It is quite possible that you may never have heard of Meniere’s Disease or MD as it sometimes referred to.

Prior to my diagnosis in 2007 I hadn’t heard of MD either. My first experience was a few days of feeling like I had water trapped in my right ear, a bit like you get sometimes after swimming. This wasn’t anything more than irritating at first and made hearing things a bit awkward.

 The first ‘attack’ happened, rather embarrassingly, in a shop near home. I became incredibly overheated incredibly quickly and the room started spinning uncontrollably. Holding on to a wall was about the only thing I could do to stop myself from falling over. If you’ve ever had one too many shandies you’ll get a vague idea of the feeling and what it will do to your breakfast! On this occasion I had to phone home for someone to come and get me as there was no way I could drive. Once home the only place that felt ‘safe’ was literally lying on the bathroom floor for several hours. Once things had returned to 'normal' I was left  with  high pitched ringing in my right ear and earache. For a while it was considered I probably had a bit of an ear infection and things would clear up.

 The problem was that things didn’t really clear up and the ‘attacks’ became more frequent and on occasion more severe. Apart from the immediate unpleasantness the problem was that with each attack my hearing was being permanently damaged. The other less obvious side effect of Meniere’s disease is the psychological effect it can have on you. As an attack can be incredibly unpredictable (hence the name) you  end up feeling incredibly anxious about doing everyday activities like driving , socialising in noisy environments as you can’t hear properly and on some days you simply worry about going out at all. Because there are no easily visible symptoms it is difficult for friends, family or even employers to fully understand the issues. For many this leads to depression and loneliness.

 I was lucky enough to have a GP who recognised the symptoms swiftly and I received a referral to ENT. There is no cure for Meniere’s Disease but there are several options for management of the symptoms each becoming more invasive or destructive. The process of ruling out what works for you can be long and drawn out. Medication did not work for me, nor did the excruciating steroid injections in the ear drum, the first, experimental, surgery had a reasonable success for a year but soon after the attacks started again. Thankfully the second surgery, whilst being more destructive to my hearing has succeeded so far. It may not last forever but it’s certainly allowing me to get on with things.

Therefore, I’ve decided to enter the Cambridge ½ Marathon. Not just because I feel it would be a good way to raise funds for the Meniere’s society (whose work is invaluable in providing information and advice not only for the sufferer but their friends and family) but, as anyone who has known me long enough will testify, my default position is not graceful athlete. My default position is sofa! I never actually completed a cross country run at school , in fact I hated them so much I would create all manner of excuses to try and get out of them. So, for me, this is about taking on the challenge because I can!

 Please give what you can to sponsor me. Every pound helps someone, maybe someone you know!