Viral inner ear infection or worse?

[scottsharpe]

Hi, I am a male (age 30) & until now have been relatively healthy.  I have various allergies (seasonal) and asthma.  For about 2 years now, I get random severe pains in my left ear/upper jaw, which my doctor said was probably TMJ.  

Until 6 weeks ago, I was living a

[INDYGIRL911]

hi, I had similar symptoms, although my tinnitus (sp) turned into the pulsating/fluttering in my ear, had ear aches,, ENT specialist told me I would "have to live with this" also had vertigo, head felt full. this lasted about 6 months. had MRI and was diagnosed with Venus sinus thrombosis, 80th person in the world to have this apparently. it's blood clot in venus sinus area and jugular. put on cumidin, blood thinner and am doing fine. I did have terrible headaches for 2 weeks prior to mri and was very grouchy. you really should insist on mri. good luck

[scottsharpe]

Hi.  Thanks for the response...

I had an EKG done a while back, before this stuff happened.  That was fine.  Not sure what an ETT or ECHO is though.  

Explanation?

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-PW]

I'm not sure what the extent of the checking out was ?just a neurological exam

It may have been a viral inner ear infection, and if you have residual symptoms, testing such as videonystagmography can confirm that it is a peripheral (ie non-central nervous system) problem. This testing can be done at a neuro-otology center such as the Cleveland clinic

Another possiblility is focal seizures coming from the temporal lobe of the brain - this can be assessed using an EEG brainwave test. This test should ideally capture one of your symptomatic spells and include a recording while you are asleep, to maximise the yield of the EEG.

Especially if the noise (or ?tinnitus as we call it), is pulsatile, that is oscillating in intensity, another but less likely possiblity is a problem at the jugular foramen (an area in the skull base close to the inner ear) such as a tumor or blood clot in the jugular vein. An MRI can assess this possibility

Good luck

[Chrisbo]

Hi Scott,
I can relate to a few of the symptoms you have mentioned and was wondering if you have had an MRI scan and/or blood tests?
Also do you generally suffer from headaches/migraines?
Chris

[scottsharpe]

Hi Chris...

Thanks for the response.  
No, i haven't had a MRI scan to date.  I did have feel blood work done about 7 months ago (long before this thing happened) and that was fine.  I get blood work checked once per year.

I have never suffered from headaches in the past, nor have i ever had a migraine.