'I Felt Like I Was On A Waltzer At A Funfair'

Bestselling author Erin Kelly writes about the devastating effect of Ménière's disease and how she finally found hope and a way forward

Erin, 40, is married and has two daughters. Her fifth novel, He Said/She Said, is available now. “I was expecting my second baby when I began to experience episodes of extreme dizziness. I’d be standing still and would suddenly feel like I was on the waltzer at a funfair – a  horrible feeling that would culminate in about six hours of vomiting.

My GP put it down to pregnancy and then later postnatal exhaustion, even though I mentioned it was something I’d briefly experienced in my twenties. It got worse, with strange things triggering an attack of vertigo; the scrolling display on a digital radio or the ticker tape across the news made me want to throw up.

Dr Google suggested I had Ménière’s disease, an inner-ear condition I’d never heard of. The best way I can describe it is that it’s like a breakdown between the ear and the eye; the balance organs.

Online message boards were horror stories. The same phrases came up repeatedly: ‘The meds don’t work, I feel like I’m floating all the time. Scared to go out on my own. I just want my life back.