Unilateral Tinnitus/MRI Allergy/Questions

Hi, all. I am a 35 yo female with unilateral tinnitus in my left ear, duration approximately 3 months. I have not been exposed to any loud noises, but I did have a fall and hit my head around the time that I remember the tinnitus starting in my left ear. I am also hypothyroid.

My audiology exam indicated hearing within normal limits and I was scheduled for an MRI yesterday. Unfortunately, I had a bad reaction to the gadolinium contrast media and had to be given antihistamines and fluids for a butterfly skin rash, hypertension, and chest pain.

The rash is gone but I still have lingering discomfort. It feels like my blood vessels "hurt" for lack of a better way to describe. Also, my tinnitus seemed to get much worse during the MRI and is still worse today. When the contrast was injected I immediately felt my hearing get muted but not totally deafened, and the ringing got much worse in both ears.

While they had me in a monitoring room I could turn my head like a bat and marvel at how the ringing would change (less or worse) depending on how I oriented my head. I'm assuming it was something to the with the magnetism I was picking up from the machines in the other room while they monitored me?

The doctor said he'd been doing MRIs for almost five years and had only seen one other person react like I did. I'm just concerned and it is frustrating that due to US holidays right now I probably will not get an answer from anyone any time soon. I have a CD with DICOM images, but of course I have no idea how to read them.

Does anyone have any experience with a case like this or suggestions for questions I should ask on my follow up visit in two weeks? Thank you!

 

I've had an MRI without contrast, that's what you get on the UK...
Hard to know, both thyroid and fall could be responsible...does the intensity normally change when you turn your head...welcome to the forum!

 

@BlaireMarie, I'll link some websites that you can use to help read your images. Once you look at the major anatomical structures, it's not too hard to get a bird's eye view of what you're seeing. Here are the sites (they have images that you can scroll back and forth, they're really good):

https://mrimaster.com/index.5.html

https://radiopaedia.org/encyclopaedia/cases/all