Lizzy Yarnold remembers struggling to breathe as she took the stage to defend her women’s skeleton gold medal at the 2018 PyeoncChang Winter Olympic Games.
As one of Great Britain’s most decorated athletes and the top skeleton racer in the history of the Games, Yarnold had been here before, but this time seemed different.
The recurring infection and inner ear problem known as Eustachian tube dysfunction she suffered from had again reared its head, including during her second run when she temporarily fell out of the top spot while battling all the symptoms of her illness.
"Eustachian tube dysfunction is what happens when the Eustachian tube that connects the back of the throat to the middle ear space doesn't work properly," said Dr. Monty Trimble of Dallas Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers.
Before starting to experience sinus problems and struggle with breathing in temperatures that plummeted to as low as -8C, Yarnold stood in first place in her special event.
According to The Sun, experts later determined the issues that caused her to suffer vertigo and sinus headaches without congestion were caused by a vestibular disorder affecting the inner ear.
For Yarnold, who started competing professionally in 2010, the trouble at PyeongChang began with a chest infection. According to NHS Inform, vestibular disorders affecting the inner ear are sometimes referred to as Labrynthitis, which is caused by “inflammation of part of the inner ear known as the labyrinth. The inflammation comes from an infection, usually bacterial or in some cases viral.”
With acute sinusitis also causing the spaces inside your nose (sinuses) to become inflamed and swollen, interfering with drainage and allowing mucus to build, medication options include benzodiazepine, which reduces activity inside your central nervous system, antiemetics, used to treat the symptoms of vertigo and dizziness, and corticosteroids, which works to reduce inflammation, and antibiotics, which focuses on bacterial infections.
Most bacterial infections clear up within 10 days and are typically caused by a common cold. You should see 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 sinus allergies.
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