DJ, I had to re-post a response because I couldn't see your post while replying.

I'm definitely anxious. The anxiety has gotten way out of control. I can't answer the phone, can't make phone calls, can't go outside unless I'm with my husband (though if he takes me out somewhere, he can drop me off and I'm fine and can walk home with no problem - but just getting out my front door alone is a baffling and debilitating issue). So yes, I need help with the anxiety. And taking this AD might be the first step.

The dessicated adrenal sounds intriguing. The AD will take a few weeks to make any difference, but if some of these other problems persist, I'll look into adding it.

We eat a lot of fresh veggies here. Hubby eats a lot of fruit, but I can't tolerate too much. I feel much better snacking on proteins than fruit. And I have to have red meat every so often...even hubby can tell now when it's time to have a steak for supper. But my appetite has gone way down lately.

Thank you so much for sharing all of this, DJ. You've given me a lot of great information that may help turn this around for me.

EagleH, I did get my ENT specialist referral from a family doctor. ENT then referred me to the hearing testing clinic where extensive testing was done as explained earlier.

I also told my sister, who is a family doctor. She supported 100% of the specialists who were recommended to me to visit. She was very glad I was tested by..the right sources.

Just this past weekend, I met up with a bunch of cyclists. One of them an active 70+ grandmother who still cycles. She was recovering from eye surgery. She had an isolated incident of vertigo. So she did see an ENT, he had her do some simple head movements...to move the crystal in the ears ...and then she was.....fine. This woman used to be a full-time nurse..so somebody already body-aware..

Support group means this:

http://www.balanceanddizziness.org/resources-speakers/index.html

In Toronto
• Toronto, ON
Co-leaders: Heather DesRoches, RN; Don Lynch
Meniere's Support Group
The Toronto Hospital EN7-209
200 Elizabeth St.
7 Eaton 213
Toronto, ON M5G 2C4
(416) 340-3665
Fax: (416) 340-3745
e-mail: heather.desroches@uhn.on.ca
meeting location: 30 Gloucester St.

Meniere's is a more severe, long-term condition. However this hospital ..is a large teaching, research hospital in downtown Toronto. A teaching hospital usually means the physicians must be on top of the latest developments in their speciality areas so that they can do research and teach....medical students/intersn.

Do seriously send an email to them and ask if they can recommend a contact in Ottawa. You simply need to be pointed in the right direction.

I have experienced dizziness from lack of proper food energy sources...only under highly active cycling situations and high hot humid summers...100% humidity, 35 degrees C and cycling for 45 kms. with only some bread and water for breakfast after a hot night of camping...let's see that was in Kingston, Ontario. On highway 401... Yes, really...lightning storm was also booming in distance. Needless to say, way too much stimuli going on then. Yes, I nearly fell off the bike when world turned abit too grey/black for me, before I stopped at a donut shop.

My intuition tells me powerfully, it's highly doubtful your diet has been completely out of whack. There's something very solid about you EH, that at the very least, you would feed yourself right.

I have every confidence in you EH. The only difference between you and my sister, is my sister with the temporary balance problems, lives alone and has to manage her house.

And EH this is a group of healthy, active women who did experience vertigo temporarily. Several of these women are over 40..and closer to my age ..close to 50.

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=20136&highlight=vertigo

Orchid, those conditions wold make me dizzy even not on a bike! Bread and water for breakfast by itself would send my head into a spin.

I was wondering whether Canada has been infected by the pharma industry that dominates US medicine? My husband has been seeing a really good allergist for his asthma...but then realized that the medication he was taking was making his asthma worse.

But I digress.
EH, I think you're right, that your feeling of depression might be a symptom of something else. Check out this link my sister found. It's mostly a critique of a health industry dominated by pharmaceutical companies:

http://phmiraclechanges.blogspot.com/search?q=blood+pressure

Another thing you might explore is intestinal candida. It's related to many symtoms, including dizziness, depression, slurring of speech (? -- I don't know how they figured out that one) and biting your tongue! I also treated candida and occasionally do detoxes.

For ten years I taught in an outpatient center for adults with severe mental illnesses, including depression. We had a discussion once about how it was better to say "I have mental illness" rather than "I am mentally ill" to separate oneself from the condition." I have depression today," rather than "I am depressed" can make a difference in one's outlook.




It talks about the dominant approach of medicine to treat sysmptoms rather than root causes.

DJ, I read that article at the link. It was an interesting perspective, but a little too simplistic in places. For example, to say that the cure-all for clinical depression is simply more sunlight is just too misleading. I spent 6 weeks in Cuba last year, sitting out in the sun for most of the time, and I cried through most of that 6 weeks. Though to be fair, it was the first-year anniversary of my brother's death. Still, after all I've experienced first-hand and studied over the years, I'm more inclined to believe that there's no such thing as a cure-all, or one cause or one answer for everybody who suffers from depression. For some it really is a chemical imbalance (eg, seratonin deficiency) and all the sunlight/diet/exercise in the world won't help until the underlying imbalance is corrected. For others, relief will only come through lifestyle changes. But that's what makes something like depression such an easy target for stigmatizing and misunderstanding, because it's so difficult to isolate "THE" definitive problem and then treat it with a cure-all, like they can with diabetes or other more scientifically-measureable diseases.

But I do agree that much of our suffering and dis-ease comes from lifestyle choices. That can be borne out when you study different cultures and see how much healthier they are when you strip away the processed foods and sedentary lifestyle.

And, too, we're a product of our environment. Victims of abuse
for example have an uphill battle to overcome downtrodden
mood swings! IMO

Orchid, thanks for all of your research and information here. If the vertigo continues to be a problem, I'll insist on seeing an ENT (we have a good one just down the street). It's still there, but just on the fringes now. I had a good sleep last night, first one since Friday night.

The only thing about our diet is that we did get get way off during our trip to Europe in October. Our meal times were sporadic, supper was often very late at night and it was all pre-planned restaurant food (and often cold), so we had little control over the meal choices unless it was a buffet.

Since our return, I admit to eating more white foods than we have in years...breads, white flour, pastries (which we NEVER have in the house ordinarily)...and because of hubby's working schedule and my fatigue, we've often resorted to frozen dinners (ie, processed, additives and higher sodium). This is not our usual diet. We normally live on fresh veggies (the more colour the better) and lots of fish. We're getting back to our healthier choices, but it's highly possible that my body is rebelling against all the crap I've been feeding it since October. I read years ago in Northrup's Wisdom of Menopause that white foods are poison to the menopausal woman. my body is manifesting the truth of that!

Jabber, you're so right. I've read in many places (and I think that Princess Lenora has also researched and discussed this) that abuse, especially early childhood abuse, literally rewires us. Abusive environments skew the way we process life, and our psyches are forever impacted to some extent, depending on the severity/longevity of the abuse. In other words, we can feel that we are forever swimming against the tide because the abuse has broken our ability to see the world the same way as the majority of people around us. It takes long years of hard work to "rewire the attic" but I'm not sure that it's possible to completely erradicate the scars that abuse leaves on us. But I think we have to keep striving to believe in other possibilities for ourselves and hopefully weave our hard-won wisdom into ways to help others through their own rewiring journey.

Louise Hay touches all illness from a metapysical stance...and hard though it is to "Own" this I can see some merit...
great news is she gives affirmations.
the friend who introduced this to me said little apart from advising that I decide for myself...this I pass on.

When among people I listen to the language they use to describe their feeelings/symptoms...often there is a link.

Mountain ash

MA, I've been reading some of Louise Hay's thoughts, as well as a great deal about the Law of Attraction over the past while, and have worked diligently on changing focus/attitude/language. I believed in it, could see the merit, but have yet to succeed at it in my own life, and not for lack of trying and "doing" visualizations and positive thinking.

I think that there is an element of frustration and bafflement in the mix of my so-called depressive mood these days, because even after months of affirmations, gratitude and positive thinking, I'm still spiralling and cannot find my way out through these means alone. Maybe it's because there is an air of desperation in my diligence, rather than pure belief, and perhaps "the universe" responds to the underlying desperation/fear rather than the spoken desire and behaviours I'm changing in an effort to rise above.

At any rate, after reading all of these books and diligent efforts to improve, I still haven't figured out how to succeed or make this law of attraction work for me. I haven't given up, I just need interim help to stay healthy and safe while continuing to learn how to do it Hay's way.