Can someone answer me tonight?

Hi a quick one to let you know about the caloric test.  I was fine with it to be honest.m It,s,all according where and who,is doing it. The neuro Otologists  will probably want to,do,it anyway, so,if yo ,feel better  cancelling and getting them to,do,it then go,for that option!

Cheryl, do what you think is best! If you are not already sick of the merry go round, see as many people as possible as they may each have something to help shed light on your condition. All the best with this.

Cancel and wait for the Otologist visit.  Even if the ENT finds something he is not going to know what to do for you unless you have fluid in the middle ear or something that is easily detectable.  The Otologist is going to want to do his own tests.  I saw an ENT and had an ENG that indicated that I had vestibular damage.  He referred me to VRT and after not progressing is when I went to the Otologist.  I told him that I had an ENG earlier and he told me that he would do his own tests if he felt they were needed for his diagnosis.  One thing for ongoing vertigo here in the States that Otologists look at for relief is Intra Tympanic Injections.  My Otologist said that was the only thing that relieved ongoing vertigo.

Hi Cheryl,

I had the caloric test twice.  They blew cool and then warm air into my ears alternately but in both cases it did not hurt at all, it was just strange, but no hurt at all.  

As far as a waste of time and money goes, accuracy and integrity are the keys to a methodical approach to diagnosing a problem.  I would say your time is worth something of course, but regardless of who is actually paying for it, each individual doctor that you see should want to do each test over again, that is a good thing.  I will tell you why. It's called a "double check" for a reason.

I have been a do-it-yourselfer all of my life and I know one thing for sure about diagnosing problems and that is if you take another person's word for something you are leaving yourself open to the mistakes the other person may have made.  Hence the term "double check".  Not everyone does their job exactly right, and sometimes they do things that defeat the purpose of a test and it alters the output data and they don't even know.

  

This is painfully obvious where I work ( worked befor I came down with this "vertigo" thing).  In an effort to get the desired results sometimes people will make an adjustment to a piece of equipment , or interpret an outcome wrong and thereby alter the data output which gives a false interpretation.  This is why in my case I asked for a "2nd opinion".

  

For sure I don't know as much as those with the degrees, but sometimes things  just don't seem to add up right, and in my case they said I had Meniere's disease the first time but after a lot of research and evaluation I decided it couldn't be.  The second battery of tests ( some repeated, some new, but all new people) gave the diagnosis of Vestibular neuritis.

It may not seem like much of a difference, but it is.  With Meniere's I was cut off salt, caffeine, and sugar.  I was given a drug called Lipoflavonoid and then with a couple weeks of therapy I was expected to be as good as new.  After I used up two bottles of the drug and their entire repertoire of exercises, I was still lost in the fog, so I suspected something else.  The Vestibular neuritis diagnosis required a different approach.  Although I have read about injections into the inner ear          ( something I won't do unless it is the last resort) I was not offered injections.  The new group gave me a different set of exercises to do and monitored my progress.  They felt that I was making progress, and to a small extent I agree, and although I am still looking for a different possibility, I am going with the neuritis diagnosis, and things do seem to be getting better, albeit a tiny little bit better, which leads me to wonder if time isn't just healing what ever it actually is.

So, Please try to relax about the caloric test, and stay the course of the professionals-but watch them for integrity and accuracy, ask a million questions and make sure the answers make sense.  

That's my opinion.  Good luck to you.

ben   

 

Hi - could you tell me if you have other symptoms as well?

Hi Cheryl, i just wanted to see how you are getting on and what dicision you made. ???

OTOLOGIST/NEUROTOLOGIST

Otologists/Neurotologists are otolaryngologists who have completed 1-2 years of additional training. They specialize in the ear and its connections to the brain. Evaluation by an otologist/neurotologist is appropriate when a person has been seen by a primary care physician or otolaryngologist/ENT, but needs a further opinion or a more specific diagnosis.