Meniere's Disease!?

[mporter012]

I've had 15 years of dizziness. I get 2-3 episodes a year that last hours, and many little 15-20 second episodes. Always assumed it was connected to anxiety. My ears started ringing though recently, so I went to see ENT and he said, "well I think you have Meniere's Disease" but not sure bc I have no hearing loss. So I left and read about it, and now I'm freaking the f*** out. I think it's all anxiety, but Im not sure anymore. The dizziness has been really bothering me. Get freaking dizzy when I put my head down (chin to chest) and been feeling like I'm going to get dizzy any second since he told me the news. Any thoughts?? Thanks.

[Movielife]

Hi

I’ve been here before. I started with dizzy spells 3 years ago, maybe more.

It all came on very quickly, without warning. One day I stood up at work and felt like I was swaying. I went straight to the GP after an ex-nurse at work advised me to.

Anyway, it went after 3-4 days.

Came back again perhaps 4-5 months later. Lasted 7 days approx.

Went away.

Kept going to the GP. GP assumed it was inner ear infection. Seemed to correlate. Anyway, it carried on, I slowly started worrying more and more. Had a few weeks when it didn’t shift and I got really anxious and upset. Carried on working.

I had balance tests with a specialist GP, still no answer.

Feb 2015 – went to ENT at the hospital. They tested my ears and did a VERY basic ear inspection. Ear test was perfect, yet they said it was probably Menieres’ Disease?!

I went home, realised it could get quite bad, but didn’t get upset. I thought hey at least it isn’t something really bad…like life threatening.

The dizziness stopped for a good 3-4 months again.

This pattern carried on, yet to be fair, the dizziness never felt worse or made me ill, it just annoyed me. The only problem I had Summer 2015 when I had SUPER high anxiety, it lasted for a good 6-8 weeks instead of a few days or a week. I had moved areas, so I went to the GP, they said it really doesn’t sound like Mernieres.

My hearing seems normal. In fact, it is quite sensitive and even at gigs near the back I always wear earplugs (as a musician I’ve been told to always protect your hearing!).

I do occasionally get moments where it rings for a few seconds, but guess what, so do a lot of people. I’ve had that for yearrrrs! Same with my partner.

So, my now current GP refers me to ENT in August 2015. I see ENT, they say it isn’t Menieres after a hearing test. They think it is vestibular migraines. These are pain free migraines that attack your balance system. I am due for another follow up with ENT soon after a scan revealed no issues. They said the scan was merely precautionary and should have been part of investigations years ago! Last time I saw ENT they said they can medicate these migraines, but as they are hard to predict (eg no pain) it is sometimes a balancing act between meds for an intermitent issues or not taking them and dealing with it. If my dizziness stays as it is (see below) I will hopefully not need anything and be discharged.

With me, my anxiety makes it MUCH MUCH worse. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if part of it is stress and anxiety related.

The good news it, since I started a new job and started trying to deal with my anxiety head on, I haven’t had anymore bad periods. So that is from end of October 2015 to now. That to me is a good 10 weeks or so of not feeling dizzy. I get the odd sway but that is when I am stressed and tired.

It has never been so bad that I’m ill, sick, or fall over. I can always drive and get on with things.


It seems odd that they think it could be that, especially after 15 years of it! If your hearing is still as normal, that doesn't make sense.

[uru]

I get this periodically.

Not sure if it' meriere's or not but I get that water in the ear thing and dizziness. It usually passes after a few days.

[mporter012]

[/FONT][/B]

This has been my thoughts exactly. I can remember in high school having dizzy spells a number of times. Room spinning, the whole 9 yards, and then it would just return to normal a few days later. I even had a period of months where my equilibrium was off, without the spinning (which sounds similar to what you are describing), and they found nothing. I remember having a few dizzy spells in college, and several since.

I'm just angry at his half-ass examination and then to just throw out a ''disease'' at me, in his 4 minute eval is just shameful. So I'll find a different ENT and go from there.

There's obviously a connection to anxiety and dizziness. The ear ringing (tinnitus) and ear fullness, I'm assuming can be connected as well.

I just need to live my life, and stay off of google.

Have a wonderful weekend.