- Aug 13, 2019
- 170
- Tinnitus Since
- 08/01/2019
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Accident/Screaming?
Hey everyone,
I've been dealing with tinnitus for the last two months. After an ear cleaning in August (one ear only), I experienced my first "vertigo" attack. I don't think the room was spinning, nor did I feel nauseous, I just felt extremely off when I woke up in the middle of the night. However, when trying to get out of bed my mom had to help me walk because my legs felt so weak. That subsided but then I had a feeling of aural fullness in my ear for an entire month. I sought an ENT after 3 days because I thought I had a sudden hearing loss in my left ear but it was just muffled due to the fullness. I have had 4 audiograms done in the last 3 months and all have shown no hearing loss.
The aural fullness in my ear doesn't go away, it fluctuates in terms of intensity, though, and sometimes sends me into panic mode.
Yesterday, I had a follow up with my ENT to discuss my VNG results as I was getting tested for vertigo. The tests came back completely normal meaning I don't have vertigo at all! I was so happy because it meant my vertigo/dizziness wasn't being caused by my inner ear, so we decided I need physical therapy to see if maybe my neck or my jaw are causing these problems (I have a misaligned bite and my left jaw hinge doesn't open and close the way it should - vertically. It more or so goes to the side before opening).
As I was driving home I started to think about the dizziness I get from time to time, and it sent me into a bit of a frenzy (I have really bad anxiety). As I got home I sat down to eat with my boyfriend and after a sudden movement of my head, I started to feel dizzy again - this stuff doesn't make sense as my tests had legit just come back normal. I tried to disregard the fact that I wad a bit dizzy and kept on with my activities. It was only when I started to worry and stare at the floor that I noticed the floor was moving a tiny bit; again, I suffer from anxiety and have been worried sick about having meniere's so this very much could be my imagination messing with me. Shortly after I convinced myself to get some rest. I fell asleep but the dizziness was still slightly there when I woke up.
Out of nowhere my left ear plugged up and the aural fullness was full force; I had muffled hearing in my left ear again and I started to cry because I didn't understand what was happening! I applied heat to my ear and the fullness slowly started to decrease and now I am back at my usual state of aural fullness after 2 days (muffled hearing is now at a very reduced level). The dizziness also subsided after 2 days, but its weird because I got all sorts of symptoms on top of the dizziness. While I wouldn't say this was vertigo (I was able to walk just fine I just felt super dizzy in my head), I was experiencing these other symptoms as well:
- Headache (the tension type, it radiated to the back of my neck)
- Jaw and facial soreness (left side only where the aural fullness is)
- Spaciness (not sure how to describe this but it felt as if I wasn't all there)
- Stomach pain (to be fair I suffer from GERD and this could have been from anxiety)
- Increased pain and soreness when I chewed or clenched my teeth on both sides (is this TMJ?)
- Fatigue (The stress and dizziness and my panicking/pain made me tired but I didn't feel like I had to sleep).
I wanted to note that I have a low sounding (the pitch is slightly lower than my other ear but it's definitely not a hum or anything, its just not as loud) tinnitus in the ear with the aural fullness but this has been there since my ear cleaning and gets louder if I put ear drops in the ear (sometimes I get spikes and the pitch becomes high, it goes away after a few minutes). I also have a high-pitched tinnitus in my right ear following a mild concussion but now believe it was noise-induced.
Anyone have any idea what could be happening? It's odd because my ENT said VNG usually with a hearing test is the best for Meniere's diagnosing; My hearing tests and VNG came back normal, which is great, but then why am I having these random events happen? Could this be TMJ related? I don't know how my jaw could have caused this though, I don't believe the jaw could randomly tense up your ear and make it full so suddenly?
I also read that aural fullness is usually the first symptom followed by vertigo when it comes to meneire's attacks and mine was quite the opposite? I'm at a loss here, just wishing I had the answers. While I'm praying this isn't meniere's, I just want these things to stop.
PS I took a Meclizine for dizziness and vertigo and it did nothing for me, another reason why I believe my dizziness isn't so much vertigo.
I've been dealing with tinnitus for the last two months. After an ear cleaning in August (one ear only), I experienced my first "vertigo" attack. I don't think the room was spinning, nor did I feel nauseous, I just felt extremely off when I woke up in the middle of the night. However, when trying to get out of bed my mom had to help me walk because my legs felt so weak. That subsided but then I had a feeling of aural fullness in my ear for an entire month. I sought an ENT after 3 days because I thought I had a sudden hearing loss in my left ear but it was just muffled due to the fullness. I have had 4 audiograms done in the last 3 months and all have shown no hearing loss.
The aural fullness in my ear doesn't go away, it fluctuates in terms of intensity, though, and sometimes sends me into panic mode.
Yesterday, I had a follow up with my ENT to discuss my VNG results as I was getting tested for vertigo. The tests came back completely normal meaning I don't have vertigo at all! I was so happy because it meant my vertigo/dizziness wasn't being caused by my inner ear, so we decided I need physical therapy to see if maybe my neck or my jaw are causing these problems (I have a misaligned bite and my left jaw hinge doesn't open and close the way it should - vertically. It more or so goes to the side before opening).
As I was driving home I started to think about the dizziness I get from time to time, and it sent me into a bit of a frenzy (I have really bad anxiety). As I got home I sat down to eat with my boyfriend and after a sudden movement of my head, I started to feel dizzy again - this stuff doesn't make sense as my tests had legit just come back normal. I tried to disregard the fact that I wad a bit dizzy and kept on with my activities. It was only when I started to worry and stare at the floor that I noticed the floor was moving a tiny bit; again, I suffer from anxiety and have been worried sick about having meniere's so this very much could be my imagination messing with me. Shortly after I convinced myself to get some rest. I fell asleep but the dizziness was still slightly there when I woke up.
Out of nowhere my left ear plugged up and the aural fullness was full force; I had muffled hearing in my left ear again and I started to cry because I didn't understand what was happening! I applied heat to my ear and the fullness slowly started to decrease and now I am back at my usual state of aural fullness after 2 days (muffled hearing is now at a very reduced level). The dizziness also subsided after 2 days, but its weird because I got all sorts of symptoms on top of the dizziness. While I wouldn't say this was vertigo (I was able to walk just fine I just felt super dizzy in my head), I was experiencing these other symptoms as well:
- Headache (the tension type, it radiated to the back of my neck)
- Jaw and facial soreness (left side only where the aural fullness is)
- Spaciness (not sure how to describe this but it felt as if I wasn't all there)
- Stomach pain (to be fair I suffer from GERD and this could have been from anxiety)
- Increased pain and soreness when I chewed or clenched my teeth on both sides (is this TMJ?)
- Fatigue (The stress and dizziness and my panicking/pain made me tired but I didn't feel like I had to sleep).
I wanted to note that I have a low sounding (the pitch is slightly lower than my other ear but it's definitely not a hum or anything, its just not as loud) tinnitus in the ear with the aural fullness but this has been there since my ear cleaning and gets louder if I put ear drops in the ear (sometimes I get spikes and the pitch becomes high, it goes away after a few minutes). I also have a high-pitched tinnitus in my right ear following a mild concussion but now believe it was noise-induced.
Anyone have any idea what could be happening? It's odd because my ENT said VNG usually with a hearing test is the best for Meniere's diagnosing; My hearing tests and VNG came back normal, which is great, but then why am I having these random events happen? Could this be TMJ related? I don't know how my jaw could have caused this though, I don't believe the jaw could randomly tense up your ear and make it full so suddenly?
I also read that aural fullness is usually the first symptom followed by vertigo when it comes to meneire's attacks and mine was quite the opposite? I'm at a loss here, just wishing I had the answers. While I'm praying this isn't meniere's, I just want these things to stop.
PS I took a Meclizine for dizziness and vertigo and it did nothing for me, another reason why I believe my dizziness isn't so much vertigo.