Far 2 Fabulous

Empower Your Health: Beyond the Initial Diagnosis

• Julie Clark & Catherine Chapman • Episode 29

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Episode 29
What if a simple family holiday could turn your world upside down? Join me, Julie, on this week's episode of Far Too Fabulous as I recount a profound experience from a recent vacation in Spain that led to an unexpected medical journey. Picture playing in the waves with your child, only to be hit by a massive wave that leaves you battling severe vertigo later that evening. Initially attributing it to a bit too much holiday cheer, I soon discovered the real culprit was Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV). This episode reveals the intense daily struggles of living with this condition and underscores the critical lesson of seeking medical advice when confronted with unusual health issues.

But the journey doesn’t end there. I also explore the importance of not taking a single diagnosis at face value. Despite getting a BPPV diagnosis, I sought further opinions and eventually found relief at the Dizzy Clinic in Southend. A specialist there identified a concussion-like effect from the holiday incident, leading me down a path of targeted exercises and treatments that helped me regain my balance and well-being. This episode is a testament to resilience and the power of exploring multiple medical perspectives and complementary health options when traditional treatments fail. Tune in for an inspiring story that encourages empowered choices in your own health journey.

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For more information about Catherine Chapman, click HERE

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Far Too Fabulous hosted by Julie and Catherine. Join us on a mission to embrace your fabulousness and redefine wellness. Get ready for some feistiness, inspiration, candid chats and humour as we journey together towards empowered well-being. Let's dive in.

Speaker 2:

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Far Too Fabulous podcast. Now I'm on my own this week. It's Julie here, catherine is off doing something else, and I had a story to tell you which really only requires me to tell it. So it's got a really, really important message behind it, which is why I wanted to tell you this story, and this episode is probably going to be quite short and sweet, but, like I said, there is a really really important message behind it. So the story I'm going to tell you today is actually about something that happened to me.

Speaker 2:

So at the end of May of this year, we took a family holiday to Spain, had a really lovely time. While I was there, something happened that significantly changed my life, which is why I'm telling you this story. So when I was in Spain, we were in a location where the sea is well. That area is very well known for surfing, so you get these big rolling waves. It's a beautiful place and the waves are amazing, and I love the sea, and so when I'm on holiday in a location like that, I like to act like a complete child and jump in the waves, which is exactly what I did. Now, on this occasion I was in the water with my son and we were having a great time, but the waves were really strong, massive, great, big rollers that were crashing into us and I got a wave. A big, rolling wave crashed right on me. I totally mistimed it and I do remember at the time that it wasn't pleasant because the wave broke right on me and then I got pulled under and at that point I got out because I thought, well, it wasn't pleasant because the wave broke right on me, and then I got pulled under and at that point I got out because I thought, well, that wasn't fun, but I didn't really think too much about it.

Speaker 2:

Then that evening, when we were in our resort, after we'd had our evening and I went to bed, I went to turn over in bed and the room started to spin. So initially I thought, wow, maybe I'd had more drinks than I'd realized, or perhaps they were stronger than I realized, or something to do with that, because I hadn't connected that there may be an issue with the situation with the wave. But anyway, I thought nothing of it and I just thought, silly me, I've just had more than I realized, because it was that sensation that you get where the room spins. I'm sure many of you have experienced that. It's not pleasant and so it lasted for a few seconds and then I went off to sleep.

Speaker 2:

A couple of days later we returned home and then that night when I was at home, I went to turn over in bed again and the room started spinning, and then it got worse and then I had an issue with feeling like I was on a boat all the time. So we got back from our holiday on Friday, on Monday, I phoned the doctor and I was told to go to A&E. So, as you can imagine, there was a long wait at A&E, but I was thinking well, this is unusual. I've not had anything like this before. I didn't know what the cause was. So I think if you've got something like that happen to you or anything going on with your health, then the first place to go really is your doctor, isn't it For the most part? And so that's what I did, and I ended up seeing a doctor who then brought loads of other people in because they were fascinated by the movement of my eyes or something, and they diagnosed something called BPVV, which is benign posterior vestibular vertigo, and so if you've ever experienced anything like this before you know that it is extremely life altering.

Speaker 2:

Now it meant that because I felt like I was on a boat all the time and I had the spinning as well, I initially just kind of powered through. They told me at the hospital that they diagnosed this BPVV. It's when the crystals in your ears that deal with your, your brain. It's a signal back to the brain and the eyes that tell your but, like your brain, where you are in space and time. It tells you at what speed you're moving, at what angle your head is. It's very, very complex and when these crystals move you get a situation where you get the spinning. But I had more than just the spinning, because I also had this horrible feeling every day I got up. It took me ages to get up because of the spinning and then I was walking around a bit like I was drunk because my head was just weird. It's very difficult to explain other than the fact that it felt like I was walking on something that was moving. So that feeling that you get if you walk up the like the, the narrow passage on a train or if you're actually on a boat. And so I was told to when I went to the hospital.

Speaker 2:

I was given some medication because I was feeling sick. I didn't take the medication because I initially went to the doctor to rule out anything sinister, I guess, or serious, because I was thinking this is a symptom that's come out of the blue. It's really altering my ability to function, because driving it didn't feel safe. Just walking the dog was a problem. Bending down to do anything caused the spinning to happen. So putting my shoes on and initially I powered through, because that's the sort of person I am, and I thought well, you know, they've said that it will sort itself out in time, and so I just kind of carried on.

Speaker 2:

And what was interesting is that the side effects for the medication that I was prescribed were all the symptoms that I had. So I am just someone and you might be like me as well that doesn't want to take medication. I want to find out what's going on, and then I want to be able to do things in a different way if I can. Obviously, sometimes medication is needed, and there's nothing wrong with that, but on this case I did not want to take a medication that was going to potentially cause more issues with my symptoms and not really deal with the underlying cause, which was the crystals being in the wrong place. But anyway, I, as I said, I kind of soldiered on. I even went to gymnastics.

Speaker 2:

So many of you listening may know that I am a super fan of gymnastics. I still do gymnastics even though I'm in my 50s. In fact, I'm recording this in the afternoon of a day where I've gone to gymnastics. This morning I was throwing myself over the vault doing a new move, which was a half turning handspring onto the vault, which won't mean anything to a lot of you, but it was really fun. And, yeah, I managed to do lots of things today.

Speaker 2:

But I'd gone to the doctor on that Monday after getting back from holiday, being told I've got this condition really struggling, but decided to go to gymnastics and the thing that kind of got me thinking what is going on is that I did a forward roll, got me thinking what is going on is that I did a forward roll, which I can easily do, and when I stood up I fell over, and so I'd then gone back to the doctor because it wasn't getting any better and I was getting a little bit frustrated. At this point, in fact, I would say that frustration isn't really the right word. I was feeling because I didn't know what to do and I didn't know how to solve the problem. I actually felt really down. So at this point I'd had this problem going on for six weeks. So six weeks of trying to power through but really struggling, not being able to do the things that I like doing gymnastics, karate, trying to walk the dog, but trying to keep my head as still as possible which, by the way, if you ever walk a dog, next time you go walking your dog, see how often your head is moving because you got, you know you're looking out for them and they pull you in different directions and they suddenly stop because they. You stop because they smell something good. So there is a good end to this story, by the way, and it's the reason why I wanted to do this podcast is not just to tell you all about myself, but to give you a really powerful message.

Speaker 2:

So, after seven weeks of this issue and, like I said, it was so debilitating, it's horrible, absolutely horrible, horrible. Anybody who's ever had any problems with in their ears, with their balance and with dizziness will know exactly how I was feeling. I was really low, I got really upset. I said to my husband I don't know what to do. I don't I normally have the answers when it comes to my health. I can. I can find a way around things and I can help myself. And I just didn't know what to do. And it wasn't getting any better and the doctor was saying well, it, you know, it just may take a little bit of time and then you may never have an episode of it again. So this is where it starts to get important, and please listen, because something might happen to you with your health at any point. You know, know, I'd gone on holiday perfectly healthy.

Speaker 2:

I come back and I can't function for nearly two months at this point, and so what I decided to do was not accept the diagnosis. And this is not about bashing the doctors or anything, but this is about understanding that they have limitations, and I can imagine that many people in this position would just have had to have sit it out and wait for some miraculous change in those crystals in their ears happening. The thing that was most strange was that the spinning was the classic symptom for that diagnosis, but not the rest of it, not the being on a boat or feeling light-headed all the time. That was something that puzzled the the doctors a bit. They were considering doing some scans, but, as I said, perfectly healthy blood pressure, fine, blood tests, fine, everything's fine for.

Speaker 2:

So, at this low point, when I was just saying to my husband, I, you know, I'm in tears, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, I then thought, hang a minute, I have got a choice here to not accept this diagnosis and to seek further help. And this is something that I've had to do on a couple of occasions in my life, with health in particular. So, as many of you know, if you don't know, I became a nutritionist because I had all these symptoms that the doctor couldn't fathom out. It turned out to be chronic fatigue, ibs. It caused lots of issues when I was in my late teens, early twenties, and I decided not to accept the diagnosis on that occasion because the diagnosis was ultimately depression. Well, you do feel low when you've got these issues, like I did with this ear problem only a matter of two weeks ago now, at the time of recording this podcast.

Speaker 2:

And so I decided to not accept that diagnosis completely and to seek help, and so I started to look with Google, reach out to people that I know in my field, because there are amazingly skilled and knowledgeable people in the field of I'll call it alternative health but I don't like the word alternative complementary health, whatever it may be and I got recommended a place called the Dizzy Clinic in Southend. So on this day when I was deciding I don't know what to do, I put in a call to the Dizzy Clinic in Southend. So South End, from where I live, is two hours drive if the traffic's okay, so it was a distance to go. But the guy rang me back that day and explained to me what was happening and I made an appointment to go and see him and in fact he came. He said you're coming such a long way, I'm going to come in on my day off to see you. And this again, this is exactly what happens with people that just want to help people. And so I went to see him and he said, yes, you have got BPVV.

Speaker 2:

But also, having run some other tests, there was one that really freaked me out. I had to stand in the middle of a room and, with my eyes closed, march on the spot for quite a while, and he asked me how confident, are you, that you've stayed on the spot? And I could tell you that I was 100% confident that I'd hardly moved. And he said I want you to open your eyes and not be alarmed. Well, I could not. I still cannot believe what happened here. But I'd been marching on the spot with my eyes closed, not thinking that I'd moved anywhere, and when I opened my eyes it was a fairly big room like a yoga studio size room. I was on the other side of the room, facing the other direction, and I had no idea I'd done that.

Speaker 2:

And so, having done a thorough examination of me and a lot of things, he discovered that I'd suffered a trauma to my head from the wave on holiday. I mean, I still can't believe it. Yes, water is powerful, but I didn't feel like I'd been, you know, really hit around the head or anything, but basically I'd suffered a trauma to that part of my head, like a concussion, and so I've got to do some exercises to retrain that part of my brain, to ear, to my eyes, to understand where I am in time and space. The spinning sensation was a maneuver that he did to move the crystals back into the correct part of the ear the weirdest feeling ever. If you've ever been to Disney and been on the ride Terror Towers, in the lift where it drops, that's what it feels like horrible feeling. But he did that on the on the first appointment and it took the spinning away, which meant that I could sleep, because the problem with having the spinning and the crystals in the wrong place is as soon as I laid down or rolled over, I got the spinning and it woke me up. So that was horrible. But now I have to do some rehabilitation. So I've got exercises to do to reconnect that ear, brain, eye, that whole feedback loop that tells your brain that you're moving or you're not, and at what speed and at what angle and if you're going forwards or backwards or left or right. He explained it to me.

Speaker 2:

It was absolutely fascinating and I just thought to myself if I hadn't done that investigation myself, I would still be having to go back to the doctor now and probably being told that at some point it will get better. I don't know how long that would have taken, if at all. I don't know how long that would have taken, if at all. I don't know how many people have got issues like that and they don't think that there's an alternative.

Speaker 2:

Yesterday I was listening to, I was in the car driving, I was listening to Jeremy Vine and I got so cross I ended up doing a bit of shouting at the radio and I wish that I wasn't driving or I could have stopped to phone into the program because they were doing an episode on adult acne and what's interesting, what was interesting about that episode was that they had their normal Dr, sarah Jarvis I think her name is on there and they had a mum ring in who had a daughter who was a dancer and she'd suffered with acne to the point where it's impacting her confidence to go for auditions. And the mum was saying we've done this drug, that drug, we've tried this, we've tried that, and all the doctor could offer was well, there is another medication that you could try. And the mum's saying she's really fit, she's a vegetarian, and the doctor was just saying that if there is another medication, go back to your GP. And the mum was saying we've been, we've tried all these things and the doctor was saying there is a medication, but she would need to be screened because there are a risk of clots in the lungs. Now I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want my daughter with a skin problem to be put on a medication that the side effect is clots in the lungs, especially if she's a dancer, because well, not especially because any child or young adult.

Speaker 2:

She was a young adult, I think she was in her early 20s and been suffering, but she'd gone down the usual routes go on the pill, take this medication, do that, use these creams, use these lotions and potions and I was literally screaming at the radio because there are other solutions and sometimes you have to go and look for them so you don't have to accept the diagnosis. Like I said at the start, yes, go and see your doctor if you've got any concerns about your health, to find out what's going on and then trust your gut feeling about stuff. Just don't accept a situation where you've just got to ride it out or you've just got to get on with life, or. I see this a lot in my clinic with things like IBS. People's lives are seriously impacted with digestive issues where they can't go far, they can't be away from a toilet, there's embarrassing symptoms there and they have this often. I would say the magic number for people coming to see me with these problems is 10 years. They've suffered for 10 years and there are people that are trained in the way that I have that will know how best to help that.

Speaker 2:

And with this skin issue, I'm thinking to myself what is going on with the gut? Because the skin reflects the gut. She's on a vegetarian diet, so is her diet full of cheese and wheat? Because we know that gluten and dairy can be a trigger for acne. What about her hormones? Have her hormones been looked into? Is she able to detoxify? How much sugar is in her diet? What about chemicals in things? Honestly, there were so many things.

Speaker 2:

I felt really frustrated, but then I realized the doctor has only got medication in her toolbox. That doctor on the Jeremy Vine show has only got that. The same as when I went to see my doctor with this problem. They've only got a medication to help support the symptoms because the dizziness was making me feel sick. That's all they've got.

Speaker 2:

So sometimes you have to say I don't accept the diagnosis, is there another option? And then go and look for it. And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to do this podcast, like I said, not to just go on about, you know, my, my issues, but that was extremely life-altering to come back off holiday and not be able to function for nearly two months. But then go and see someone that I sought out because I didn't accept that I would just get on with that and then have that person explain everything to me, because that's what they do. They're a specialist and when I was talking to him, so he's an expert in ear problems and I said to him why did the doctor not know to do this maneuver on me, at least to get rid of the spinning?

Speaker 2:

And he said the trouble is and I and I recognize this in my own work is that it takes so long for new ways of thinking to come through the NHS. I think it's getting better, but he said that basically the NHS is about 30 years behind when it comes to these conditions and they don't know enough about it. And this is the problem that we've got. So and, like I said, I see this in the work that I do. You know it slowly comes into the NHS, but they're so old school and everything's got to be obviously backed up. But sometimes the most you know obvious things we don't try because we got a medicine for it, but that's the only tool in the doctor's toolbox only tool in the doctor's toolbox.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, the message from this episode really is if you're ever in a position, or you're in a position now where you've got something going on with your health that is impacting your life and the doctor has not been able to help you other than to give you a medicine to mask the symptoms, then please do not accept the diagnosis and go and get help elsewhere. Look for the people. Google is brilliant for looking for help and if you manage to find somebody, like I did, who specializes in that problem that I had knows exactly what to do. There was that was one. I needed one appointment and now I've got some exercises to do and I was able to go to gymnastics this morning. I will go back to karate and be able to just get on with my life as normal, because before I couldn't, and it was for nearly two months, and that was really, really depressing.

Speaker 2:

So I hope you found this useful. It's a little bit different and a little bit of an unusual episode. I felt so strongly about it because this has happened to me a few times in my life and every time I've not accepted the diagnosis, there's been a positive outcome. I've learned something new, I've met a new person. With knowledge, I've managed to help myself, and so please do the same for yourself. I look forward to seeing you on the next episode and the next one. I'm sure we'll be back with katherine bye now.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for keeping us company today. If you enjoyed the podcast, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us on our mission to reach a thousand women in our first year, so share with your friends and family. You might just change your life. Connect with us on social media and make your life easier by joining our podcast mailing list. You'll find the links in the show notes. Your weekly episode will be delivered straight to your inbox every thursday morning. Make it a fabulous week and we'll catch you in the next episode.