Whooshing in right ear, headaches, & visual problems

[kristin212]

Hi there. I am 36 & in the middle of trying to diagnose severe daily headaches, dizziness, visual disturbances w/ ear whooshing in my right ear. Whooshing started a few years ago but was nothing but a noise. Now, 2 wks ago, was coming w/ daily migraines, dizziness & whooshing is louder then ever. When whooshing peaks & at its worst my vision pulsates & gets splotchy. Went to ER, cat scan normal, gave different meds, sent me home. Went to neurologist, he feels its vascular. In process of trying to approve ct angiogram, & mri of the brain. I went to opthomologist today & no optic nerve swelling. Anything else I can be doing, because I have been debilitated & unable to work or drive. Job threatened today when neurologist told me to stay out for the next 2 weeks. I felt this may be excessive but who knows? I haven't been able to do anything lately. Any other suggestions? I don't want to be fired. Thanks very much

Kristin

[YourNurseLady]

Sounds like you could have right carotid stenosis. CONSIDER asking your doctor about a right carotid ultrasound. It's possible that plaques have built up in your artery, reducing blood flow to the regions of your brain that effect vision. It could also cause an intracranial pressure imbalance, thus resulting in the wooshing sound. High pressure could also account for dizziness and vision disturbances; so can a decreased oxygen supply. This is something I see often. You have the typical symptoms. Most peo0le i encounter do not have this wooshing until they have a 60%+ blockage. Without an exam, I can not say for certain that you do, or do not.  It's worth the visit to your doctor to get the test to make sure this is not it. If you do have plaques and one breaks off, it could cause a stroke.

[kristin212]

Will anything show up on the CT angiogram or MRI of the brain? I now have these tests scheduled for Monday (25th). So maybe if these tests are normal I should consider spinal tap? Opthomologist mentioned it, but Neurologist didn't.

[anakanak3]

Your symptoms sound amazingly like what I had when I was diagnosed with Pseudotumor Cerebri or Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension.  This disease is easy to miss and can cause you to lose the ability to see.  Even though your opthamologist has said the optic nerves are not swollen this disease is frequently mis-diagnosed.  If you live near a teaching hospital, university medical center etc. You may be able to find a Neuro-opthamologist who might have some additional insight.  If nothing else, get a 2nd opinion.  Too many times this diagnosis is missed for years!  You are already living with debilitating symptoms and want your life back.  Ten years ago, I was very lucky to have an opthamologist who was able to make an educated guess that this was the visual problem I had then.  My symptom (yes only 1 @ that time) I couldn't read a road sign that I could 20 minutes earlier.  While this is a neurological eye disease, it is actually diagnosed by having an elevated opening pressure of the Cerebral Spinal Fluid when a lumbar puncture is performed.  What can you do?  Best suggestion is to continue working with the doctors.  If and I mean IF you do end up with this diagnosis, It is NOT the end of the world.  There are medications available to aid in decreasing the pressure, surgery on the optic nerve or even the placement of a shunt may be appropriate in some cases.  I am a very fortunate person,  my case was rather complicated, but here I am 10 years later, normal vision, with no evidence of problems.  Talk to your doctor, request a referral to a teaching institution, and hang in there! It isn't easy to have no life due to pain, decreased vision and hearing noise in your ears.  But there is hope.  A couple of things I found which helped me, were sleeping in a quiet, cool dark room (especially if you are auditory or light sensitive), not changing positions quickly and making a point of trying to relax through the worst of the pain.  An ice pack to your head/neck may also help decrease some pain.  I wish you the best in your search for answers.