I was gutted when they told me I had incurable Meniere’s
Comedian Jarred Christmas tells Adrian Monti how he’s learned to live with the disease that causes dizziness, hearing loss and nausea
While carrying his two-year-old daughter on his shoulders along a busy street, comedian Jarred Christmas suddenly felt as though he had stepped off a fairground carousel.
It was eight years ago and Jarred was in Montreal in Canada, performing at its comedy festival.
“The world started spinning and I felt dizzy,” recalls Jarred, 42.
“I remember leaning against a wall to carefully lift Edie down, feeling I wanted to throw up while trying not to fall over. I stood there hoping everything would correct itself and after a couple of minutes and some deep breaths, I tried carrying on as normal, despite still feeling slightly dizzy.
“I caught up with my wife Amelia and family but I didn’t want to panic them. We went out to lunch although I had zero appetite and was just trying not to vomit. I knew it wasn’t normal and something was going on, but I kept it to myself.”
Jarred, a comedy writer and panellist on TV shows such as Mock the Week and Eight Out of 10 Cats, had been experiencing another health worry for a while by then.
“Since 2012 I had a constant feeling that my right ear was blocked despite using drops and clearing out any wax,” he says.
“The next year, while recording a TV panel show, on the final day the voice in my earpiece sounded garbled. I realised then that I couldn’t hear properly in my right ear, but I was so busy with work I compartmentalised that and didn’t allow myself to think about it.”
Eventually Jarred saw his GP and was referred for hospital tests and scans. He saw several consultants but nobody could pinpoint what was causing his symptoms.
“The hearing in my ‘bad’ ear became so poor that even if someone was standing in front of me in a noisy room, all I could hear was the background noise. I developed coping mechanisms, so would crane my good ear towards people – they probably thought I was going to kiss them!” He began to struggle doing gigs. “During my act, I banter lots with the audience. But the last thing you want to reply is, ‘What did you say?’ when someone shouts something – you instantly lose any spontaneity.”
Five years ago, the jigsaw finally came together when a consultant diagnosed Meniere’s disease, which affects about one in every 1,000 adults in the UK. It affects the vestibular system in the inner ear which helps maintain balance. Although the exact cause is unknown, those with the disease have an increased level of naturally occurring fluid in their inner ear. Symptoms include dizziness, hearing loss, tinnitus and a sensation of pressure in the ear. They will often feel sick and may even vomit. Attacks can be rare or can come in clusters lasting from a few minutes to a day or more. Medication, often taken when sufferers feel an attack coming, can make them feel less nauseous and help with dizziness. During an episode, they are advised to sit or lie down. It often worsens over the years and can spread to both ears.
“I was absolutely gutted when they told me there’s no cure for it,” says New Zealandborn Jarred, who lives near Bath, Somerset, with Amelia and their two daughters.
“But it also came as a relief as I knew why I was suffering these symptoms and could research it properly.”
Although Jarred will always have hearing loss and often feels nauseous, he currently only has occasional attacks of dizziness and can detect when an attack is coming.
“Being tired or stressed can bring it on,” says Jarred, who’s reduced salt and caffeine in his diet. “I take medication to help, but during an attack I’m confined to bed for 24 hours to try and sleep through it. I then have a day or two of it easing, but feel wiped out.”
He began using an NHS hearing aid in 2018, but admits he hated it.
“I felt it instantly made me look like an old man,” he says. But a fellow comedy writer encouraged Jarred to wear the hearing aid on stage – and even use it in his act, which boosted his confidence in wearing them.
“I began telling the audience about Meniere’s and the ridiculous things that can happen with it. Like the time I took my daughters to Peppa Pig World and went on Grandpa Pig’s gentle boat ride, but afterwards felt so nauseous and dizzy I had to be helped off.”
It was comedian Angela Barnes, who also has hearing loss, who told him about more technically advanced devices which he says, “transformed my life”. He had a ReSound OMNIA fitted in July and wore it when performing at Edinburgh Fringe the following month.
“It’s been a real game changer,” he says. “In loud settings I can hear so much better with it. I’m no longer that guy sitting quietly with nothing to say – I’m part of the conversation again.”
Although Jarred had a Meniere’s attack between shows at Edinburgh, he knew exactly what to do.
“I cancelled a few shows, went to bed at 10pm and rested a lot. It worked and when I was on stage, for the first time in years, I could hear everything including the heckles, which maybe I wish I couldn’t always hear.”
■■Jarred wears a ReSound OMNIA hearing aid (resound.com)
‘‘ On Grandpa Pig’s gentle boat ride I felt so dizzy I had to be helped off