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Australian cricket coach Justin langer has revealed that a health problem last year left him feeling “dizzy and drunk” and nearly forced him to quit smoking.
The 50-year-old, who is preparing for a four-test series against India starting in Adelaide next week, said tinnitus, vertigo and vestibular migraines appeared out of nowhere during the World Cup in England.
He initially thought it was a tumor in his ear, as had developed by his father 25 years earlier, but brain scans in England and later at home ruled it out.
“I developed tinnitus and that’s a constant now. I also kept having vertigo, which is just horrible,” he told the West Australian newspaper on Thursday night.
“For about 10 months, I literally felt dizzy and drunk all the time.
“At my job, obviously I have to wear the mask all the time, but it takes its toll.”
Langer, who was born in Perth and has been Australia’s coach since 2018 when Darren Lehmann resigned in the wake of a ball-handling scandal, said the situation got so bad that he considered his future in the game.
“I got to a point where I felt so bad and I didn’t have the answers, I wasn’t sure if I would continue my job because it was so stressful,” he said.
Physical therapy has helped the 105-Test veteran deal with vertigo and he has also been receiving treatment for migraines, which leave him dizzy, but the tinnitus has not subsided.
“It was really weird. It literally just happened,” he said.
“We are in England for the World Cup and one day I wake up and describe how in Star Wars, the lightsabers start to hit.”
Langer said he wasn’t sure why the symptoms developed, but said he “took a lot of hits” during his career as a starting hitter.
His troubles led him to become the new ambassador for the Perth-based Ear Science Institute next year.
