[Acuity]

Hello everyone. I was refered to these forums by a friend who had nothing but great things to say about this place. I am here today because I've been experiencing the following symptoms since December 4th. I apologize in advance if my introduction is too long winded.

On December 4th 2010, while doing my weights I felt a pop in the back of my head while straining very hard to finish my last rep/set. I felt no other symptoms at that time. On Monday December 6th 2010 it was time for me to do my weightlifting again and after finishing my first set of the evening. I sat up and immediately felt a fullness in my left ear, pressure/burning underneith my left ear, the room was spinning to my right and my body felt like it was spinning to my left. My wife rushed over and held me up, while I sat on my bench trying to recover for approximately 15-20 minutes. The vertigo type symptoms lasted briefly and were replaced with dizziness.


-Fullness in left ear.
Started on December 6th 2010 and is currently an issue.
It feels as though I have too much wax (or something else) but it feels like it is deep within my ear, possible on the other side of my eardrum.

-24/7 dizziness.
Started on December 6th 2010 and is currently an issue.
It is worse when I move my head. Occasionally it makes me feel sick to my stomach.

-Tightness (sometimes burning) sensation under my left ear.
Started on December 6th 2010 and is currently an issue.
I was told by several doctors that this region is called the eustachian tube.

-Pressure in my head.
Started on December 11th 2010 and is currently an issue.
The pressure started on December 11th 2010 after I was given a lumbar puncture. It was later discovered that I had a leak and I was hospitalized the following day and given 3 blood patches to correct the problem. The pressure nearly went away, but in May started up again at an indescribeable severity. The pressure is lessened when I lay down and gets worse when I tilt my neck, sit up or exert, even the tiniest of amounts to do the simpliest of activities.


-Odd sensation with the skin on the left side of my face/left eye/scalp.
Started on June 2011 and is currently an issue.
The slightest touch to the left side of my face (above the cheek bone), my left eye, including my eyelashes/eyelid and my head/scalp send a vibtratory sensation/sound to my left ear. To best desribe this feeling, it reminds me of when you start to yawn. When you focus on your ear while doing so you'll notice that it feels and sounds like air pressure travelling over tiny cilia/hairs. This is the same sensation that I achieve by the slightest touching to areas of the left side of my face, eye and head/scalp.

-Tinnitus in left ear.
Started in June 2011 and is currently an issue.
It is very high pitched, loud (sometimes difficult to muffle, even with tv volume high) and sounds like a heart beat. I do my best to ignore it or drown it out but the shear loudness of it makes it incredibly annoying.

-Sensitivity to high pitched sounds in left ear.
Started in June 2011 and is currently an issue.
Even my own voice causes my left ear pain. The smallest (volume wise) high pitched sounds, even from outside or several rooms away within our house, cause my left ear pain. It feels as though any high pitched sound is being magnified multiple times over, right against my eardrum, even though, in reality, it may be a tiny high pitched sound from a great distance away. Even typing this message causes my left ear pain.

-Itchyness in left ear, bad smell and discoloured wax in left ear.
Lasted from May until July 2011.
The smell was so bad that I was forced to move into my own room in our house. These symptoms all started soon after a my 2nd appointment with an ENT, who was trying to remove wax in my ear with a metal instrument and hit something inside (which causes me pain and I stated so immediately). I did have an ear infection 15 years ago (approx) that had almost identical symptoms and length of time. But I have no proof that this ENT was the cause of anything but I felt it was important to add the timeline for these symptoms, just in case it's important and possibly a seperate issue/cause from those which started in December.

[Rrae]

Welcome to NT!
You have found a wonderful place for support and understanding! I'm sorry for these frustrating symptoms you are faced with. It appears that you aren't getting very many answers from your doctors, which can certainly ADD to the frustration.

Here's a good forum here at NT that may be of help.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread51098.html

Pay particular attention to the top of the page where you see the 'Sticky' notes (full of info)

I hope you start getting answers soon.

It's great to have you!

Caring,
Rae

[dmplaura]

Greetings!!! I found your welcome post!

Yes, NeuroTalk is a fantastic place for information and support.

I referred my good friend (the original poster) here in hopes he can find someone who's been down a similar 'road' or can relate to the symptoms and situation he's been experiencing.

Hugs

[MelodyL]

Originally Posted by Acuity

Hello everyone. I was refered to these forums by a friend who had nothing but great things to say about this place. I am here today because I've been experiencing the following symptoms since December 4th. I apologize in advance if my introduction is too long winded.

On December 4th 2010, while doing my weights I felt a pop in the back of my head while straining very hard to finish my last rep/set. I felt no other symptoms at that time. On Monday December 6th 2010 it was time for me to do my weightlifting again and after finishing my first set of the evening. I sat up and immediately felt a fullness in my left ear, pressure/burning underneith my left ear, the room was spinning to my right and my body felt like it was spinning to my left. My wife rushed over and held me up, while I sat on my bench trying to recover for approximately 15-20 minutes. The vertigo type symptoms lasted briefly and were replaced with dizziness.


-Fullness in left ear.
Started on December 6th 2010 and is currently an issue.
It feels as though I have too much wax (or something else) but it feels like it is deep within my ear, possible on the other side of my eardrum.

-24/7 dizziness.
Started on December 6th 2010 and is currently an issue.
It is worse when I move my head. Occasionally it makes me feel sick to my stomach.

-Tightness (sometimes burning) sensation under my left ear.
Started on December 6th 2010 and is currently an issue.
I was told by several doctors that this region is called the eustachian tube.

-Pressure in my head.
Started on December 11th 2010 and is currently an issue.
The pressure started on December 11th 2010 after I was given a lumbar puncture. It was later discovered that I had a leak and I was hospitalized the following day and given 3 blood patches to correct the problem. The pressure nearly went away, but in May started up again at an indescribeable severity. The pressure is lessened when I lay down and gets worse when I tilt my neck, sit up or exert, even the tiniest of amounts to do the simpliest of activities.


-Odd sensation with the skin on the left side of my face/left eye/scalp.
Started on June 2011 and is currently an issue.
The slightest touch to the left side of my face (above the cheek bone), my left eye, including my eyelashes/eyelid and my head/scalp send a vibtratory sensation/sound to my left ear. To best desribe this feeling, it reminds me of when you start to yawn. When you focus on your ear while doing so you'll notice that it feels and sounds like air pressure travelling over tiny cilia/hairs. This is the same sensation that I achieve by the slightest touching to areas of the left side of my face, eye and head/scalp.

-Tinnitus in left ear.
Started in June 2011 and is currently an issue.
It is very high pitched, loud (sometimes difficult to muffle, even with tv volume high) and sounds like a heart beat. I do my best to ignore it or drown it out but the shear loudness of it makes it incredibly annoying.

-Sensitivity to high pitched sounds in left ear.
Started in June 2011 and is currently an issue.
Even my own voice causes my left ear pain. The smallest (volume wise) high pitched sounds, even from outside or several rooms away within our house, cause my left ear pain. It feels as though any high pitched sound is being magnified multiple times over, right against my eardrum, even though, in reality, it may be a tiny high pitched sound from a great distance away. Even typing this message causes my left ear pain.

-Itchyness in left ear, bad smell and discoloured wax in left ear.
Lasted from May until July 2011.
The smell was so bad that I was forced to move into my own room in our house. These symptoms all started soon after a my 2nd appointment with an ENT, who was trying to remove wax in my ear with a metal instrument and hit something inside (which causes me pain and I stated so immediately). I did have an ear infection 15 years ago (approx) that had almost identical symptoms and length of time. But I have no proof that this ENT was the cause of anything but I felt it was important to add the timeline for these symptoms, just in case it's important and possibly a seperate issue/cause from those which started in December.

Hi. Just wanted to stop by and say welcome.

My name is Melody and I'm presently having a bout of Labyrinthitis. It's quite annoying but I've been told it will go as it came.

I can't imagine what you are dealing with. My husband had vertigo several years ago. Thankfully it cleared up. He keeps away from salt.

I do hope you find relief.

Take care, and again, Welcome to Neurotalk

Melody

[Acuity]

Thank you for welcoming me and I appreciate the support.

[en bloc]

I'll assume you have had an MRI. Did they check for a mastoid effusion?

[Acuity]

Originally Posted by en bloc

I'll assume you have had an MRI. Did they check for a mastoid effusion?

I had an MRI on my brain in May (not an MRA) and a 2nd MRI on my spine (C1-C4, I believe) in July. I am not sure about whether or not they checked for a mastoid effusion. I've also had 4 CAT scans on my brain and one on my left ear. I had a lumbar puncture, which ended up leaking and then required multiple blood patches to fix it. I also had some eye tests where I was told they were checked behind the eye to make sure the levels of my cerebrial fluid were not too high/low. I've had 2 x rays (head and spine) and a dopplar on my circle of Willis. I've had multiple visits and tests to 4 different ENT's (not for 2nd opinions, they refered me to each other) and I have a 6th visit coming up next Tuesday on Sept 27th. I also had my 4th session of acunpuncture performed last night and have my final one scheduled for next week.

There are also a couple of other symptoms which I failed to mention in my initial post:

-The feeling like my head is too heavy for my neck:
It feels like my head weighs 100 lbs and it's difficult to keep it up/straight. It feels better when I tuck my chin down and stretch it out, but doing so makes the pressure in my head increase. I was told I had limited range of motion and the muscles in that region were stiff but they were unsure of the cause. They theorized that the possible reason was that I was subconsciously holding my head in an unusual position because allowing it to sit forward slightly caused the pressure in my head to increase.

-Pressure in specific spots on the left side of my head:
It feels as though the blood vessels (guessing) are inflating like balloons on the left side of my head. I can touch the exact spots and they do seem different than the other side of my head. These areas also suffer from the weird sensitivity issues I mentioned above. So whenever I touch them it sends a vribratory impulse sound/sensation to my left ear. Even the slightest touch does this, including only touching the hairs on my head at that site. Adding cold helps the pain a little.

-Flushing in my head:
The color of my head is red and prone to flushing on a daily basis. This gets worse/better depending on if I have my neck bent, or if I am sitting/standing, laying down, or even laying down with my head slightly arched upwards. They worked on my neck in vestibular testing and that has been the only treatment I've had that has helped with the flushing and the increased temperature in my head. But the problem still exists to this day.

[en bloc]

It sounds like you've been worked up thoroughly. Have all the tests/scans been normal? What are the docs saying at this point?

[Acuity]

Originally Posted by en bloc

It sounds like you've been worked up thoroughly. Have all the tests/scans been normal? What are the docs saying at this point?

Nothing definitive and specific at this point.
In December, the doctors at emerg suggested that I could possibly have benign positional vertigo. This was later shot down by several ENT's and vestibular testing. It was also theorized that I may have ruptured a disk which was piercing my spinal chord, which is why they sent me for an MRI on C1-C4, but those tests came up negative. Last month an ENT thought that maybe I had a fistula, but a specialist at Sunnybrook down in Toronto said that was not the case. My neughologist said it was an "inner ear problem" and my ENT believes I need to see a neurologist. My family doctor tends to be the type that is not hands on, or even remembers who you are (I am approaching my 3rd year with him). We've been trying to get a new GP since March but it's virtually impossible to get a family doctor in the region I live and atm we're on a regional waiting list.

So basically, lots of hunches and no real answers. Tons of negative tests and lots of repetative tests looking for the same ailments ie: 4 CT scans on my brain, hearing checked twice, 6-7 blood tests with very simular workups,etc. Lost in the mix is that I was supposed to get vestibular testing completed and their office was surprised to find out (by my wife and I) that they still had not done it, which is why I have been refered to get it done by another ENT next week. Although it's my 2nd time seeing him so he may simply decide it's not needed.

I mentioned earlier that my 2nd ENT appointment resulted in him hitting something inside my ear that hurt. I had a followup with him but he was away on vacation and the subsistute ENT said she saw "something" wrong with my eardrum, which consequently led to her setting up the CAT scan. She mentioned the possibility of something specific wrong with it, but my wife and I could only remember that it ended with "itus" , which isn't very specific.

But we felt this timeline was important, simply because it wasn't until this ENT hit something inside my ear, that I started having the itching, very bad smell, discoloured wax and soon after those symptoms were disappearing I had the weird sensations on my face/head, the very loud high pitched tinnitus in my left ear and an extreme sensitivity to high pitched sounds in my left ear (sounds like even low volume high pitched sounds from a room away is coming through a megaphone, right against my eardrum).

All of that may simply be a coincidence and just an evolution from my original ear problem being left untreated for numerous months (just a guess on my part), or it could be a scenerio where something inside my eardrum was injured from that visit. At this point, i'm just guessing and trying to go to as many appointments as possible and research as much as I can.

[en bloc]

Of course, I'm no medical professional, but here's my thoughts.

You haven't mentioned fevers (even low grade) or swollen lymph nodes in the regions, so that tells me it's likely NOT infection, even though the smell, and wax color seems to head in that direction.

Therefore inflammation, whether it be the ear drum, or other inner ear structure is what keeps popping in my mind. Has anyone considered a short taper course of steroids (Prednisone)? Inflammation would also fall into the ...itis category for whatever the substitute ENT was referring to. If it's inflammatory, you would notice improvement on steroids within a day or two.

You might want to place a call to the ENT office and ask them to look at her notes to see what she wrote down in regards to her findings (the -itis).