Been having issues with vertigo, tinnitus, and fullness in my left ear
Posted , 4 users are following.
Last year, I had this issues and saw an ENT, who suggested possible Meniere's. By the day of testing, however, my symptoms had abated and it came back negative.
I started having it again this week. I was on my way home and while waiting for my bus I decided to lay my head down and it felt like everything was spinning around it. I got up and I felt sick and had trouble keeping balance, though I didn't fall or anything. The symptoms fluctuated for the rest of the day and at night I was having tinnitus and fullness in my left ear along with the vertigo, and had difficulty sleeping. They had abated the next morning, though I woke up feeling groggy. Last night, I had problems again, though this morning I feel better. I'm trying to get back in to see a doctor.
My tinnitus sounds like a lower-pitched version of the Emergency Broadcast System tone.
Sometimes, the same thing happens in my right ear, but it's not as bad and it doesn't last as long.
0 likes, 14 replies
donna16710 erika75290
Posted
Keep following up with your ENT, there are several things that can cause your symptoms. Sometimes the workup takes a little longer and is a little more difficult than you would think. Don't give up.
JMJ erika75290
Posted
Hi Erika,
That's the problem with Meniere's....it's quite cyclical! And the symptoms vary so much in intensity and duration, among individuals and along the course of the disease. But it sounds to me like you have all of the "Cardinal Symptoms": The sensation of fullness, the rotational vertigo, nausea, loss of balance and tinnitus. Did you notice if your hearing changed during the episodes?
The other problem with Meniere's is that there is not blood test for it....or any other absolutely accurate test for it. The docs try to rule out other causes, and then, really, all they can rely upon is your symptomology.
So, if you don't show up at your ENT's office with active symptoms, it doesn't mean you don't have Meniere's. (I suppose it doesn't necessarily mean you have it, either...although it sure sounds like it. Either way, it would probably be a good idea to get "rescue meds" to help you through any future episodes. I keep them with me at all times. I don't know if you're in the U.S., but if you are, you would typically be prescribed Meclazine for the vertigo, something like Zofran for severe nause and vomiting (I get the one that dissolves on the tongue for when I simply can't get anything down) and Compazine or glycopyrrolate for moderate nausea. And then, just lie down and focus on a point until the episode passes. It's dangerous to try and walk while the room is spinning. I've fallen a number of times. I'm surprised your ENT didn't perform a baseline hearing test, so that s/he could track it over time. There's a peculiar hearing loss pattern, when it comes to Meniere's, that helps to confirm the diagnosis. Not everyone exhibits the pattern of course, but it's pretty common.
When and if you get get diagnosed, your doctor will probably prescribe a low salt diet and a mild diuretic. The low salt diet is something you can do by yourself, and just see if it helps.
I wish you the best of luck with managing this. I agree with Donna that you should keep following up with your ENT. It's surprising how many ENTs just aren't comfortable working with Meniere's. When my symptoms were way out of control, in spite of all of my local ENT's efforts, he referred me to a University setting, where I finally got some help: Monthy injections of steroid into my inner ear. It's not perfect, but it's better than it used to be!
Again, I wish you the best of luck. Stick with it....You'll want to control the episodes as much as possible, so that your hearing won't suffer.
J-
erika75290 JMJ
Posted
Hi JMJ,
Thanks for your response.
>Did you notice if your hearing changed during the episodes?
In this latest, I notice the feeling in one ear changes, and right when that changes, I get tinnitus. Each ear has done this at different times. It lasts at most a few seconds before the feeling returns to normal and the tinnitus stops.
Well, part of the tinnitus stops. It seems like there is constant low-frequency buzzing tinnitus in boht ears and then when the change happens in one ear a higher-frequency tone, not unlike the Emergency Alert System tone, occurs in that ear, which then seems to turn back off when the feeling changes again. It almost feels like there's a switch inside my ear that just changes whenever it wants.
Pending evaluation by an audiologist (I'm working on getting back to the ENT), I've checked my hearing on the Sound Check app, and there seems to be some mild low-frequency hearing loss in both ears. And actually the right ear looks worse. I notice that when I try to listen for the tones my low-frequency buzzing tinnitus becomes very apparent, to where it's like it's too loud for me to hear the tones. (I am in a quiet room when I test this.)
Because the tinnitus seems "too loud", I'm guessing there probably is some hearing loss.
> I'm surprised your ENT didn't perform a baseline hearing test, so that s/he could track it over time.
He did. Hearing was normal. When I went in for the test in the second appointment, the symptoms had already completely abated for 1-2 weeks. (It looks like they didn't get the 125 Hz range; they got 250 Hz-8 kHz.
The ENT did warn me, nonetheless, that I might still be in the early stages of Meniere's disease and to come back if the symptoms return.
>Again, I wish you the best of luck. Stick with it....You'll want to control the episodes as much as possible, so that your hearing won't suffer.Thanks.
erika75290 JMJ
Posted
Also, when I listen to something with headphones, I know that the sounds in my right ear are sometimes funny. Like higher-pitched than normal in a strange way, with it sounding less full. Since what I'm listening to is in stereo, I'll swap my earplugs and it won't sound as weird in my left ear.
erika75290 JMJ
Posted
I know I've written a lot. I'm still trying to get a handle on the symptoms. For some reason, I kept thinking the main problem was in my left ear, but it turns out my right ear is worse. I think it's because sometimes I will have inner ear pain and it's been painful more in my left ear.
Thanks for the questions. It's helping me get what I'm going to say to the doctor together.
erika75290 JMJ
Posted
>When and if you get get diagnosed, your doctor will probably prescribe a low salt diet and a mild diuretic. The low salt diet is something you can do by yourself, and just see if it helps.
Well, because I'm transgender I am on spironolactone, which is a diuretic.
Regarding the salt diet, I'd really rather not get rid of my salt. I love salty foods. I tend to be very picky and specific about what I eat.
I've been making sure to keep up my water intake and to get exercise to reduce fluid retention. Especially, in this hot summer.
I am lucky that I have yet to have a drop attack, though at times the feeling of spinning will increase. I hope you can get good treatment.
JMJ erika75290
Posted
Erika,
RE: "...I know I've written a lot. I'm still trying to get a handle on the symptom..." It's good to write about it....Sometimes it helps to "think out loud"....The symptoms of Meniere's can be so subtle and quickly changeable, that it can be maddening to try to figure it all out. And when it comes to hearing, there's the quantity of loss AND the quality of loss....and mix that up with tinnitus and wooziness or whatever is happening at any given moment, and it can be very difficult to untangle it all. As far as hearing goes. For me, it's heartbreaking that I can't hear music like I used to. I'm a huge music lover and it's always been a source of great calm and great joy for me. Now, many times, even with volume adjusted, what once sounded beautiful, now sounds ugly. But my hearing and tinnitus are still fluctuating too much for a hearing aid. My hearing is still a "moving target" and I've been advised to deal with it in other ways until it stabilizes, and I can be properly fitted for hearing aid(s). However, I did find a good app for earbuds or earphones on both iPhone and iPad...It's called Petralex Hear it Clear. It allows you to adjust your earbuds to compensate for hearing loss in one or both ears, in various environments, and then save those settings. It's a good one. I used it a lot.
For some people, the vertigo is most disabling. And I can honestly say that for me, in the early days, that was true. But then, when I got ther vertigo to a tolerable point, the loss of hearing progressed very quickly, and became a truly terrible thing. It's so isolating. You really can't possibly imagine the many ways in which hearing loss impacts your life, until it's gone. Since the amount of hearing loss correlates with the number of episodes, my strongest advice is to do whatever it takes to minimize the number of episodes.
Yes...I know going salt-free is a huge challenge!! Although for me, giving up caffeine was even more difficult! I long for that kick in the morning!!! :-)
Again, I wish you the very best
J
terry48784 erika75290
Posted
erika75290 terry48784
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I've moved, and now I'm on an HMO (I live in the U.S.), so I must first get a referral from my primary care physician. I'm working on it. Thanks for the concern.
JMJ terry48784
Posted
Same here, Terry. The Audiogram sloped right to left...Severe low frequency hearing loss, bordering on profound. I hope there comes a day when they can diagnose MD well before all of the cardinal symptoms emerge. I had tinnitus for a long time before I was diagnosed. I also had vertigo so severely, that I had 2 concussions. But I had no idea what MD was, and my physicians never suggested it. I wonder if it "brews" for many years until it finally comes on, full force? Who knows?
erika75290 JMJ
Posted
Same here. I'm 32, but I'm pretty sure I first started developing tinnitus by my late 20s, that kind of low frequency Emergency Broadcast System tone-type tinnitus. (Rarely, if ever, have I ever had the high-pitched tinnitus most people talk about.)
Luckily, my hearing loss remains in the borderline-mild range for the low frequencies only. However, at 1 kHz (from Sound Check), my right ear is down to 25 dbHL while my left ear is at 15 dbHL. (And this is after taking the test multiple times in a quiet room.)
erika75290 JMJ
Posted
Maybe not having to hear muffled, distant subwoofers anymore would be a plus of low-frequency hearing loss.
JMJ erika75290
Posted
erika75290
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As for my vertigo, it started getting noticeable Wednesday, but it may have been around for a while. Often, the internal motion feels like waves crashing into my head from behind, with a constant flow moving. Often, when I close my eyes, it feels like I'm spinning.
At times, this feeling gets worse. At other times, it doesn't seem so bad.