2018 Winter Olympics | Vytautas Dranginis/Unsplash
2018 Winter Olympics | Vytautas Dranginis/Unsplash
British Olympic athlete Lizzy Yarnold had her eyes set on gold in 2018, and she never dreamed such a common issue would stop her from possibly achieving it.
Her issues were caused by a vestibular disorder that affected the inner ear. She also revealed having trouble breathing in a new much colder climate during the events while experiencing vertigo and sinus headaches that came without congestion, according to The Sun.
Yarnold had previously won gold in the Olympics in 2014, according to Wikipedia. She is the most successful skeleton athlete of any country. After Yarnold arrived at the 2018 Olympics, she noticed she was developing a chest infection, which grew worse to where she was having issues speaking and breathing.
Yarnold attempted many remedies to try to dull the symptoms of her condition. After falling to third in the competition, she was able to somewhat tame her symptoms and take home the winning gold medal in 2018, per Wikipedia.
Labyrinthitis is what people say when talking about vestibular disorders that affect the inner ear. Labyrinthitis is caused by inflammation of part of the inner ear known as the labyrinth, according to NHS Inform. The inflammation comes from an infection that is usually bacterial, or in some cases viral.
"Unfortunately, it does not resolve very quickly for some people, and a lot of people who have chronic sinusitis and allergies have this as a chronic problem," said Dr. Matt D. Hershcovitch of SoCal Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers.
Most bacterial infections clear within 10 days and are mostly caused by a common cold, according to the Mayo Clinic. Schedule an appointment to visit a sinus inflammation specialist when things do not clear up after that long, things get worse or you have a history of recurrent or chronic sinusitis and a sinus headache.
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