Kind of Desperate Here and Need Some Help

[SarahStacey]

I am hoping someone can help me and shed some light on something that has been going on for me. I feel lost and scared.

About 9 months ago, I started getting this dizzy sensation when tilting my head to the right but only sometimes. And sometimes, it would happen if I was in the same position for too long. It would happen when I was using my cellphone or holding up with my shoulder, neck bent. It would happen sometimes leaning over to get my wallet in my purse on the passenger seat. It would feel like a rush of adrenaline and it would freak me out. As soon as I put my head straight the feeling would pass. In between, I had a constant sense of anxiety and imbalance. I also felt "off" and in a fog.

The sensations got closer together so I visited the ER and they said it was BPPV or positional vertigo due to loose calcium crystals in the ear. They never actually tested, they just diagnosed me based on symptoms. So, I went home and tried the Epley and I did have a spinning sensation on my right side so I knew this is what I had. But, I think it's important to say that before this happened, however, I was postpartum and experiencing daily headaches and migraines. The migraines and pulsing sensation would feel as though they were deep in my left ear. I knew this was weird for me because although I used to get an occasional headache, it would never always stay in the same place like this.

During this time also, I spent about 8-10 hours a day looking down on my laptop and cell phone. Sometimes, when I would look up from being on my laptop too long I would feel really dizzy and disoriented. Same thing when I kept my head to the right too long staring at the desktop monitor. A weird, dizzy sensation would come over me.

So when I got the diagnoses, I figured all the symptoms I experienced were all attributed to BPPV and I so I performed the Epley for 3 days and the spinning eventually went away. The positional episodes did not, which makes me think the BPPV finding was just incidental to what is going on. On most days, I cannot move my head around too much because I feel a weird dropping, sinking dizzy feeling. If I move too fast the feeling could be sudden and it will cause a fair amount of panic to surge through my blood. 2 months ago I started developing tinnitus. My left ear constantly feels full and it will randomly pop, click, equalize with ringing fading out tinnitus. I developed a second kind of tinnitus which never went away after I returned from a flight 3 weeks ago. It feels like I am in a plane's cabin and it vibrates my head.

The positional dizziness that I experience will happen if I am just staring at someone and just move my head slightly. When I do exercises like typing on a keyboard I get dizzy jolts which feel like zaps of electricity running up the back of my head. I get dizzy rushes talking.

I have had a full workup including MRI of the head, CT Scan of the head, Blood work including thyroid, B12 Levels, Vitamin D levels, Iron, all normal. I've had full balance testing which is all normal. There is nothing wrong with my ears to the eye or based on the testing.

I just don't know anymore. This all started one night where I abruptly turned my head to the left and got out of bed only to feel like I had a stroke. I couldn't even read the Advil bottle and was severely disoriented. After that, I could not move my head around too much and it kicked off what I have been going through for so long, approx. 7 months.

Today, something aggravated it. I was in the bathroom looking at my hair and I was straining my neck because I was looking up close to the mirror for too long. Now, whenever I move the dizziness is worse.

I have never received an MRI of my neck. I did an X-ray of my neck and it was normal. I am wondering since they can't find anything in the ears or my brain, if this is something coming from my neck? I just feel like I will have a stroke at any moment or something sinister.

Does anyone know if our necks can cause hyperacusis, clicking, popping, pulsating, dizziness, etc?

 

[JoyBenz007]

How's your anxiety?

 

[just1morething]

@SarahStacey, Maybe this website advice will help you? http://www.noisehelp.com/hissing-in-my-ear.html

 

[glynis]

Have they ruled out Menieres?
Betahistine
Buccastem
Proclorperazine
Cinnarazine are all meds that can help with your symptoms so I would have a chat with your doctor about them.
Love glynis x

 

[SarahStacey]

Thank you guys. They have ruled out Menieres. Go hearing loss, no rotational vertigo episodes. I do have tinnitus but it is constant, not something that comes on or gets worse during episodes. The feeling is pretty constant. The only times it ceases is during sleep and for about an hour in the morning. As soon as I start my day, the feeling starts creeping in and only gets worse throughout the day. I also performed the Ecog test which tests for fluid and that was normal.

My anxiety is definitely off the chart. But I really don't know what came first, the chicken or the egg. I did have a pre-existing anxiety condition that started in my teens but that is it.

 

[Proteo]

I think it's important to say that before this happened, however, I was postpartum and experiencing daily headaches and migraines. The migraines and pulsing sensation would feel as though they were deep in my left ear. I knew this was weird for me because although I used to get an occasional headache, it would never always stay in the same place like this.

Hi Sarah, I think it is pretty important, yes!

I don't know if you are still visiting this site, but if the pain you felt came from damage caused by intense pressure inside the ear, then maybe not chewing for a few weeks will help you the same way it did for me.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@SarahStacey Hi Sarah: There several sternocleidomastoid articles that describe holding up a cell phone with shoulder and everything else that you describe. Here's one link, but I would visit other sternocleidomastoid articles for a clear picture of issues. I would consider your sternocleidomastoid muscles and other related neck muscles that won't show trauma on a x ray. Treatment is physical therapy and heat.

http://www.natural-solutions-for-muscle-pain.com/sternocleidomastoid-muscle.html

 

[SarahStacey]

Thank you so much for replying. I did go all the way to Chicago to visit an Neuro Otologist and he said based on some cervical testing, my neck is at play. I think given the extensive computer usage while still in the post partum phase (only 2 weeks postpartum), the joints and ligaments and muscles in the neck were very weak. The top of my spine (C1 and C2) crack very often, and it seems to be related to some neck pain on the left. I also have some TMJ issues which was discovered through TENS therapy. I also have a myoclonus (Tensor Tympani Sydrome) in the left ear which has caused clicking after high-frequency sounds, a mild hyperacusis, minor aural fullness and an off balance sensation. The tensor tympani is overreactive mainly due to stress combined with overworked TMJ muscles that are in spasm. The constant contraction of the tympani muscle to sounds causes pain but also changes the pressure in middle ear which can cause an off-balance sensation.

I noticed Magnesium eases the clicking component... I think the overaction of the muscles also causes the pain which at times, can lead to migraine/headache. Funny enough, the scm muscle, particularly the clavicular branch can also cause a contraction or overaction of the tympanic membrane as well we ear pain and deep ear headaches.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@SarahStacey Exactly - For many of us including a recent discussion with @Fleegle forward head bending posture causing neck muscle spasms which can cause neck cracking is where it often begins. For some of us like myself, neck arthritis and disc space narrowing from postural habits has involvement. From a career with body versus mind I never have been able to fully understand why some get tinnitus and others don't, but I do have some thoughts.

With all that you mention in your well worded conditional post above I did always think that one difference may be the consciousness of caring people. People who like to see things in a proper place. Emotions that win over stressed physical input. Any hearing loss factor connection is sensorial with physical tinnitus, but there are some strange involvements. Where I worked over the years we had about 50 very caring caregivers where they moved patients that were unable to move on their own. 15 or so of these caregivers developed pulsating tinnitus. A few others developed high pitch tinnitus that varied in volume that often was bilateral.

 

[dingaling]

I have cervical neck pain and used to feel dizzy whenever I bent my head to one side. The cause was compression of a blood vessel (can't remember if artery or vein).

Glad they ruled out Meniere's but I find people doing their own Epley's at home rather unusual...

 

[Fleegle]

@Greg Sacramento Thanks for the link into this thread!
@SarahStacey I have almost every one of your symptoms. after linking back to this thread I think that greg is getting me in the right direction...
This morning my T changed - completely silent. My T for the last 10 days (today last)... 1 1 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 1 from 1 to 5, 1 being hardly noticeable, to 5 unbearable.
Today it is a 1, and I noticed some things: my jaw pain and heat is gone, the fullness in the ear is gone, and the T is gone. I awoke in a strange position - my head down off the pillow and curled down into my chest. It is cold and I needed warmth I guess. My T is on the left side (with TMJ and fullness all on that side), and my head was bent down on the right.

What does this mean? Well I have suspected a neck issue for a while but I have never self-corrected it nor been able to. But sometimes, on the mornings when I wake and the T is gone, I notice that I am curled down off the pillow. I can't repeat this by just doing it - certainly not by lying face down and twisting to the side. I have sometimes heard the T starting up when I have been watching TV and by turning my head off away from the T I have stopped it. It sounds like glass breaking when it starts and I have been successful only three times in 4 years when I can do this.

It is neck - definitely neck.

Thank you for the link to Epley (I never knew this was a thing) and there are some exercises in the noise help link (further down) that might help. Combined together I might try a course of exercise or manipulation that could fix things.

I want to be able to self-diagnose this before I can get to a Dr. I want to have some proof of a cure before I ask for one - otherwise I am refused service before it even starts.

I just need to know what to look for.