My 13 year old started about 3 1/2 weeks feeling dizzy, like she was spinning or that the room was moving.It doesn't happen all day but usually 70% of the day. She had ct brain scan and a visit to an ear nose throat specialist and still can't figure out what the deal is. The ct scan on her brain was o.k. She had another ct scan Thursday but this time on her sinuses, results should be in Monday afternoon. Almost everyone, including me, thought that it was vertigo, or inner ear infection. After the specialist examined her very well decided that was not the case. She is also getting bad headaches that are mainly right in her forehead and are very painful, they last about 20 minutes to all night. No fevers, and no other symptoms. She got so bad 2 weeks ago that she actually fell and bumped her head on the wall. Antivert makes her sleepy but doesn't help.
She is on advair for mild asthma, she has almost always been on some kind of allergy medicine or nose spray to keep her allergies from getting the best of her. (We took her off the nose spray and singulair just to see if that was the culprit, it wasn't) She is not stuffed up or anything like that.
My question is, would bad sinuses cause this? The specialist says that if the sinus scan comes back negative then he will order an MRI on her head. She's learning how to deal with the dizziness but I don't think she should have to. Any suggestions?

sinus infections can cause dizziness as well as allergies, inner ear problems, muscle tension headaches, migraines, viruses etc....hope you get an answer soon

I get the WORST headaches when my sinuses are bad. Almost migraine type pain. And it is usually in my forehead or right above my eyes. Sometimes when they are really bad and I add to it that I haven't eaten very well I will get dizzy too. I usually have to lay down on the couch with no lights, and a HOT washcloth over my head and nose.
Being 13, her body might be changing also. The growth and puberty may be causing some of these symptoms too.

this may sound kind of out there, but does she have her period?
and did they do a complete blood count(CBC)??
she may be anemic, which can cause dizziness and headaches.

Hi Emiserad, sorry your daughters having to go through this, it really is quite a horrible sensation. Firstly, you mention seeing an ET specialist who discounted an inner ear problem. Unless he did rotary chair/ENG/Caloric testing on your daughter then he cannot rule this out. I (unfortunately) speak from experience when I say that the vast proportion of ENT specialists know very little about inner ear disorders. The person you need to see is called a "neuro-otologist". These are people who specialise in "dizziness", and will be able to give you the appropriate tests to find out exactly what is going on. Try visiting the inner ear disorders board.

You also mention headaches being a problem. Migraine can be a cause of vertigo, sometimes even when the headache is'nt present. Again, a neuro-otologist should be able to distinguish the nature of the problem and get you on the right track to recovery. They are sometimes hard to find but it really is worth persevering. Again, if you struggle to find one near you then consult the inner ear board. There are people there from all over the world and someone should be able to help you track one down.

Just to add, although the symptoms are pretty scary, it is incredibly unusual for sudden onset dizziness to indicate anything serious.

Hope this gives you somewhere to start, xx

Thanks for all the help! We had more bloodwork done, thyroid, cbc, sugar, and all is well. Her headaches are almost gone but she is still getting dizzy. She was fine for about 2 days then while we were playing yatzee the other evening it came back and hasn't went away. It looks as if I will have to make an appt with that other specialist.
The ENT she seen just had her sit in the chair and keep laying back and sitting up and watched her eyes. She said that she was very dizzy but he "couldn't see it". She felt bad after we left.
Thanks again for all the info everyone. I will update when we have more to add.