Dizziness and Bright Lights

[BNelson]

I have been diagnosed as having had a stroke in my inner right ear. Ever since the stroke I have been experiencing dizziness, especially when I'm around bright lights coming from any particular direction. A room full of lights don't bother me as bad. I am also now deaf in my right ear with a 60-70db hearing loss. I'm tired almost constantly and I get nauseated when this dizziness arrives. Neither neurologist or otologist knows what would be causing my sensitivity to these bright lights. I take Valium, which helps the dizziness and meclazine which helps the nausea. Can you help me with some idea as to what could be causing this sensitivity to bright lights? thank you so much.

[maxmar]

Hi Bnelson



What is a stroke in the inner ear?



My mom has dizziness and vertigo 24/7 and they told her it's

Meniere but she does not have all the Meniere's symptoms and the medication hasn't help.



So I am curious about your story.



What where your symptoms when it happened?

How was it diagnosed?

Is an inner ear stoke "vestibular" or "Cerebrovascular" stroke?



Thanks.

[BNelson]

I was suddenly striken with, what I thought, was a clogged right ear late one night. I went to bed thinking that it would be cleared up by morning. When I woke up, not only was my ear still "clogged", but I was also experiencing vertigo and nausea. I could bearly stand up straight.

Anyways, to make a long story short, I kept getting worse over the next few days. After 2 visits to my family doctor, an ENT specialist, and a neurologist, I was diagnosed as having a stroke in my inner ear. The neurologist, after doing an MRI, MRA, Ultrasound, and blood work, explained that he believed that I had contracted an infection, which enlarged my blood platlets, which, in turn clogged the artery that supplies blood to my inner ear. This, by definition, is a stroke. I am now effectively deaf in my right ear (70db loss) and am very sensitive to lights that come from a single source, i.e. a lamp, or a computer screen. I get dizzy and sometimes nauseated with substantial fatigue.

I hope this helps. As I understand it, Meniere's disease manifests itself as only temporary instances of vertigo that last only a hour or so, but reoccurs periodically. Mine is almost continuous, according to stress levels, commotion, and lighting.

[BNelson]

One more thing.

Valium tends to reduce the symptoms most of the time. However, it makes me quite a bit more fatigued.

[4cinder]

I don't know if this will help but my husband had a stroke and brain surgery to remove an AVM.  We went to a neuropsychopharmacologist who specializes in working with people with symptoms such as you mentioned.  My husband responded very strongly to bright lights, especially LED lights.  The doctor tested him for undetected seizures using an ambulatory EEG.