dizzy teenager

My 14 year old daughter has been having sever dizziness for the past 3 weeks.  She is also complaining that at times she gets a headache and nausea and sometime light and lound noises bother her.  She has had blood tests and an EKG done and all came back fine.  We tried to treat her as if she was having migraines but nothing helped. Her doctor then suggested we go see and ENT and he examined her and did a hearing test which showed nothing.  She is now scheduled for a VNG test to try to induce the dizziness to see if there is an innter ear problem.  If that test shows nothing she has to go see a neurologist.  I have noticed that her spells seem to be worse when she is somewhere that has flourescent lighting.  I'm wondering if there is anything I can try that will help the dizzy spells she has when in flourescent lighting?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I don't think we can offer any helpful information. Dizziness is not a common eye symptom.  Best to continue the work up, however she should be evaluated by an Eye MD ophthalmologist. Ask your neurologist for a referal
j
JCH JMD

[achillea]

Not sure what you mean when you say "We tried to treat her as if she was having migraines but nothing helped."  What exactly was tried?  Has your daughter been seen yet by a neurologist--the person you want to see for headaches?  I ask because I have migraines, and her symptoms (headache, nausea, plus sensitivity to light and sound) seem to me extremely suggestive of migraine-type headaches.  Here is some reading material on the subject:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/migraine-headache/DS00120/DSECTION=symptoms

Re the fluorescent lighting issue, I am not a true believer, but some people think that under certain circumstances, some aspect of fluorescent lighting might possibly be a factor in producing headaches.  Here's more info:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/do-fluorescent-lights-trigger-migraines/

Of course, her inner ear function should be checked out as well since there are some disorders in that department that can cause some of her symptoms, but not usually all of them.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

=