Is this the beginning of Meniere's disease for me?
Since mid august I have started to have a reduction in my very low frequency hearing (perceived as 125 hz and below), along with a roaring, water rushing type of tinnitus that comes and goes frequently. It all started during a plane watching trip but I was way too far away to have any damage done by the plane noise. A few days later it was exacerbated by MRI noise, and so I thought the whole thing was noise damage.
A couple weeks later (middle of September) it started happening without a noise factor. These low losses came in bursts and have definite triggers, typically happening after I have tensed up muscles in my neck and jaw, swallowed with a *bang* in my eustachian tubes or yawned and squeezed my muscles, or sneezed and laughed. I have also seen these events coincide with removing or wearing my foam earplugs in a little deeper than normal, but it is often transient (the earplugs also sometimes generate the roaring sound upon removal). Most recently (yesterday) an 'attack' was set off by getting really tense, having jerky movements, and breathing a bit fast from muscle contractions associated with a brief crying spell. The end of the attack resulted in nausea and the feeling of a broken speaker in the left ear, and feeling like my hearing was lopsided.
I have also, as of today, been getting some type of vestibular disturbance, but no obvious rotary vertigo. I have had a bit of ataxia, as well as a feeling like I am not 'held up' by my surroundings, and have felt the world to be made of jello, and is always moving below my feet. This is the worst it has been for over 4 months.
I used to have 24/7 rotary vertigo (mild and liveable) for a 2 month timeframe back in Fall 2015 from loud noise trauma or migraines, or a fungal infection on top of my right eardrum. For the first few months of this year, I then would get vertigo episodes lasting only minutes here and there, and I believed they were due to a migraine etiology or part of the chronic illness I have been battling. It came back as barely noticeable rotary vertigo and resembled the experience I had today around late March, and stayed that way every day until about May.
Now it has come back again, and has been with me all day. In retrospect, this 'vestibular disturbance' has probably been here for the whole month, but flared up because of the crying spell last night.
The only symptom I do not have t0 a high degree is ear fullness, but I have definitely had episodes of this in the recent past as early as May, with most of it happening in the left ear. If anything it feels my ear doesn't have enough pressure, like it collapsed.
It's as if my blood pressure (a spike leading to a tiny ischemic-like attack in my ear) or CSF pressure has something to do with these ear symptoms, as both of these variables can be affected by excessive muscle tension and transient physical or psychological stress. Both of these factors I know can also play a part in Meniere's disease.
My audiogram has finally shown some low losses in the right ear; it was at 5 db last July at 125 hz (so a 15 db drop in 2 ish months). The left was closer to 0, so one can just barely start to pick up on the differences there. The problem with my audiograms is that I perceive the loss to be in a lower range than the audiograms were designed for, so it may actually be far greater 100 db and below. The high frequencies have always behaved similarly, so no need to look there (sorry for the crappy quality).
So, what do people on this sub-forum think? Does this sound like early Meniere's disease, or something else?
Thanks so much!
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