Daniel and I had a lovely morning.  We ate breakfast at Panera, discussed our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World, and headed to Border’s to pick up an online order (I managed to get at nearly 60% of the original price).  After our errands we did some practical bits around the house, ate leftover Chicago-style pizza, and decided it was time to chill for a bit.

So, here we are, sitting in the south-facing front room, enjoying the plentiful sunshine, and listening to the water feature melting snow pour off the house.  I’ve been catching up on the posts about my Mayo Clinic 2011 trip, so it seemed like a good time to catch up on some Mayo Clinic Radio.

Mayo Clinic Medical Edge Weekend is an hour long radio program that takes place each Saturday morning at 9 am CST.  The host, Dr. Tom Shives, is an experienced radio host and an orthopedic surgeon. He interviews specialists from Mayo Clinic with questions submitted via the website and Twitter (using #MayoRadio). They also accept a few questions via the phone, during the live broadcast.

Today, I thought it’d be fitting to listen to the June 5, 2010 broadcast on dizziness featuring Drs. Scott Eggers and Neil Shepard.  If you’ve ever struggled with dizziness, nausea, or feeling lightheaded, I strongly recommend you give this a listen.  The recording is about 45 minutes in length, and it held my (and my husband’s) attention for the duration.

A few notes…

• I appreciate their explanation of the different things people mean when they say they’re dizzy. For me, dizzy typically means I feel like my brain is a top, spinning around within the confines of my skull. A few times the sensation has grown so severe I become ill. But, rarely, if ever, have I felt like the world is actually spinning with me as the stand-in sun.
• My doctors believe I do not get enough blood supply or oxygen to my brain, but I’m not on medicine to lower my blood pressure.  In fact, one of my medicines was prescribed to raise my blood pressure, while the other was prescribed to lower my heart rate.  However, I pretty much fit the description of what happens when you’re taking medicine to lower your blood pressure.  (More on this issue tomorrow.)
• I love that they explain that benign things aren’t really benign if they are debilitating.  They may not be life-ending, but they are life-chaning.  But, I’ll take life-changing over life-ending, any day.

Now I’m thinking…

• Could any of my concussions have caused some of my current symptoms?
• Are my symptoms the result of something viral that will eventually resolve itself?
• Seriously?!  The Q-tip was created to clean baby belly buttons?  I never knew.  (Am I alone in being totally grossed out by belly buttons of any age, shape, or size?  Even the word makes me feel ill.)

While dizziness is a symptom I live with daily, I recognize we all have different trials.  Is there a health-related issue you’d like to learn about?  Head to their Upcoming Programs page to see if it’s on the calendar.  If not, tweet your recommendation @MayoClinic.  (Be sure to hashtag #MayoRadio.)

Do you have any Mayo-related questions?  Let me know.  Head over to the My Life with Fibro Facebook page, become a fan, and leave a comment.  I’m compiling the most frequently asked questions and will be posting the answers at the conclusion of my Mayo Clinic 2011 series.