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Chroic ear infection or something worse?
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Chroic ear infection or something worse?

by Someone31415, Dec 10, 2004 12:00AM
Since 2002 while driving sometimes I’d feel like I was about to pass out. I just chalked it up to being tired and it would go away. But this October it was especially bad: I’d get vertigo turning my head to the left to check lane changes, and at times I’d have to make emergency pull-overs because I was convinced I was about to lose consciousness. The problem went away completely and again I forgot about it. Five or six days ago it came back the worst its been, and not just while driving. At my desk. Sometimes the room spins. Sometimes, to my surprise, I drop light items as I’m picking them up. This morning I feel especially bad. Nauseous, chills. I saw a doctor about it a couple of days ago and he said he thought I had a viral inner ear infection. Probably I do, but I didn’t tell him the chronic nature of my problem because I hadn’t thought of it then. When I did think of it, I Googled dizziness and “dropping things” and I did NOT like what the search hits returned – MS, myelin disorders – all of them were serious and progressive with no cure. I’m very concerned but I don’t want to call my doctor about something he already diagnosed without good reason. Maybe I’m just being neurotic. Could I have a chronic ear infection or something worse? I’d like an informed opinion to tell me whether I should ride it out – I know I’ll probably be better in a week or more (but boy this is bad this time!) – or call up my doctor again. Or let me put it another way - what's the liklihood what I have isn't anything to worry about? Thanks for your time.



Bria
Doctor's Answer

by CCF-Neuro-M.D.-CS, Dec 13, 2004 12:00AM
Without examining you and asking you some questions I cannot provide a clinical diagnosis. It would be reasonable to have this evaluated. The chronic symptoms are not likely to be related to an ear infection. You should inform your doctor about the chronic and intermittent nature of your symptoms so that testing can be arranged. You may require a MRI of the brain to look for structural changes or other etiologies to explain your symptoms. Your main symptom is dizziness or vertigo, and this may require an evaluation by a ENT doctor or a oto-neurologist (dizzy doctor). Good luck.
Member Comments (8)

by sportster, Dec 10, 2004 12:00AM
Dear Bria,  First of all, calm down, becaue I too have been dizzy, nauseated, chills, etc for 8 months and yes it could take that long to have an inner ear disorder.  Check out the web site, the dizzy lounge and you will see a whole host of people with this same disorder, of course, getting things checked out by a neurologist, ent etc are going to be necessary to rule out anything more serious but the likelyhood of it being something less severe are greater than it being something more so and I pray that it isn't something worse.  Take care and I will say a prayer for you!!

by Someone31415, Dec 16, 2004 12:00AM
Talked to my doctor again and I'm off to the ear specialist soon. Since I last posted I've been hearing tones and had pain and pressure below my ear / behind my jaw, and muscle twitching in my face, all mostly the left side. You'd think that more symptoms would be worse, but it gave me more to go on. I believe the dropping things was a red herring. My arms always go to sleep at night, that can affect motor function, no? Anyway in light of the new symptoms, I'm thinking it might be an infection that's irritating the nerves going to my ear and face. If my face goes numb in a few days they call that Bell's Palsy. I hope it won't come to that, even if complete recovery is the norm that's ugly as hell. I'm really looking forward to hear what the specialist says.

by CaptnBill, Dec 21, 2004 12:00AM
Hello Bria,



I have very similar symptoms. A couple of months ago I landed in the ER because I thought I was going to pass out and my heart was racing. It was the worst episode I'd had since this all started in 2000. I have had MRI's, ENG, bloodwork, neuro exams etc. All normal and therefore no diagnosis. I'd be very interested to see what your doctor comes up with. Please post again to let us know. Thanks and Good Luck! -Bill

by Someone31415, Dec 25, 2004 12:00AM
It's just getting worse and worse. I have fever, chills, feeling faint, fatigue, loss of appetite, terrible sick feeling all over, swollen glands, pain behind the ear / jaw, sharp pain in the ear itself, ringing in both ears, hearing tones in my left ear, tingling / twitching on the sides of the face, stiff / painful neck with accompanied by twitching on the forehead and headaches and inability to think strait and eye socket pain, difficulty concentrating, strange altered feeling in consciousness, STILL dizzy.



I am so sick. It's trashed my Christmas and every single day of my winter vacation. The ear doctor I went to was extremely unhelpful. He just took some wax out and shrugged his shoulders and said "I don't know anything about those symptoms".



Can they test for viral load? I think they can. Maybe I should ask for tests for borrelia antibodies and heavy metals, too.



Yeah, I think I'm going to ask for some tests even if it's just to give me peace of mind - "Yeah, you're going to get better in a week or so, no you didn't need to order these tests". I'd love to hear that.

by jcbudny, Dec 28, 2004 12:00AM
Bria,



Let me briefly tell you my story in the hopes that it might help you in determining what's going on in your body.  I have been to at least 15 specialist, had countless scans, probes, and even a exploratative surgery in my left ear to try and figure out what's happened to me.  I became very ill on March 9th, 2003.  I was at work eating my lunch when I suddenly became incredibly dizzy and almost passed out in my lunch.  I was pretty spooked by this, never had a sensation like that before.  It passed but 2 days later came back while I was at a friends house.  This time it didn't go away and I ended up in the emergency room.  To make the last year and a half fit into less than 100 pages I'll jump ahead to the present.  What my doctors have come up with is that I had a very bad bout with the Epstein Barr Virus.  (I was in bed for the first month with dizziness, chills, sweats, weakness, shakes, left ear pain, ringing in left ear, etc)  I have been out of work since March of 2003, I can no longer drive, and have pretty limited function due to chronic dizziness (not vertigo, I always feel like i'm drugged up), weakness, and GI disfunction.  With all the testing I've had done (tons and tons) my doctors discovered that the EP viral infection probably infected my vestibular and autonomic systems and did some nervous system damage.  Damage that can't be identified with current testing.  I have regular blood tests and they sometimes come back normal and sometimes come back with elevated wbc and liver enzymes.  All of my CT and MRI scans have been negative, my liver biopsy was negative, my left ear surgery was negative, my complete GI work up was negative, I did however test positive for EBV, my autonomic test came back with significant disfuntion, and I still of course have my chronic symptoms.  I have tried a lot of different drugs to help with the dizziness (the major factor I can't get back to my life) and none have helped.  Ever since I became ill I have had discomfort in my left ear (fullness, ringing, occasional pain) and when ever these symptoms are at their worse is when I often feel the worst.  I can go into my ENT and walk a straight line, touch my nose and toes, and do all the other tests fine, yet still feel the disorientation and drugged up dizziness felling.  I have had no hearing loss, so most of the ENT's and Oto-neurologiest I've been to are baffled.  It seems that a  lot of ppl with these mystery illnesses have one thing in common, a viral infection that sets it all off.  I'd recommend getting a complete blood work up by an infectious di