Vestibular Issues Since Osteoma Removal Surgery

After having osteoma removal surgery on my right ear in October of last year, I gradually began having some balance issues. I have never felt the room spinning or became dizzy per say.

When it first started I would just kind of suddenly lose my balance slightly, but no falling. Then about 6 months after surgery at its worst I had an instance where I was helping my daughter brush her teeth before bed and I suddenly just almost fell backwards. Again, no dizziness or vertigo, just sudden almost like a fainting type of falling, but then I was able to catch myself.

It then got better and basically went away for part of the summer. Then I started regularly having a mild nausea feeling sitting, standing, or laying and consistently feeling off balance while standing. Always to the right side where I had the surgery. It’s a strange sensation and the main way I perceive it is as if my eyes want to go from horizontal to a vertical positioning, but not like cocking my head sideways. More like left eyeball on top of right eyeball. Sorry if that sounds weird or doesn’t make sense.

These times don’t seem to match up with any symptoms. Like it’s not while always when my tinnitus is louder, I don’t have fullness before, during or after all the time, etc. I don’t have hearing loss on my audiograms (standard and extended) except at 14kHz and 16kHz and no intermittent hearing loss. I did have standard audiograms both before and after the surgery that confirm my hearing is in the same range there.

My diet is crappy and has been since surgery. When the surgery didn’t help my tinnitus at all I just kinda went downhill and stopped taking care of myself. But I’d think if it was diet related it wouldn’t have basically cleared up for around two months and then came back out of the blue.

Anyway, any insight is appreciated.

 

@FGG, @Greg Sacramento, @Star64 sorry to tag you guys. Any insight?

 

If this started immediately after surgery, I would want to rule out things like a perilymph fistula. Either way, it definitely warrants a work up.

If you end up going for caloric testing, the air test can be kind of loud but the water test isn't (I have had both).

 

Thanks for the response. Yes I need to go to the Dr., but it’s basically been a problem since the pandemic started and I have an immune compromised son so I’ve been pretty wary of going much of anywhere really.