attack they wish they could just die and be done with it...

 

<< Tell that to the many people who've said that during a vertigo attack they wish they could just die and be done with it... >>>

True, in the middle of a vertigo attack, I've probably said that. But when the smoke clears, maybe some re-thinking takes place and I understand that it's not a good idea to challenge God or Mother Nature or Fate or Karma whatever determines the path of life. I'm a firm believer in the concept of "it could always be worse". I once wrote something here about looking around you the next time you're in a hospital and see people who are undergoing some sort of cancer treatment hoping to prolong their lives by another couple of months and ask yourself if you'd want to trade places with them. Look at a kid who has lost their arms or legs or eyes in an accident and has their whole life to live with that challenge....want to trade places with them? Look at a mother who has been told that her child isn't going to live. Want to trade places with her?

One of the things that I do that I hate myself for is when things get tough and I say to myself "I hate my life". Then I step back and realize how dumb, stupid, ungrateful, selfish, childish, irreverant, sinful, a statement like that is and I wish I could kick myself in the ass. Nobody gets out of this life alive and nobody gets through life without some serious suffering at one point or another. The strong and the brave are the ones who recognize that and handle it with as much grace and class as they can muster. There are some brave people with one hell of a lot of class here in this forum, and I try to learn from them.

 

A 16 year old (who seemed to have it all - an athlete, good family etc.) in our community commited suicide on Friday. Can't imagine anything worse than that.

 

I have a different perspective. I don't compare upwards or downwards. When I am in vertigo mode there is no fking way I can think of those who are worse off than me. For that hour, day, week, I AM in hell.

When I am fine, I don't think of how much better I could be. I am fine. Period.

I experience these things in their context because if I compare upward or downward, it does nothing to help me deal with where I am.

Yes there is worse, but there is also much better. If I allow myself to get caught up in these thoughts I would not have the energy to face my day.

 

You are SO right papa. The old saying, "walk a mile in their shoes" is so true. Each person feels that his/her problem is the worst that could be. How would you like to have a failing kidney or liver and have to have dialysis every day? How would you like pain 24/7? There is ALWAYS something worse, just during an attack it's hard to think of it. I've been vertigo free for a year now - THANK GOD, but I'm not counting my chickens. I enjoy every day to the fullest as long as I am able. Since I'm almost 76, who knows how long that will be. Donna