Hi all,

Firstly it's great I can use this forum and read people's experiences as well as those responses who help to solve so many problems and answer so many questions without an imminent visit to a doctor. My respect.

Now to my question. I have to apologize because I bet this is a rather common question "why do I get dizzy when blowing my nose?". To some it may look annoying by now but to some (me in this case) it just happened and nearly made my head explode. I just want to make sure what to/not to do.

So I was having that nasty and strange sore throad for a few weeks (unusually long) which later changed to runny nose. I was still feeling fine and didn't have fever or anything else that wold make me feel too bad. I have always been suffering from nasal/throat/ear problems and know how it feels like and how to deal with it.

However today I was blowing my nose as usual (i.e. strong and hard... as any real man would do ) and... someone just "hit" me hard with a stick so that I feel like I'm about to collapse or loose consciousness (I was kinda sitting on my bed so it didn't happen). Simply put, I felt extremely dizzy. After about 10 secons I was fine again.

Now I understand that this is a rather typical phenomena and it happens to people (including my friends... I have already called some of them asking that) but it was the first time in my life of 26 years it happened... even though I had problems (sometimes rather big) with my nose/ears/throat all my life but nothing like this has ever happened. And now just "bang!". Could this be just a coincidence or is it something I should worry about (i.e. maybe some kind of "hidden" and unusual inner ear inflammation that could transfoprm into a Meningitis). I will see a nasal/ear doctor next week but I wonder if it's worth to take any more immediate action such as go to an accidents and emergency walk-in and describe my experience to them?

Thanks and good health to all!

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

When there is fluid or pressure of any kind on the eardrum, dizziness occurs.

In fact there is a test using sensors on the head, called an electronystagmagram.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronystagmography
During this test, the eardrum is stimulated with heat or air blown into the ear canal...and the resultant electric impulses are recorded with electrodes. Dizziness failure with this stimulation then points to problems with the vestibular nerve.

When you blow your nose too hard, you are putting pressure from the inside of your ear on the eardrum in a similar way and the sensory nerves fire and cause dizziness.

This is sort of a warning to not be so strong in the maneuver and to do it more gently. Using a mucus dissolving drug like Mucinex and drinking more water daily can thin the mucus for you so you don't have to blow so hard. In extreme cases you may damage or rupture your eardrum.

Welcome to a wonderful place ! Lots of caring folks here, very knowledgable ones at that!

Hang in there! You'll get lots of support !!

Rae

Thank you guys. I have done some reading and called my friends and it seems it can happen... perhaps it should be my sore throat that I should be worried with.

Hi,
Does VERTIGO while strong blowing of the nose (especially by blocking only one nostril) cause PERILYMPHATIC FISTULA?? I had the first experience of VERTIGO a few days back which lasted for about a minute. Am i at risk ?? I had done a Tympanometry for both ears - but did not feel any Vertigo due to pressure fluctuations. I am anxious after reading several posts online stating that - VERTIGO while blowing nose can be caused by PERILYMPHATIC FISTULA.

Vestibular.org offers great information about vestibular disorders.

Here is their section on Perilymph Fistula.

http://vestibular.org/perilymph-fistula