Learned a new medical term today: Labyrinthitis.

It's the GP's diagnosis for the attack of dizziness/nausea/vomitting that hit me on Sun evening continuing into Monday.

I had mistaken it for food poisoning as we'd gone out for lunch on Sunday.

But no one else in the family had problems.

The scary part was that I'd had a similar attack in Jan.

I woke up one morning and the room was spinning. I was so freaked out I had to hang on to Beth (who was sleeping next to me) for support. I had no idea what was happening to me. There followed bouts of vomitting and nausea and dizziness, and I was pretty much bed-bound till evening when miraculously the symptoms left. I was even able to rock up to a friend's birthday party and play the keyboard for the occasion.

Hubby suggested that perhaps it was an inner ear problem causing loss of balance, and that the dizziness etc were just the symptoms.

Where does he get all this stuff??

So I started reading up on labyrinthitis, Meniere's Disease etc and even filled out a questionnaire to prep for the doc's questions.

And what do you know, after making me stand with my eyes closed, he said I had labyrinthitis. The problem is a positional one. The slightest movement of the head, even when lying down, can trigger extreme dizziness, which was the case on Sun night and two months back in Jan.

He assured me that the condition is self-limiting; it goes away by itself within hours or days. And there is medication I can take if I have an attack.

But no one can tell when it will strike again. It could be months or years later.

He also recommended that since I've turned 40, I should have a full medical checkup. And to underscore his seriousness, he proceeded to fill up a form right away for me to see the Healthscope folks.

It's a relief to have a name to my condition.

But to know that it is unpreventable and outside my control is not at all assuring. What if I have an episode while outside my home, or behind the wheel?

I am reminded (again, as though I needed more reminders) how fragile life is, of how I am alive only by the grace of God, and of the parable of the self-made man who sought to accumulate more wealth but was told by God that his life was required of him that very night.

Teach me to number my days, O Lord, that I may be wise.