I Spent Eight Hours in the ER

“If we may use the figure, the Holy Spirit is the Physician, but Jesus is the medicine.” – C.H. Spurgeon

For three years, from March 2022 to January 2025, I suffered from a debilitating case of vertigo. It started with a few relatively minor episodes and soon developed into full-blown attacks that sometimes lasted for up to eight hours. Several of the attacks were so bad that – after hours of non-stop vomiting – I wound up in the ER where they ran a series of tests and filled me with painkillers, anti-nausea medications, and fluids.

I tried everything to find relief. My primary care physician referred me to an ENT specialist who thought I might have Meniere’s Disease and suggested that I reduce my salt and caffeine intake. When that didn’t work, a friend suggested I see a chiropractor who said that my atlas was out of alignment and so, I had dozens of adjustments over the next several years to combat the problem. Above all, I prayed and prayed for God to deliver me from what was becoming more than a nuisance, but rather a truly debilitating health condition. And yet, still the vertigo attacks persisted and even intensified.

Finally, another friend suggested I see her neurologist, who quickly diagnosed me with vestibular migraines and prescribed several medications. That was about 18 months ago, and I have only had two minor episodes since then. Praise God for Dr. Sealy!

Whereas it took Dr. Sealy to correctly diagnose my condition, which he believes may have been caused by my near-fatal bout with Covid in July 2021, it is the medications – topiramate, B-2, CoQ10, and meclizine – that God is using to stabilize my condition and grant me relief. (For the record, I also stopped drinking caffeinated beverages and eating dark chocolate, which I dearly love, because it contains caffeine. And yes, we moved from our RV to a concrete block house, so that may have helped a lot, too.)

Now for the spiritual application. When it comes to salvation, the Holy Spirit’s job is to convict us of our sinful and lost condition, and our need for a Savior. He then draws us to that Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the medicine that our diseased soul requires.

As Charles Spurgeon so eloquently wrote, “If we give to the Holy Spirit the Greek name of Paraclete, as we sometimes do, then our heart confers on our blessed Lord Jesus the title of Paraclesis. If one is the Comforter, the other is the Comfort.”

“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?” Jeremiah 8:22 (BSB)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President