Vertigo / Dizziness :: Head Concussion Possible Perilymph Fistula?
May 25, 2014
Around ten years ago I was the victim of a violent crime in which the back of my head hit the cement hard enough to crack the base of my skull in which the doctors said I had brain fluid leaking and caused black eyes, and cause me to lose consciousness. At the time blood was leaking out of my left year. For months after the injury I was very dizzy, ears feel full,had terrible tinnitus and have lost hearing in my left ear only. Eventually the dizziness went away but not the hearing loss or tinnitus. Since the injury I will have times when I "trigger" these same symptoms I had directly after my head injury. If I for example run, jog, look up or down for long periods of times, cough hard, sneeze hard, or basically jar by body in any way. I've been to many doctors who have prescribed many medications mostly to treat migraines and have also been told that they believe it is migraines. Nothing has ever worked. Bed rest and keeping still seems to be the only thing that helps but can take anywhere from a day, to a month to be able to function without symptoms again. This is ruining my life and my career is suffering. I seem to forget things easy and have trouble focusing which was never a problem before my injury. I am ready to be over this and have my life back. Please, anyone with any suggestions or have had these symptoms please help me. Oh and I've also had a few MRIs over these 10 years to rule out brain injuries and Acoustic Neuroma which all came back negative. There are more symptoms not as consistent but these are the usual when I have an "episode.
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Yesterday me and my friend were riding bike we were crossing and she crossed before me. When I went to go this lady cut me off with her car almost hitting me in the process. I started to ride and I think i may have passed out while riding because I remember my head hitting the concrete but it didn't hurt. I heard people yelling and my friend calling my name. I think I blacked out for a few seconds. I then stood up like nothing was wrong muttering I was fine. That's all I really remember for the next few minutes. I was told some lady was asking me my name but I wasn't really responding. My friend called her father and my mom. My mom was on her way to work she stopped by and I refuse to go to the hospital. I remember my mom leaving and my friends dad holding me against his chest. They took me to her house and I passed out on the sofa. Apparently I was shaking and I had half an eye open twitching while I was sleeping. My friends dad wanted to take me to the hospital but I convinced them I was fine. Now a day later I'm starting to worry because my symptoms include extreme headache loss of memory, passing out, dizziness extreme sweating in a cool environment, trouble falling asleep, but once asleep trouble waking up trouble moving my neck and head. My mom is the type to not worry about this thing she's convinced it's just a concussion, but I've done my research and I'm a little bit worried .
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My story is as follows: about a month ago, I began having ear pain that would alternate between ears. After a few days of this, the pain settled in my right ear, where I developed both pain and fullness that persisted for about two weeks. My ear constantly had the sensation that it needed to "pop," such as what one experiences when on an airplane. I went to my GP after a week of these sensations, who told me that it was likely Eustachian Tube Dysfunction and that it would resolve soon. She prescribed decongestants, antihistamines, and a steroid nasal spray. I took Sudafed and Allegra (but not the spray, as I am scared of steroids) but they did not seem to help.
Well, in the meantime, my blocked ear was annoying the crap out of me, so I decided to go online and look for some home remedies to try. One thing that I found was something called the Valsalva maneuver, in which you close your mouth, pinch your nose and blow out against closed airways to unblock the ear. I tried this several times over the course of a few days in attempts to get my ear to unblock. Most times it was difficult to get the right ear to "pop," and even when it did, it did not alleviate my symptoms.
Shortly after trying this maneuver, however, I read that the Valsalva maneuver can actually DAMAGE your inner ear and cause a perilymph fistula if done too forcefully. (I don't think I did it too forcefully, but I can't be sure.) Learning this sent me into a panic, and ever since, I have been experiencing a vague, constant dizziness that lasts all day. I have had trouble focusing my eyes and it feels, at times, like my brain is being sucked up and out of my skull (sorry). In the meantime, the sensation of fullness and pain in my right ear has improved greatly, but I am still being plagued by this constant dizziness. This dizziness has been present for a full week now. I have no sensitivity to loud noises, no hearing loss, and no episodes of vertigo. I do have a bit of wooziness when I am a passenger in a car, and I have felt extremely, unnaturally ill and fatigued throughout this ordeal. For those of you who have had PLF, does this sound like it could be a possible PLF? Is it even likely that I acquired a PLF after performing the Valsalva Maneuver?
Thank you so much for your help. I am hoping and praying that this dizziness is a fluke and not related to a PLF or inner ear damage, but the possibility scares the ****** out of me, regardless. I have had an extremely stressful year between losing my job, acquiring a crippling hip injury, and dealing with a host of other health issues, and the possibility of chronic dizziness is not something I feel capable of dealing with at this point.
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Anyone out there had this surgery? I'm in week 3 and wondering what to expect going forward.
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To cut a long story short - mid August 2014 I did a sinus rinse for chronically blocked sinuses. It went very wrong and I ended up with water trapped in my left middle ear. It didn't come out by itself and the pain and pressure was getting too much. I saw a GP and we agreed on using a nasal balloon to equalise the ears and try to get the water out. I also tried a few valsalva actions.
One day (first week of September), I was using the balloon when I felt a painful loud click in my right ear. This is where my real problems started.
I now deal with: constant tinnitus in right ear, dizziness, vertigo, some nausea, really bad head pressure, auras, vibrations and buzzy feelings throughout body, deep pain in ear - can almost feel blood or fluid in right ear.
Saw GP and it is a suspected Perilymph Fistula of the round window in the inner ear. I am seeing an ENT privately, hopefully in the next 2 weeks. Thing is, I am in England, UK and I am worried that they don't really deal with PLFs. Then I will be stuffed!
I am currently doing as much bed rest as I can as I read online this is best at this stage. I am however very very worried about what has happened. I am worried about leaking CSF fluid too. I certainly have enough head pressure.
Can this really heal with bed rest or do I need surgery? Also, I am scared about my tinnitus getting worse with surgery. Anyone who has had PLF repair surgery, what was the outcome? Did your tinnitus get worse or better in the end? Did the head pressure go? Has anyone recovered just with bed rest?
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I am going through a possible plf and trying to talk to people who know about these. Please if you are still around I'd love to talk. There are very few people out there and. Very little information.
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I was hoping for some advice on a problem that I've had for 3 years. My main problem has been on and off vertigo and imbalance, however I don't think I have rotational vertigo because most of the time I just feel like inside my head is spinning? It also feels as if the ground is sinking beneath me.
Dizziness started 3 years ago, about 2 months after a serious bout of the flu which took months to recover from. At the time my ears were extremely blocked and I would do the Valsalva maneuver to help unclog my ears. It wasn't until now that I discovered you aren't supposed to do that? Anyway my dizziness was consistent 24/7 for nearly 1 year, at which time my symptoms seemed to disappear. As of April this year my symptoms returned.
Over the years I have been to numerous GP's, ENT's, neurologist, and all of which were unsure of what was going on. Most of them have said they don't believe it's Meniere's disease. My main GP said I DIDN'T have fluid in my middle ears, however since then 2 GP's have both confirmed that I DO.
Current symptoms:
Brain fog
Dizziness/vertigo
My ears feel wet in the morning. Not enough to wet pillow
Tinnitus in both ears, slightly more prominent on the left side
Fatigue
Difficulty concentrating/problems with memory
Tingling/electric shock feeling on left side of scalp behind left ear
Anxiety
GERD and gastritis
A couple of things seem to exacerbate these symptoms, such as anxiety, hot and humid weather, having a hot shower (I now have to have cold showers, before I would have to sit down), menstrual cycle.
So I am pretty convinced that I either have a perilymph fistula or middle ear fluid. I have been using Nasonex for a couple of months which seemed to improve symptoms but now I am starting to feel worse again. My now current GP has suggested Ventilation tubes/grommets, however if I actually have a perilymph fistula will this improve symptoms or not have any benefit at all? I also have been prescribed SERC but I do not think it will help, as 2 years ago I took it and it made my symptoms WORSE.
I am wondering if I may have damaged my ears years ago when I had the flu by constantly trying to pop my ears. I have been allergy tested for Molds, grass, pet dander and dust mites, all negative. I have also been tested for MS which was negative, and all the routine blood tests etc. MRI showed I have a mid-septal deviation (my nose isn't straight) and previously enlarged adenoids, but apparently was of no clinical significance.
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In the spring of 1990 after a chronic right middle ear infection, I began having bad vertigo, nausea, and disequilibrium problems. I saw the ENT recommended by my PCP and after testing that came back normal was scheduled for exploratory surgery. A perilymph fistula was visualized and patched. Recovery was normal with some slight dizziness continuing for a few months and then resolving. Postoperative testing revealed no loss of hearing from the surgery and I was released from care to resume normal life.
Fast forward to March 2014, severe disequilibrium, tinnitus, and noticeable hearing loss brought me back to the same ENT (A relief, as he remembers me as being his only visually confirmed PLF) Testing showed hearing in the right ear normal but not as good as the unaffected left ear, other testing showed a possible recurrence of a PLF in the the same ear (right). I am scheduled for surgery on April 30, 2014.
There was nothing during this time that would account for the fistula to recur, no heavy lifting, head trauma, air travel, upper respiratory illness, etc. He feels that I may have a predisposition to increased pressure in my inner ear that causes the fistula to recur. Has anyone heard of this? And, if so, why would it take 24 years to happen again?
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Though I am actually considering that I have something called basilar migraines, which in many ways can mimic fistulas, I want to make sure that there is no chance of small bilateral fistulas in my ears.
Essentially, I have had progressive hearing loss for 11 months now, along with a number of other symptoms that began to flare up in August. I have a history of 3 separate acoustic traumas that occurred earlier last year, and I have heard that under extraordinary circumstances acoustic traumas can cause fistulas at the oval window.
My triggers have included loudish noise above 80 decibels, middle ear pressure changes from flying on an airplane or wearing earplugs, strenuous exercise, lifting heavy objects, and clenching my teeth too hard at one point (I was angry).
Most times when I have an extended exposure to any of these factors, I am usually left with a small degree of permanent bilateral hearing loss. I am also often left with dizziness/imbalance symptoms, rocking boat vertigo, roaring or very high pitched tinnitus, parathesia in my hands and feet, pressure headaches that start at the temples and migrate to the sinuses, pressure behind my eyes and occasional aura, hyperacusis, middle ear myoclonus (muscle fluttering), feelings of cold liquid deep in my ears, and on a few occasions, a fuzzy lightheaded feeling that makes me feel I am going to pass out.
Many of these symptoms resolve, but some, like the vertigo and ear fullness, often stay around long term and present in daily episodes.
Do these sound like familiar symptoms to anyone who has (or has had) a PLF? Please do let me know of any similar experiences! Am on the verge of needing hearing aids, so I am trying to get to the root of the problem as soon as possible.
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I am diagnosed Meniere's but suspecting that I may have Perilymph Fistula....very similar symptoms to Meniere's but cause by trauma-induced leakage of the inner ear.
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Another parent indicated her physician told her that the shape of a child's head makes them more susceptible to concussion in sports. I have not been able to find anything regarding this correlation on the internet.
We are talking about helmeted sports. Football and skiing.
Any direction for stats or research regarding the shape of one's head making them MORE susceptible to concussion?
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I have dizziness everyday while walking, standing as well as feeling off balance, unsteady on my feet like I am gonna fall over. I have had my ears checked by an ENT doctor in 2014 and he said I had meniere's disease so he treated it as that but medicine didn't help so went to another ENT doctor in 2015 who said I don't have meniere's disease but have hearing loss in both ears and did a test on my vestibular function which he said was normal so he referred me to a neurologist and I went and had an MRI done which was normal as well. I have had blood work done in November last year and my white blood count was a little high but not concerning and everything else was normal....no diabetes. Also had a stress test done on heart and was normal. I am at my wits end with this cause I don't know what's going on. I plan to see an eye doctor soon. Oh and I was diagnosed with anxiety 4 months ago but this dizziness and off balance feeling has been going on for 2 years now. I am on blood pressure medicine too. don't know what else to do. Does anyone have these same symptoms ?
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I've been having those 3 symptoms for about 2 months now. I'm a 22yo male, 6 feet tall, 160 lbs.
The head pressure was the first to show up. It feels like if someone is pressing their palm against the top of my head, its very light and 80% its not bad or painful, its just -there-, but sometimes the pressure rises up and it can be quite overwhelming, making me having to stop whatever I'm doing.
Painkillers used to work, now they don't anymore, although I think it's because I started to use them way too much.
Since about 2 weeks ago, I started to have dizziness and head fog. It's like if I'm "typsy" all the time.
This all started a few months after I had to quit my job since I'm preparing myself to live in another country, I'm short on cash and I have arguments about various things related to that almost daily, making me think that this might be an anxiety issue.
3 days ago I had to go to the hospital because my BP spiked up (180/104), and since then the pressure/head fog became 10x worse. I keep catching myself hyperventilating throughout the day, having cold sweats and hot flashes.
Thoughts keep racing in my head that I have a brain tumor and how that would wreck my life even if its a benign one.
Something that makes me feel better is that I'm not having any seizures, nose bleeds or actual real bad headache, its just a weird pressure, which calms me down a bit at the possibility that its a tumor.
Also, sleeping is the only thing that makes the pressure/dizziness go away, although it gets bad again throughout the day. Today I've tried to oversleep a bit to see if it was a sleep deprivation issue and it made the pressure better but the dizziness way worse.
I've already scheduled a cardiologist/neurologist, but I can only go friday so I still have some days to worry myself to death over this.
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So I'm 8 months into my latest debilitating 24/7 dizziness. After a clear MRI, a neurologist suggested my imbalance might have a migrainous element to it. There is such a thing as vestibular migraine.
At this point, I'm willing to try anything, so the Dr has out me on Amitriptyline as a migraine preventative. I've been taking 10mg per night for the last 5 days (I can go up as high as 60mg by gradually dosing up).
I know it can have side effects that take a while to wear off and that it might not become effective for several weeks. But honestly, it's making me feel much worse already. I wake up every morning with a pounding head as if I'd drank a bottle of vodka, which is worse than the cannonball-head feeling I had already. Plus, I think it's making me woozier and dizzier than before (which was already so bad I've been off work for 3 months).
Has anyone tried it? Does it get better? I'm finding it really hard to cope with the side effects on top of how I'm already feeling. Many thanks.
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I'll start at the beginning last December I woke to go to the toilet and the next thing I new was my husband asking me if I was ok ( I had fainted) . Passed no remarks thought I had stood up to quickly, went to work the next day and felt lightheaded and even though my colleagues were talking to me I couldn't process what the were saying. I went to the doctor and explained what happened and she said it was vertigo. At this stage it was xmas week and I started taking serc but the didn't seem to be working. Went back to work in the new year and after 1 hour I was totally disoriented so I went back to the doctor and she sent me to a neurologists who said I had migraine. He prescribed me with amitriptyline starting at 10mg and I have slowly worked up to 40 mg but still not feeling right in the last few months I have facial numbness. My neuro is sending me to see a a neurophysiologist but my appointment isn't until February of next year and that's going private.
symptoms:-
Lightheaded /dizzy
Stiff neck
Blurred vision
Extremely tired
Stiff ankles and hip joints in the morning
Facial numbness
Pain in my head sometimes like ice cream headache but only a few times a day. Have had mri which was clear and all my bloods are normal
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About three months ago, I woke up with vertigo. I visited a doctor who told me there was nothing wrong with me and that the vertigo was probably due to labyrinthitis. That same night, I went to the ER due to a vertigo attack. Once again, I was told that there was nothing wrong and that I was having anxiety attacks.
In the next three months, the vertigo (spinning) stopped, but I was left with an off-balance sensation, like I was going to fall to one side. I also had a rocking/swaying feeling.
Those symptoms almost went away completely for a week. However, the vertigo suddenly came back a few days ago. I am feeling off-balance again. I have not visited the doctor, but I am extremely on edge because I am worried that there is something seriously wrong with me. I keep waking up with jaw pain and tense muscles.
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Hello, I just want some help with something that's been bugging me the last 6 months... I feel like I'm being pulled down to one side when I walk And I get light headed quite a lot.. this sparked off some serious anxiety problems (which I thought was causing the dizziness) but I've beaten the anxiety for the most part but the dizziness has remained .. I got a migraine yesterday and have been even dizzier and jolt awake quite a lot in the night .. I have no idea what could be causing this.. I can't stand for longer than 5 mins without feeling like I'm about to fall to the side .. can anyone help?
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I have just had my first ever vertigo experience, wow, hope it never happens again. Two days later and I'm foggy headed and a bit wobbly still. It woke me up at 5am and whenever I tilted my head left or right the room spun . I've just started with an osteopath for neck issues and it's been going well. Though this time my neck was really sore and developed a bad headache, this got worse for two days, then got the vertigo . The dr thinks it's from the manipulation as opposed to my ears, I do also have tinnitus which developed similar time of my mayor neck issues. All the info I look at points to ears, is anyone heard of vertigo caused by neck issues.
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I went to see my GP this week because over the last couple of weeks I was getting bouts of dizziness while resting (I can describe them as a swaying sensation) which comes and goes. I also have frontal headaches with this, the sort that you get when you are subject to bright light. I have been prescribed some tablets which I have to take 3 times a day so I hope that these tablets will clear the problem. I am also going to the opticians on thursday just to double check it's nothing to do with vision problems. I have scared myself today as I have googled frontal headaches and it comes up with brain tumour.
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Back in February I experienced an odd episode while driving down a bright highway where the light flashed between the trees constantly. I started seeing aura and it developed into a major migraine (I've had a handful of migraines in my lifetime only, not chronic ones- I've also been chronically congested for about 2-3 years). It seemed like after this that I started having headaches mostly on the left side of my head based mostly around the ear and neck area. My vision blurred and then fixed itself, but then I started having this odd sensation while driving, like my eyes didn't know where to focus. My head was really foggy like I couldn't think, and when I shook it it almost felt sloshy,like my brain was sloshing in a fish bowl. The dizziness then began to get worse while looking at any type of technology or tv. The headaches weren't that bad (except for that first one in February), but my anxiety quickly took over. I had an MRI without contrast just before Easter,and it was fine. At this point they made me appointments with a neurologist, but not until April 28. The more I started researching, I also made appts with an ENT on April 27. I was miserable for about 3 weeks, until my antidepressant began to calm me down. AT this point I could watch TV and look at a computer again, as well as drive, but was still plagued with this disequilibrium. On another of my ER visits, the doctor said my neck was extremely stiff and to do PT or chiropractor. I went to PT and she asked if I'd had any illnesses around the time this started. I'd had a very bad sinus infection and was put on 12 days of steroids, and it was about 2-3 weeks later that all this started. She mentioned Vestibular Neuritis, and I've been doing the vestibular PT ever since April 1.
Fast forward to now, my disequilibrium is somewhat better, but not 100%. I still feel funny when driving or riding in the car, and I'm terrified to go on any amusement park rides with my family. I finally saw the ENT last week, with the hopes that she'd be the missing piece. Well, she said she bet it was migraines and told me to go to the neuro. She did however, scope my sinuses and they were extremely swollen and told me to use saline and a steroid nose spray daily or I'd be needing surgery in 10 years. I went and bought the sprays, but was really sad after hearing the 4th person tell me this was migraines when I feel like this isn't. The next day I saw the Neurologist expecting to hear the same thing, but she told me she thought it was my sinuses. She wants me to continue the nose sprays and come back in 2 weeks, as well as continue the vestibular PT. I asked her about the Vestibular Neuritis, and she said people have extreme vertigo with it, and I haven't had that.
My question is those of you who have been diagnosed with VN, was your dizziness vertigo? Or did some of you just have a feeling of disequilibrium,like not knowing what to look at? Also, how long has it taken you to regain 100% function? I'm going on week 12 of this, and am starting to doubt if I'll ever be back to 100%.
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I am hoping to hear from people who are recovering from labrynthitis. I had my first episode of vertigo a month ago and am struggling to feel balanced again. The difficult part of it for me is knowing when to push and exercise my brain and when to rest. I have been going to work, but am finding that by about 2:00 p.m., I am spinning and very uncomfortable. If I work the whole day, my evening is totally awful - very very dizzy. Any suggestions?
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