The Medical Consumer's Advocate
Dizziness following
a strange illness
Q:
I am out of work due to
dizziness. My wife and I seem to have caught whatever
this is about three months ago and it comes and goes.
I've talked to five or six other folks who say they had
the same thing and that it takes about four months to go
away. They tell me that one day we will wake up feeling
great and it won't return.
My symptoms:
(1) Had five days of headaches like my wife and we
usually don't get headaches.
(2) On and off dizziness.
(3) Loud, certain pitch, noises hurt our ears and head.
(4) Ears were making a popping noise for a few days.
(5) Loud hums come and go as well as the sounds of an ear
equalizing.
I've seen an ENT locally. I just visited a
neurologist and he's trying to get me a scan.
I think I caught something but can't get anyone to
put a name on it.
A: What exactly do you mean by dizziness --
lightheadedness, "drunkenness", a feeling like you
are going to fall, an actual spinning sensation, something
else?
Has your ENT done an audiogram and
tympanogram? If so, can you tell me the results?
If you have not already looked at my bit on
dizziness, please take a look at it and see if there is any
other info that you need to share with me. In particular,
with respect to "on and off dizziness": what
provokes it, if anything? How long does it last? Is there
anything you can do which makes it better/worse?
Along with the headaches, were you
having any other cold/flu-like symptoms? If so, what were
they?
Q: I would have to call it
lightheadedness, since I've experienced vertigo and it's
nothing like that. Do you know what sea legs are? This
may be an explanation. My head feels like a coconut full
of fluid.
During the three months this
has been going on things have changed. For the past month
or so it comes and goes. Certain high pitched noises send
me through the ceiling, it hurts and you get the feeling
the sound is going to hurt you permanently. I have a cell
phone and it beeps before sound comes through. It's a
Nextel that also has two-way radio. While using the
two-way radio holding the phone about ten inches from my
head the beep will sound and it just kills my ears. I may
tend to get a wobble once and a while as well. Not like a
drunk, not like the vertigo I've experienced in the past
so this is why I say light headedness. I usually love
rollercoasters but now watching one on TV makes me feel
uncomfortable.
I've talked to three or four
other folks in the area who caught this about a month
before I got it. We all seem to have had the same
symptoms:
1. Headache for about five days
followed by all the above symptoms. They, like myself,
all thought they were going nuts! Having a stroke or
something else very serious.
2. And I do hear sounds in my
ears. I'm not sure if it is caused by the ear thing or
stress. I've always enjoyed stress and perform much
better under stress, until now.
3. I started out around the
first of the year on the Atkins diet. After a couple of
weeks of intense Atkins I decided that the Slim Fast diet
would be better for me, so I switched. ( Now I know that
wasn't so smart ). I started skipping meals and dumping
the weight which made me happy. The problem was I was in
intense training and I mean intense training of the job
threatening type. Living on sweet coffee, slim fast,
power bars and cokes didn't work out. I started feeling
so weak I came home sick. I started eating regular foods
and what a difference in the way I felt. I knew then I
should have been eating correctly. I came home sick and
my wife tells me she has been dizzy for a week, I paid no
attention to her until I got a week later.
4. I've had blood test, all
parts came back perfect, blood pressure perfect.
I have not had any hearing
tests.
I took antibiotics for about
seven days but that did nothing. I was also given Flonase
and this may have made a small difference. One of the
folks that caught this said his Dr. gave him a spray that
had steroids and he believes this made it go away.
I still get the sniffles but as
far as being able to pop my ears - no problem. The
headaches were only in the beginning for all of us. Maybe
slight - very slight headache once in a while but nothing
like the killers in the beginning.
I went to a neurologist
recently and he had me close my eyes and hop up and down.
I had a slight rotation to the right and he's trying to
get the insurance company to buy a MRI. No one has put a
name on this what ever it is. Everyone I know who caught
it got better after about four months. This statement
doesn't make my employer very happy.
A: Well, if no one else will put a
name on it, I will: auditory/vestibular neuronitis (neuritis). Mind you,
I am not sure about this, but this would be my #1 choice. So
here's my best guess: The "bug" you caught was a
virus that decided to take up residence in one or both of
your auditory/vestibular nerve bundles... hence the term
"neuronitis." Antibiotics would not be of any use,
nor would medications directed at Eustachian tube
dysfunction.
My #2 choice: Eustachian tube
dysfunction can also cause these symptoms, and ETD can
certainly follow a cold or flu, particularly if nasal
congestion, postnasal drainage, and/or sore throat were part
of this cold or flu. Not unreasonable at all to aggressively
treat for ETD (you may want to take a look at some of the
other letters on my Q & A page to get ideas about
treatment.) If you have vestibular neuronitis, these
treatments will not help, but they won't hurt. You mentioned
that nasal steroid sprays may have helped a bit, which
suggests a diagnosis of ETD, but on the other hand, you may
just be recovering spontaneously (although slowly).
You definitely need an audiogram
and tympanogram. These tests will certainly help pin down the
diagnosis.
Regardless of the diagnosis, you
need to remain active to help speed your recovery, but that
DOESN'T mean that you should do anything unsafe.