Vertigo! First time... am I doing enough?

[anothereveryman]

 I went to the ER today for the first experience of vertigo I have ever had. My eyes were shifting left to right, I could not stand, and had to hug walls and stumble onto the toilet to vomit before I was taken to the hospital.

The hospital was made aware of my MRI results that show schwannomas in my left cochlea as well as my left vestibula. While I was given antivert for dizziness and it seemed to help somewhat (I am still mildly dizzy but not nearly as bad as the vertigo and my eyes seem to be functioning normally again), their suggested attempt to make an appointment with a local ENT was a failure: no one around here seems to accept call-ins without a primary care provider.

I only have a care provider with a long waiting list and only through happy coincidence was I scheduled to go next week for a checkup. Am I doing enough? That's a week from now, and likely weeks after that to wait for the ENT to accept the referral then schedule me, and after that likely weeks to wait to see if this person even wants to finally go ahead and remove this thing that's been slowly taking over my life.

That is my question: am I doing enough? Should I call someone out of town and beg for help? I'm helpless here and I feel like I have more to lose the longer I wait.

[TJ]

Vertigo is nasty, many of us have had it.  Lucky I only had three then then stopped.  As far as you doing enough, I guess if it were me first I would want to know what the size of the AN is?  If it is still small waiting would probably be OK.  But if it is already large then I would push harder to be seen sooner.  I would think if you tell them you having severe vertigo they would get you in much quicker.

Good luck

TJ

[anothereveryman]

Vertigo is nasty, many of us have had it.  Lucky I only had three then then stopped.  As far as you doing enough, I guess if it were me first I would want to know what the size of the AN is?  If it is still small waiting would probably be OK.  But if it is already large then I would push harder to be seen sooner.  I would think if you tell them you having severe vertigo they would get you in much quicker.

Good luck

TJ

If I recall correctly the intracochlear schwannoma is .6x.2x.2 and the vestibular tumor is .3 across. My vertigo was sudden, vomit inducing and left me unable to walk for a half hour. It was the first vertigo I ever experienced with something like this. I hope that helps for insight into this thing. The waiting is terrifying and I frankly don't know if an ENT will be enough considering how many here seem to be seen by neurosurgeons. I wish I had that option. My only coverage is Medi-Cal and Medicare.