Vertigo A Survivor's Story

About the Book

To look at me, I was perfectly healthy and normal. But no one knew the demons I was battling inside.  Vertigo can't be seen on the outside like a broken arm.  Nor can it be seen on the inside like test results from Cancer.  Vertigo is an illness that only the person who has it believes that they do.  There are no tests to confirm it just a consistent onslaught of symptoms that affect a person's entire life.  These symptoms include constant spinning, pressure in the head, loud ringing in the ears, sensitivity to light and sound and the inability to focus properly among others.  It's a terrible way to have to live your life, which is exactly what I did for three years.  There is no one who can completely understand the tremendous suffering one goes through until they have experienced Vertigo for themselves.   I had never even heard of the word Vertigo, until July 12, 1996. We were at a baseball game that night, which was to be followed by a fireworks display.

Excerpt

The game ended around 10:00 p.m.  While they were getting things ready for the fireworks I decided to get up and stretch before they started.  As soon as I stood up out of my seat the whole stadium started spinning around.  I fell back into my seat and put my head in my hands.  I must have gotten up too fast.  Maybe if I just sit here for a minute it will pass.  But it didn’t.  

I picked my head up and looked around the stadium; everything was out of focus.  I couldn’t even see the people on the other side of the stadium.  I felt like I was looking through a tunnel.  I started to rub my eyes hoping that would bring them back into focus, but it didn’t work.  The lights in the stadium became so bright all of a sudden that I had to shut my eyes.  But closing my eyes only made the spinning even more intense.  “Oh my God what is happening to me?”  I said to myself.  “Why won't this go away?”  

I sat in my seat for what felt like hours trying to get my sorts about me.  “I need to get out of here,” I said to myself feeling the panic starting to rise.  “Maybe if I go lie down in the car I will feel better?”  I turned to look at Pete, who hadn’t even noticed at this point that anything was wrong.  “Pete,” I said, “I'm really not feeling well, do you mind if I go lie down in the car?”  Pete turned and looked at me with a look of confusion on his face.  “Are you ok?” he said grabbing my arm. “I think I'm just tired it's been a long day.”  “Me and the kids will go with you if you’re not feeling well.  We don’t have to stay for the fireworks.”  

I looked past Pete at the kids who were laughing at the man two aisles away who almost missed his seat when he sat down, and realized that I couldn’t do that to them, no matter how bad I felt. “Thanks, but the kids have been waiting a long time to see the fireworks.  You guys stay and I'll just meet you at the car when they're over.”  “If you're sure that you’re ok?”  “I’ll be fine.”

I had no idea at that point how I was going to get out of the stadium.  Everywhere I looked there were hundreds of people blocking the aisles and the entrance ramps.  I turned around very slowly and made my way out of our aisle and up to the ramp that led outside, grabbing anything I came upon that would give me support.

When I got to the ramp I stopped and leaned against the wall. I was trying so hard to make sense out of what was going on and trying to bring myself out of it.  But I couldn’t, it just wouldn’t go away.  I started to head down the ramp when all of a sudden my heart started racing so fast I thought it would come right through my chest.  I leaned back against the wall holding my hands over my heart.  I couldn’t breathe; it felt like someone was sitting on my chest preventing me from getting any air. &n

About the Author

Lynn Artale was born and raised in New Jersey. After marrying her husband Pete in 1984 she spent the next eighteen years traveling as a military wife and raising two children. She continued to work during those eighteen years as well as attending school to become a Graphic Designer/Web Publisher. In July of 1996 while living in Nebraska she came down with Vertigo at a baseball game. Her and her husband struggled for one year in search of a cure for this terrible spinning disease. She then spent another two years getting back on her feet. Always having a desire to write she decided to document everything that happened to her during her three-year battle, thus creating her first book, Vertigo A Survivor’s Story.