BlueCross Health Navigator Lori Kyle remembers the moment she first experienced severe vertigo — a sensation of spinning or falling and dizziness that can cause someone to feel disoriented. It was spring in 2003, and she was a student in the culinary program at the Art Institute of Atlanta.
“I was decorating a cake, and I fell to the ground,” Lori says. “I was bedridden for two weeks and couldn’t turn my head without experiencing extreme vertigo and nausea.”
After initial tests didn’t pinpoint the cause of her dizziness, Lori saw an ear, nose and throat doctor who ordered more tests, including a check of Lori’s hearing. Lori shared other things she had been experiencing, like sensitivity to light and sound.
Together, that helped the doctor to diagnose Meniere’s disease, a chronic inner ear condition that causes dizziness, hearing loss and tinnitus, also referred to as ringing in the ears.
“I’d never heard of Meniere’s,” Lori says. “But I’m grateful my doctor put the pieces together and helped me find another specialist who was experienced in treating it.”
First steps in an unknown landscape
Lori started on a path of managing the vertigo associated with Meniere’s with medication, changes to her diet, and exercise to help with balance. She paid attention to other things that can trigger vertigo, like patterns in carpets, inclines on walkways and fluorescent lighting.
The ringing in her ears and hearing loss was minor at that point. She adapted to them over time and began working at a behavioral health practice in the years following her Meniere’s diagnosis.
Lori joined BlueCross as a health navigator in 2019 and assists BlueCross members with behavioral health conditions to understand and use services available through their health plan. This includes setting appointments with a care provider and arranging transportation to get them there, connecting them with a case manager, making sure they get prescriptions filled, and more.
From Lori’s earliest days in this role, helping others has been especially meaningful to her because of the significant health care journey she’d already faced with her health diagnosis.
“When I’m listening to a member, I know first-hand that anyone can sometimes need a little extra care, kindness, assistance and grace,” Lori says.
A worsening symptom and more hearing loss
In 2022, Lori experienced much more severe tinnitus. This time, it sounded like high-pitched screeching, Lori remembers. It impacted eating and sleep. Added to the stress of living with a chronic condition, this took an additional toll on her mental health.
She began seeing a specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who suggested injections into the tympanic membranes in both ears to relieve the ringing. The periodic treatment has been a help in relieving some of the acute ringing in both ears, though she still has episodes of it when she experiences seasonal allergies. But the extreme tinnitus took a greater toll on Lori’s hearing.
She has near total hearing loss in one ear and less severe hearing loss in the other. She wears a hearing aid and has learned to read lips. She’s gotten support from BlueCross with amplifiers that aid her in hearing and conversing with members, and from her managers and team in Total Health Management.
She participated in a BlueCross employee resource group where she met others who had hearing loss. She learned about their coping skills that apply to different areas of their work and life at home.
“It was helpful to meet others at BlueCross with a hearing disability,” Lori says. “You can feel isolated by a disability. Meeting others at my workplace who also experience this made me feel joyful.”
Using her challenges to help others
Lori says what she’s learned about herself from living with a chronic condition helps her relate at a deeper level to members she serves. Many of them, like Lori, have a condition you don’t see.
“To have a disability that from the outside, you look like anyone else, but inside you’re going through so much, that can wear on you when people don’t understand,” Lori says.
She’s thankful for the empathy that living with Meniere’s has given her, and the understanding of what a member with depression or anxiety might need.
“It makes me a better person all around,” Lori says. “I’m not going to be bitter. I’m going to listen and help.”
Lori takes that attitude to her life away from work, as well. She’s a TeamBlue volunteer at an organization which serves the local deaf community. She’s learning American Sign Language, and she’s taking classes at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and pursuing a business management degree.
If that’s not enough, Lori is also learning to play the fiddle.
Staying busy helps her deal with the mental health challenges that those with chronic conditions often face.
“I’m passionate about my community and want the absolute best for everyone,” she says, “so I like to help out in any way possible.”
Marie joined the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee corporate communications team in 2012. A Florida native, she has more than 25 years of experience in public relations, community relations, speech writing and special event planning.