Lauren Karch

So a couple of years ago, I started to notice that people were sounding quieter to me, which did not track with world events, but only when I was on the phone and only when I had the phone to the right side of my head.

And it wasn't like just that.

I also noticed like I would get dizzy sometimes and sometimes I kind of felt like my head was underwater.

So I held off, but eventually I made an appointment with like an ear, nose and throat specialist and got my hearing tested.

And I found out exactly what I did not want to know, which was that at like 32, I was losing my hearing, but only on one side.

And my doctor started going through a list of other tests I could try and possible diagnoses.

And I interrupted him and said, did I tell you my dad has Meniere's disease?

And he looked at me like, how you do when you're looking at the answer to a trivia question?

My dad lost his hearing completely within 10 years of being diagnosed.

So I knew that if I had the same deal, the same thing could happen to me.

I'd probably lose the rest of my hearing on my right side and maybe both ears.

like within a few years or sooner or later or not at all.

And usually I'm not like the kind of person who's like, oh, I got to know what's going to happen because I'm not picking the restaurant, okay?

I'm not like a type A person.

I do not have what the teens call main character energy.

But...

In this moment, I wish that I did, because there's not really a treatment for Meniere's.

You can take symptom stuff.

So I could do short-term steroids to ward off the vertigo.

And my doctor told me to avoid caffeine and salt, which are my two favorite food groups.