Symptons that are not going away

[Serenia23]

Hi, I am new to this forum.

I am an Asian that used to live in Equator and since I moved to  Europe 3 years ago my nightmares began and has not yet stopped. The first year that I was here everything went perfectly normal with my life, and at the end of 2012 I got a a very bad flu resulted in ear perforation and one of my eardrum isnt closing up until now and I began to have tinnitus. But it does not stop there, I began to feel dizzy at least once a month, the ENT told me its because of the air that enters the ear canal because of damaged ear drum. Then at the beginning of February this year I got a severe  BPPV that my husband decided to take me to ER, and everything turned up to be fine. But then My dizziness isnt going away until now, and the other symptons also come,muscle spasms, very bad sleep quality, mood swings, depression, hyperventilation, fullness in the ear, tinnitus, pain under the skin of my scalp, very tired eyes.  We went again to the ENT and he refused to give me any medications, then I went to my family doctor and she prescribed me Rivotril for my anxiety, Betahistine for dizziness and Vit D supplements 50000iu.
My question is, are there any Vit D deficiency sufferers out there that have the same symptons as I do? The doctor suspects that my symptons could be related to Vit D deficiency since I had done blood tests, CT scan, echos, endoscopie, X-rays, and the results were fine.

[Serenia23]

Thank you, I will try to reduce my sodium intake. Hope it helps

[amealer]

Then I would just suggest sodium restriction to less than 1.5 g of sodium per day and consider the vestibular rehab.  Best wishes.

[Serenia23]

I had done two hearing tests and the result for my left ear is 100% good, but my right ear where Im having tinnitus, only has 85% hearing capacity left, but the ENT said that it is caused by the damaged eardrum because the hearing capacity of my inner ear is totally good.
I have asked for ENG test but he told me that it cant be done since my eardrum is damaged, and blowing warm or cold air would not be a good idea at all.
He suggested me to have a surgery to close the damaged eardrum but I need to wait until the dizziness goes away. So it is now more that I  am living an uncertain life.
I have been trying to think about everything that could explain my symptons including the vit D deficiency because of my situation.

[amealer]

Meniere's is defined as "recurrent, spontaneous episodic vertigo; hearing loss; aural fullness; and tinnitus. Either tinnitus or aural fullness (or both) must be present on the affected side to make the diagnosis."  Hearing loss can come and go with each attack.  You may not even be aware of hearing loss because it usually affects low frequencies.  Hearing loss must be documented audiometrically at least once during the course of the disease.  Multiple hearing tests are often required to diagnose Meniere's because of this fluctuating nature.

Two other tests that can be done are also ECOG - which essentially tests the pressure of the inner ear, and ENG - which tests inner ear function by blowing warm air followed by cold air into the ear canal, looking at the movement of the eyes, and looking for a difference in eye movement between the responses of each ear.

[amealer]

You say you have been tested twice by ENT for Meniere's.  What did they test?

[Serenia23]

Hi Amealer,

Thank you for the reply.
I have been tested twice by ENT for the Meniere because my dizziness isnt going away but the results came out negative.
But since I took the betahistine I got this feeling that my symptons are getting worse or maybe my body needs to adjust to the medicine first.
I will ask my family doctor for the thyroid test, hope that it would explain everything.  I will also visit a vestibular specialist, I am getting really tired of these all, I just cant seem see any lights at the end of the tunnel, very depressing..

[amealer]

Usually Vitamin D deficiency is asymptomatic, but if it is symptomatic, those symptoms usually include muscle soreness and bone soreness and tenderness (especially if you press on the tibia).

There are other disorders that can cause the above symptoms.  Make sure that your lab work has included thyroid tests (TSH and free T4).

The one disorder that I think most likely fits is Meniere's disease.  It is caused by increased pressure in the inner ear.  Symptoms include fluctuating hearing loss, vertigo, tinnitus, and aural fullness (pressure or fullness sensation in the ears).

During a severe vertigo attack, there can be nausea and vomiting, sweating, hyperventilation, increased blood pressure and heart rate.  Patients with Meniere's also have a higher incidence (20% of patients) of anxiety and depression because of anticipation of the attacks.  Nightmares can accompany depression.  There can be significant fatigue following attacks.  Some patients have drop attacks.

The eyes may feel tired because of nystagmus - your eyes jumping left and right or up and down, which can accompany an attack.  Meniere's patients can be asymptomatic between attacks.

Anti-anxiety medications are used also because they are vestibulosuppressants (decrease the brain's response to vestibular input).

Betahistine is a common treatment for Meniere's, although the mechanism of action is unclear.  Perhaps it also decreases vestibular activity.

Management involves sodium restriction (1.5 g/day), because you want to reduce total body fluid volume - this reduces inner ear fluid volume (and thus also reduces pressure).  Some other triggers can be nicotine, caffeine, chocolate and alcohol.

There are other medical and surgical treatments.  Sometimes vestibular rehabilitation can help.