Appt with neuro-otologist. He seemed a bit disappointed to see me again, and to see me in a worsened state than the first time. But, he also was not too surprised. He extended my leave from 10/14/05 – 2/28/05! He was glad to hear that I had restarted the Neurontin and after his examination, ordered a VNG test to determine the probability of vestibular damage, and PT. He said that there was evidence, more so than before, that the RHS had affected my vestibular system. And, he indicated, as evident on the length of the leave extension, that recovery from RHS could be a long, slow road.

My husband reluctantly took me to work. My friend and co-worker, was very upset to see me and assured my husband that she was going to be there all day to watch over me. But, within the first 2 hours, and 5 children, we knew that I couldn’t do it. I was in so much pain and couldn’t walk without grasping on to furniture, cabinets, anything I could. I had been sitting with a few children for a few minutes, talking and them laughing, when I became all too aware of my inability to concentrate, even answer questions, to tolerate the noise level and activity level… to be a responsible teacher.

It was all I could do to pull myself out of bed. But, I had to go or face the possibility of termination. My schedule is 7:00 AM -4:00 PM. As my husband drove me to work, he drilled me on taking it easy and calling him no matter what time, he’d leave work to get me.

As my return to work date approached, I began to have a relapse with increased pain, facial spasms and pain and balance problems. In a discussion with the new supervisor of our school, she questioned whether I was actually ready to return. She was very understanding and we had decided that I could catch up on changes in the program at the school and go ease my way back into the classroom of 25-30 preschoolers. She had hired a sub for me, and that had taken the stress off of me while I was on my leave and would also allow me some flexibility when returning.

The NP at the first neuro’s office had asked that I email her with the results of my visit with the balance specialist. I told her about the RHS diagnosis. She replied that they (the first neuro and the NP) had tossed around the possibility of my having RHS, but kept ruling it out because of the lack of herpetic blisters. I explained what the neuro-otologist had explained to me, and remembered a web site for BP that mentioned RHS and that possibility, so I emailed the link to her also.

Appointment with the Balance specialist. He noticed that the left side of my face was swollen, and as I gave him the history of my condition, he started to ask about lesions, blisters, skin sensitivity, itching. “No” to the lesions or blisters, but “yes” to the sensitivity and itching. He told me that I had been suffering from Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. My brain said “See! I told you so!” And my heart sank.

As I awaited my appointment with the balance specialist, I had begun to feel a little better. I hadn’t had a full blown vertigo attack since August, and I seemed a little less wobbly. I was still very tired and the pain was pretty bad. I had started to consider restarting the Neurontin, but I really hate taking meds. I wasn’t taking any Tylenol either, because of the possible “rebound headaches” although I had not seen any improvement after stopping the Tylenol.

Appointment with the NP. Along with the increased pain and vertigo attacks, I had been experiencing regular aching in the forehead and back of head and temple region. There had been some previous discussion about possible migraines, and the NP indicated the possibility of “rebound” headaches from all of the Tylenol I was taking for the pain. See, any pain associated with the BP (which is very rare anyway) should have subsided.

After a few days of emailing the NP who was my line of communication with the neuro, and literally begging for an extension on my leave, I was granted my request. I also set an appointment for 09/02/04 to see her and possibly the neuro to discuss my balance and pain problems.

Throughout the month of August, I continued to have some improvement in the movement of my mouth muscles and very slight improvement of the eye muscles. I was experiencing episodes of twitching and spasms, apparent facial swelling. The pain still existed and I was trying to curb it with Tylenol, Advil or Aleve. Nothing seemed to help much, but I still feared the possibility of the Neurontin causing vertigo. I was also experiencing pain in the back of my head, and down into my shoulder, and more frequently in the temple and forehead region.