I've been off the board for a couple of weeks but wanted to give an update. I had the VEMP test done, it was abnormal for my right ear. I went to see the good ENT a neurotologist (in So. Cal at UC Irvine). Great doctor! He went over the CT scan images with me in detail and it turns out I don't have the bone problem (someone else read it wrong). Great news, the surgery fix for that was rather scary.

He thinks some of my symptoms are from a soft tissue tear/leak in the ear, a perilymph fistula. He said that the blurring of my eyes is related to the inner ear problem but that my other eye problems (I don't track or converge properly, especially if things are moving fast) are related to the head injury as are many of my other symptoms. The symptoms related to the ear are: dizziness/unsteadiness from exertion, sound, movement, pressure changes; blurring of eyes (related to dizziness and sound); nausea, sensitivity to my own voice; sensitivity to other sounds.

This doctor developed a procedure to try to stimulate it to heal on its own. He took blood from my arm and injected it in my middle ear (not a comfortable thing!). For the first couple of days while my ear was full, the dizziness and sound sensitivity were almost completely gone. As my ear drained, the symptoms came back at about 50%. He said it would take around 2 weeks until we'd know if it worked and it is more effective when the treatment is sooner after the injury.

Just short of two weeks I tried a very gentle nose blow and it was a bad idea. I heard a big crack in my ear and all the ear related symptoms are back full force. The good thing is that I know that part of my symptoms are from my ear and in time should be repairable. The doctor will try the injection one more time and if it doesn't work there is an outpatient surgery where they graft tissue in where they think the leak is. I'll be more careful next time so I don't undo the healing. :-(

I won't be home this summer because we are traveling with my husband for a work assignment. I'll go back to try the second injection in the fall, unless everything resolves during the summer. Of course, I'm hoping for that, but not holding my breath! ;-)

I've been doing too much without enough rest the past few days and not feeling so well now, super tired and foggy. When will I ever learn? I got so excited to be doing better that I totally jumped the gun and overdid. It is so hard to moderate...