Originally Posted by
rans6andrew
I am suffering from BPPV or Menieres or Vertigo, there seems to be confusion in the medical profession about the condition, but for the layman it is a condition of the middle ear which causes dizziness and nausea. There seems to be nothing effective at treating the cause.
Has anyone any experience of this condition who can offer some advice regarding getting back in the cockpit at the soonest?
rans6,
I have great empathy for your situation having had a form of it myself many years ago. I suspect my case wasn't as serious as yours ( a floating sensation vs spinning vertigo) but being an airline pilot, I immediately self grounded and set about dealing with it but in FAA land which may be different than your obstacles.
I initially dealt with ALPA Aeromedical people who told me they get a call a week about equilibrium issues. It's pretty common.
I don't think the medical profession can be faulted for their response to these cases because there can be so many causes that just takes time to be investigated. It took three months and many scans, visits to specialists who just couldn't seem to understand than I was an airline pilot and needed fast, intense response(one guy told me to call it quits and just retire), nastagmograms, countless Eply maneuvers, etc.
In the end, it just went away with no diagnosis of what it was or what if anything I did caused to stop but merely a statement of what it wasn't. My local FAA AME was very well known to the FAA and interceded with all the documentation I had accumulated to get my First Class medical reinstated. It never appeared again. Very frustrating.
The moral to my boring story is that this will likely take some time to investigate. If your income doesn't hang in the balance, you're far ahead of the game.
Best wishes. Hang in there.