Hi everyone, I'm new here as you can see! I was diagnosed with viral labyrinthitis 2 weeks ago and have been experiencing the symptoms of nausea, vertigo and dizziness for about 4 weeks now.

I'm in my final year of an MA and my finals start on Wednesday...I am desperate to find some way to alleviate the symptoms for my exams!! I'm currently wearing travel bands (the ones that supposedly help with motion sickness) and have been prescribed motion sickness tablets and a nasal spray, just in case there is also an inflammation of the tube leading from my nose to my right ear. I'm not taking the tablets anymore because I've read that it is important for the brain to learn to adjust and that the tablets disprupt this.

I've got a doctors' note for the university, but that's not really going to help me much!

Can anyone give me any advice as to how to get through these exams??

Thank you

Hello Luiseach,

Welcome to our community. As for the exam part maybe one of
the other members who go to University can come up with ideas.
Hopefully the labs settles for you soon. The usual timeframe is
2-10 weeks.

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"We cannot direct the wind,
but we can adjust the sails"

We strongly advise anyone wishing to start/stop or change vrt or start/change/stop medication should consult their doctor first.

Luiseach

Welcome to the Dizzy Family!

Quite a few of our Members are at Uni, and some have been provided with special dispensation with regards to time allowed for completing assignments and even exam conditions. I'm not Uni educated myself, but understand that they can be very accommodating, especially as you have a note from a medical professional.

There must be a liaison officer of some kind at Uni, and if your exam's on Wednesday, you'll need to request a meeting with them ASAP so that you're not penalised for taking the exam with a medical condition in case you're entitled to extra time or something.

Hopefully one of our Members will be along shortly to offer their experiences as an example.

In the meantime, pop the word "university" into the "Search" facility at the top of the page and have a look at the threads which come up, to see if any give you a clue as to what your options may be.

Good luck, and keep us updated when you can, as we all benefit from hearing how Members are getting on.

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We strongly advise anyone wishing to take up vrt or change/stop medication should consult their doctor first.

Thanks guys, my personal tutor is being very sympathetic as he's had labyrinthitis in the past too, but unfortunately there's not a lot the uni can do.

I just need to supress the symptoms as much as possible whilst in the exam hall...

Does anyone find that deep breathing exercises help to dispell some of the dizziness? Or perhaps that's just the panic!

Luiseach, there's a very good book available on Amazon called Hyperventialtion Syndrome by Dinah Bradley - it teaches correct breathing so that when you feel anxious you won't overbreathe and cause symptoms such as lightheadedness, tingling and numbness etc. It basically teaches you to breathe in through your nose only, and not too deeply - maybe these exercises are available on the net too? A lot of people use Bach Rescue Remedy for anxiety and exam nerves too, you should give it a try. You just spray it on your tongue.

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We strongly advise anyone wishing to take up vrt or change/stop medication should consult their doctor first.

Thanks Pamela, yeah I'm downing Rescue Remedy like nobody's business haha!

Thank you for your posts, it's great to get understanding sympathy as opposed to 'Awwww are you feeling dizzy? Put your head between your knees!' which, although kindly meant, doesn't really help much!

My advice is to get a Dr's note, I've done the same and the teachers are now going to lower the expectations for my group as they work pretty much with a man down, they may add it as a consideration when the marker looks at your paper, they used to for GCSE's I can't see them saying no chance for Uni ones.

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Thank you everyone for replying. I'm picking up my doctor's note this afternoon and the exam invigilators have said that they are aware of my condition and will let me leave the exam hall (accompanied) if I need to lie down at any point in the corridor... All my street-cred will disappear but hey, not the end of the world eh haha.

Just a thought Luiseach - one of our moderators called Esther will be the best person to advise you on this one - she's been studying with dizziness and has gotten into Cambridge (we're very proud of her) this year. She experience in getting extra help and knows a lot about this sort of thing.
If you send her a private message she'll get back to you.

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We strongly advise anyone wishing to take up vrt or change/stop medication should consult their doctor first.

Thanks very much Pamela!