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Vertigo, Tinnitus, Brain Fog
I'm 40 years old, and for about two years I've been dealing with random but troubling symptoms. I've been to a battery of doctors, and have had every test known to man run, with no conclusive results, no diagnosis, no help or abatement of any of the symptoms.
Symptoms:
Tinnitus - all the time. Sometimes screaming loud, sometimes it quiets down. It's a high-pitched whine, and as far as I can tell in both ears. I've been to an audiologist and have had extensive testing done. Nothing physically wrong with my ear canals or hearing parts. Sometimes the tinnitus is so loud it gives me a horrible headache and it always impacts my hearing on some level. It's been my constant companion for no less than a year.
Vertigo. At times extreme to where I have trouble walking across the room without holding on to something. It's not often this severe, but when it is this severe, I find that I am struck with extreme fatigue very shortly thereafter. These bouts will last for about 2-3 days where I have the extraordinary vertigo, and could sleep the entire day away (type A personality - not normal for me). When this is going on, I experience extreme nausea as well, even when laying down and not experiencing vertigo. I should mention if I lie down, the vertigo doesn't happen.
On an on-going regular basis, I experience vertigo when I take the first couple bites of food. The entire room will swim and if I were standing, I would fall over. This happens every time I eat. Recently it has begun happening when I take a drink as well (the first couple drinks when I start drinking water for example). This symptom has gotten worse recently. It didn't used to ever happen with liquids I drink, and the episodes with bites of food used to last 5-10 seconds and now last a good 20-30 seconds.
I feel as if I have a golf ball in my esophagus. A lump in my throat (but below my throat) that never goes away. It literally feels difficult to swallow a large bite of food because of this.
Extreme fatigue. As mentioned above, I go through bouts of fatigue that need to have some other moniker. I literally feel like I can't raise my head I'm so exhausted. Bone weary is a better term. This lasts for several days when it hits. I truly feel like whatever is wrong with me, this is a by-product, or aftershock, if you will, of whatever is happening to me.
Insomnia. I also have bouts of insomnia that will last for several days. This is just within the past 6 months or so. Never in my life have I had trouble sleeping before.
Tests I've had:
Neurological consult. He ran general neurological office-visit tests only (checked my reflexes, my eye movement / tracking, etc.) He felt I probably have Meniers and was pretty much condescending and dismissive and told me my cluster of symptoms were strange and sounded psycho-sematic to him. However, I did follow up with an ENT who specializes in meniers, and it's not meniers.
I also saw an otologist and had a huge battery of otolistic testing (not just hearing tests) done to test inner ear, outer ear, etc., etc. They truly ran every physiological otology test they could since it is logical to conclude my problems are ear-related. I was found to have nothing physically wrong with my ear parts, and my hearing was within normal range - possible very minor hearing loss in one ear, but not enough to even necessarily call it hearing loss.
MRI. Result was that I do have a Chiari Malformation. The above-neurologist who was condescending and dismissive about my "psycho-sematic" symptoms thought the Chiari Malformation to be a non-issue. Yes, it's there (he said as he read my MRI), but it couldn't possibly cause any of these strange cluster of symptoms.
Thyroid. I've often felt many of my problems could possibly be thyroid related. I could check "yes" off on every hypothyroidism symptom, and yet bloodwork has come back two times as normal. (My internal medicine doctor couldn't believe it wasn't my thyroid, so he re-tested). I didn't list all these random little symptoms here, because I don't think they're related? But in case they are: I've lost my outer eyebrows - they were full, now they're bald. I'm always cold, even in summer, I've gained a great deal of weight in the past year; I have heart palpitations (I wore a halter monitor and was found to have sinus taccychardia and sometimes irregular heartbeat, but they could find no reason so it was determined to be probably low-potasseum); I get dizzy if I get up too quickly from sitting or laying.
Other bloodwork. I've been tested for diabetis, hypoglycemia, anemia. I am borderline anemic - always have been my whole life, tho, so this is nothing new. Everything else, normal.
I also had a swallow test (I believe that's what it was called). I ate bites of food with different consistencies (liquid, pudding, crackers) while being x-rayed. The test was run for my upper throat, right where you first swallow. They found nothing. When I told the doctor administering the test that the sensation was lower in my esophagus, he moved the focal point and looked at it and said he could clearly see some sort of muscular hesitation, but couldn't test for it because the order written was to test my upper esophagus so he couldn't pursue it - that I needed to have my doc write up another order for lower (or mid?) esophagus swallow test. I haven't done that yet.
Another symptom - and this one's a biggie - is brain fog. I feel like thinking is like slogging through thick mud. It's hard for me to come up with words (and I'm a very, very articulate person. So much so, that people have teased me my whole life for using big words). Now I have trouble completing sentences. I'm CONSTANTLY seeking the word. I see the object in my brain, and I concentrate and search and search for the word. It's always just out of my reach. Between this and fatigue, I am an entirely different person. My internist has concluded it is simply due to being a very busy working mother of three who just turned 40. I just don't buy it. There is something wrong with me and this fogginess and fatigue is beyond ANY realm of normal.
Last but not least, I have trouble understanding people speaking. I don't know how to explain this other than to say I have to concentrate VERY hard to understand what people are saying. At first, I 100% attributed this to tinnitus and that it was difficult for me to hear them. But as I've spent the last couple days really thinking about my issues and this one in particular, I've been trying to really monitor this symptom. In truth, what it feels like is more like there's a veil in between the person speaking and me. I have to look at them and concentrate really hard to "hear" what they are saying. This might sound very strange, but it FEELS disproportionate to hearing problems I may or may not have (due to tinnitus). It feels more like the person speaking has mush in their mouth and I just want them to speak more clearly and to speak up. I'm continually asking my kids / husband to repeat or say it louder or more clearly.
Also about 1.5 years ago I was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration. Probably not at all related, but I mentio it just so everything is out there.
That's my story. The symptoms are literally starting to take over my life and I'm so frustrated! I've done everything I can to find an answer, and no answer comes.
If any of this rings a bell or if anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. I'm proactive, live a full life and want to get at the heart of these symptoms so I can start to feel normal and well again. Instead things seem to be heading further and further south.
Thank you so much in advance
Symptoms:
Tinnitus - all the time. Sometimes screaming loud, sometimes it quiets down. It's a high-pitched whine, and as far as I can tell in both ears. I've been to an audiologist and have had extensive testing done. Nothing physically wrong with my ear canals or hearing parts. Sometimes the tinnitus is so loud it gives me a horrible headache and it always impacts my hearing on some level. It's been my constant companion for no less than a year.
Vertigo. At times extreme to where I have trouble walking across the room without holding on to something. It's not often this severe, but when it is this severe, I find that I am struck with extreme fatigue very shortly thereafter. These bouts will last for about 2-3 days where I have the extraordinary vertigo, and could sleep the entire day away (type A personality - not normal for me). When this is going on, I experience extreme nausea as well, even when laying down and not experiencing vertigo. I should mention if I lie down, the vertigo doesn't happen.
On an on-going regular basis, I experience vertigo when I take the first couple bites of food. The entire room will swim and if I were standing, I would fall over. This happens every time I eat. Recently it has begun happening when I take a drink as well (the first couple drinks when I start drinking water for example). This symptom has gotten worse recently. It didn't used to ever happen with liquids I drink, and the episodes with bites of food used to last 5-10 seconds and now last a good 20-30 seconds.
I feel as if I have a golf ball in my esophagus. A lump in my throat (but below my throat) that never goes away. It literally feels difficult to swallow a large bite of food because of this.
Extreme fatigue. As mentioned above, I go through bouts of fatigue that need to have some other moniker. I literally feel like I can't raise my head I'm so exhausted. Bone weary is a better term. This lasts for several days when it hits. I truly feel like whatever is wrong with me, this is a by-product, or aftershock, if you will, of whatever is happening to me.
Insomnia. I also have bouts of insomnia that will last for several days. This is just within the past 6 months or so. Never in my life have I had trouble sleeping before.
Tests I've had:
Neurological consult. He ran general neurological office-visit tests only (checked my reflexes, my eye movement / tracking, etc.) He felt I probably have Meniers and was pretty much condescending and dismissive and told me my cluster of symptoms were strange and sounded psycho-sematic to him. However, I did follow up with an ENT who specializes in meniers, and it's not meniers.
I also saw an otologist and had a huge battery of otolistic testing (not just hearing tests) done to test inner ear, outer ear, etc., etc. They truly ran every physiological otology test they could since it is logical to conclude my problems are ear-related. I was found to have nothing physically wrong with my ear parts, and my hearing was within normal range - possible very minor hearing loss in one ear, but not enough to even necessarily call it hearing loss.
MRI. Result was that I do have a Chiari Malformation. The above-neurologist who was condescending and dismissive about my "psycho-sematic" symptoms thought the Chiari Malformation to be a non-issue. Yes, it's there (he said as he read my MRI), but it couldn't possibly cause any of these strange cluster of symptoms.
Thyroid. I've often felt many of my problems could possibly be thyroid related. I could check "yes" off on every hypothyroidism symptom, and yet bloodwork has come back two times as normal. (My internal medicine doctor couldn't believe it wasn't my thyroid, so he re-tested). I didn't list all these random little symptoms here, because I don't think they're related? But in case they are: I've lost my outer eyebrows - they were full, now they're bald. I'm always cold, even in summer, I've gained a great deal of weight in the past year; I have heart palpitations (I wore a halter monitor and was found to have sinus taccychardia and sometimes irregular heartbeat, but they could find no reason so it was determined to be probably low-potasseum); I get dizzy if I get up too quickly from sitting or laying.
Other bloodwork. I've been tested for diabetis, hypoglycemia, anemia. I am borderline anemic - always have been my whole life, tho, so this is nothing new. Everything else, normal.
I also had a swallow test (I believe that's what it was called). I ate bites of food with different consistencies (liquid, pudding, crackers) while being x-rayed. The test was run for my upper throat, right where you first swallow. They found nothing. When I told the doctor administering the test that the sensation was lower in my esophagus, he moved the focal point and looked at it and said he could clearly see some sort of muscular hesitation, but couldn't test for it because the order written was to test my upper esophagus so he couldn't pursue it - that I needed to have my doc write up another order for lower (or mid?) esophagus swallow test. I haven't done that yet.
Another symptom - and this one's a biggie - is brain fog. I feel like thinking is like slogging through thick mud. It's hard for me to come up with words (and I'm a very, very articulate person. So much so, that people have teased me my whole life for using big words). Now I have trouble completing sentences. I'm CONSTANTLY seeking the word. I see the object in my brain, and I concentrate and search and search for the word. It's always just out of my reach. Between this and fatigue, I am an entirely different person. My internist has concluded it is simply due to being a very busy working mother of three who just turned 40. I just don't buy it. There is something wrong with me and this fogginess and fatigue is beyond ANY realm of normal.
Last but not least, I have trouble understanding people speaking. I don't know how to explain this other than to say I have to concentrate VERY hard to understand what people are saying. At first, I 100% attributed this to tinnitus and that it was difficult for me to hear them. But as I've spent the last couple days really thinking about my issues and this one in particular, I've been trying to really monitor this symptom. In truth, what it feels like is more like there's a veil in between the person speaking and me. I have to look at them and concentrate really hard to "hear" what they are saying. This might sound very strange, but it FEELS disproportionate to hearing problems I may or may not have (due to tinnitus). It feels more like the person speaking has mush in their mouth and I just want them to speak more clearly and to speak up. I'm continually asking my kids / husband to repeat or say it louder or more clearly.
Also about 1.5 years ago I was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration. Probably not at all related, but I mentio it just so everything is out there.
That's my story. The symptoms are literally starting to take over my life and I'm so frustrated! I've done everything I can to find an answer, and no answer comes.
If any of this rings a bell or if anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. I'm proactive, live a full life and want to get at the heart of these symptoms so I can start to feel normal and well again. Instead things seem to be heading further and further south.
Thank you so much in advance
The only thing that helps me is keeping a high alkaline diet, no real sugar and low sodium. When I eat this way my symptoms practically disappear. I'm 53. I also take vitamins.
OMG.. I'm 46.. a wife and mum of 2.. about a year ago.. had my first ever Vertigo confirmed (hold on.. trying to find / pick the right word) episode ... before that... I had what I called 'earthquake tremors'.. that no one else would /could feel.. put it down to vertigo starting..
But before that.. maybe since as long as 3-4 years.. I've had brain fog... really really frustrating brain fog. I used to write lots of 'reminders' down for myself.. like I was getting dementia / alzheimers (jokingly thinking.. its probably 'mad cow' disease.. I am pretty mad sometimes).. took a few tests here and there.. over these years.. and they say 'anaemic'.. as per usual.. been anaemic since I was a teenager... In 2012 I had an MRI, our GP rushed me in for one.. as I had had a continual headache for close to 6 weeks at that stage.. I'm thinking.. actually it's just there.. like maybe I have a neck vertebrae alignment problem? It's weird how you just clutch at any clue or answer that fits at the time... never finding the right 'name' for what's going on.. They found nothing in my head -pfff lol... that would be anything to do with what I was experiencing.. although one doc pretty much said.. I had a vein in my head that was probably a little shorter than most others 'vein name'.. but didn't think it would cos this myriad of weird feelings etc.. So we moved on .. breathing a sigh of relief.. no tumour anywhere.. which is what I thought..
So carry on living the way I'm living... not fretting over it.. until I got so low in iron.. that I was advised to have something done about it..
So anyway.. hysterectomy recommended..... I had the hysterectomy in Feb of this year.. best thing I ever did.. to increase my energy levels.. and a week before the operation I stopped smoking.. thinking it's got to be good for me... and as I came out of the operation and obviously the pain killers etc.. my 'tremor feelings'.. turned into a swaying sensation. :(
I also had a temperature spike... and some 'hidden' infection (showed in a blood test).. but was not in my wound at all?? Weird. then it went away..
I have had 3 ear checks and eyesight checks.. and both came back fine...
I read somewhere that you don't have to have the full blown falling over feeling for it to be diagnosed as vertigo.. there are different 'levels' of vertigo.. some including brain fog etc.
I too... find it hard not to come up with the right words to fit (pausing to find the right word..) conversations.. worse with spoken conversation.. a little better on written conversations.. like this.. but still.. I'm pausing to 'find' the word in the fog..
I went back to the doctor recently and told him that my tremors have since shifted to being a 'sway'.. he was not happy about this at all.. in fact he wants to do another MRI screen next time i have to come in.. but he did say .. if it was something ominous .. like a TIA or aneurysm .. it probably, would've happened a while ago (he's trying to make me less nervous.. not sure if it worked).. he did say .. that since I've quit smoking cold turkey.. maybe i have a tension headache that's limiting the blood flow somewhere in my neck .. to my brain.. maybe?
But in the meantime.. i've noticed 'heart palpitations' happening sporadically.. at most once every day.. sometimes 10 times in an hour... maybe there's actually something wrong with my heart??? (Stress related.. or same chemical involved in our bodies that are created around stress.. are 'acting up' in our bodies.. being made.. when we aren't stressed? Lump in the throat.. I got that a few years back.. it was absolutely horrible... I got and get that.. when I'm super stressed out.. I notice it quite obviously around the time my mum took ill.. the throat lump disappeared 6 weeks after my mum's funeral...
Now.. I'm not sure if any of this helps you at all.. but reading your 'story'.. was very helpful to me... I don't feel so alone now. And I'm just taking one day at a time...
Thinking of you
all the way in New Zealand
But before that.. maybe since as long as 3-4 years.. I've had brain fog... really really frustrating brain fog. I used to write lots of 'reminders' down for myself.. like I was getting dementia / alzheimers (jokingly thinking.. its probably 'mad cow' disease.. I am pretty mad sometimes).. took a few tests here and there.. over these years.. and they say 'anaemic'.. as per usual.. been anaemic since I was a teenager... In 2012 I had an MRI, our GP rushed me in for one.. as I had had a continual headache for close to 6 weeks at that stage.. I'm thinking.. actually it's just there.. like maybe I have a neck vertebrae alignment problem? It's weird how you just clutch at any clue or answer that fits at the time... never finding the right 'name' for what's going on.. They found nothing in my head -pfff lol... that would be anything to do with what I was experiencing.. although one doc pretty much said.. I had a vein in my head that was probably a little shorter than most others 'vein name'.. but didn't think it would cos this myriad of weird feelings etc.. So we moved on .. breathing a sigh of relief.. no tumour anywhere.. which is what I thought..
So carry on living the way I'm living... not fretting over it.. until I got so low in iron.. that I was advised to have something done about it..
So anyway.. hysterectomy recommended..... I had the hysterectomy in Feb of this year.. best thing I ever did.. to increase my energy levels.. and a week before the operation I stopped smoking.. thinking it's got to be good for me... and as I came out of the operation and obviously the pain killers etc.. my 'tremor feelings'.. turned into a swaying sensation. :(
I also had a temperature spike... and some 'hidden' infection (showed in a blood test).. but was not in my wound at all?? Weird. then it went away..
I have had 3 ear checks and eyesight checks.. and both came back fine...
I read somewhere that you don't have to have the full blown falling over feeling for it to be diagnosed as vertigo.. there are different 'levels' of vertigo.. some including brain fog etc.
I too... find it hard not to come up with the right words to fit (pausing to find the right word..) conversations.. worse with spoken conversation.. a little better on written conversations.. like this.. but still.. I'm pausing to 'find' the word in the fog..
I went back to the doctor recently and told him that my tremors have since shifted to being a 'sway'.. he was not happy about this at all.. in fact he wants to do another MRI screen next time i have to come in.. but he did say .. if it was something ominous .. like a TIA or aneurysm .. it probably, would've happened a while ago (he's trying to make me less nervous.. not sure if it worked).. he did say .. that since I've quit smoking cold turkey.. maybe i have a tension headache that's limiting the blood flow somewhere in my neck .. to my brain.. maybe?
But in the meantime.. i've noticed 'heart palpitations' happening sporadically.. at most once every day.. sometimes 10 times in an hour... maybe there's actually something wrong with my heart??? (Stress related.. or same chemical involved in our bodies that are created around stress.. are 'acting up' in our bodies.. being made.. when we aren't stressed? Lump in the throat.. I got that a few years back.. it was absolutely horrible... I got and get that.. when I'm super stressed out.. I notice it quite obviously around the time my mum took ill.. the throat lump disappeared 6 weeks after my mum's funeral...
Now.. I'm not sure if any of this helps you at all.. but reading your 'story'.. was very helpful to me... I don't feel so alone now. And I'm just taking one day at a time...
Thinking of you
all the way in New Zealand
1 Comments
For my palpations feeling like a I couldn't breath. vitamin E with tocopherol and D-alpha 1200 mg at one time.
Thank you for your reply, Carol. No disrespect, but that's not what I'm dealing with. I was laid off from my job in March and so have not been actively in an environment that would support WEEP.
Are there any doctors in this forum who would be willing to point me in any directions of what I might try to pursue?
In the past week I've had a rough week and although my symptoms might not seem horrible when taken individually, it's really horrible and painful and life disruptive collectively. I wish someone would or could help me.
Are there any doctors in this forum who would be willing to point me in any directions of what I might try to pursue?
In the past week I've had a rough week and although my symptoms might not seem horrible when taken individually, it's really horrible and painful and life disruptive collectively. I wish someone would or could help me.
These cluster of symptoms are almost exactly what I had -- and i was so tired of hearing people tell me it was psychosomatic. Look into electro sensitivity -- it is well known and even an accepted disability in some countries. Check out Canada's WEEP initiative.
There is hope out there -- feel better!
Carol761.
There is hope out there -- feel better!
Carol761.
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