Hello everyone,

I found myself reading through this board once again. I have not been here in a long while. Last month, I "celebrated" my one year anniversary of being sick. I have had dizziness and full ears for over a year now with very little improvements except that I am getting somewhat used to this permanent condition.

I have had to deal with major anxiety over this. I have come a long way since the beginning but I am going through a bit of a set back. I am back to thinking that it is not normal that I am still so dizzy after all this time, that I must have some serious disease like cancer eating me up inside. Does anyone else feel like there must be something so so serious causing this constant dizziness? I am not sure what to do to convince myself that I am not dying... I am very anxious lately. I get major chest pains and palpitations. I am back to squarre one worrying about what I might possibly have.

I am desperate to connect with people who have had very similar symptoms. My ears feel very very full of liquid or pressure. They always do but it is more or less intense at times. I am obviously very dizzy and faint, and have difficulty focussing on things. I feel about to fall pretty often which is very scary. I need to stop and grab on to things for fear of falling. I am very tired and that is worrying me a lot. Can anyone relate to this constant ear pressure and dizziness? Any diagnosis that come to mind?

Any ideas as to what I should do to be less anxious? During the last year, I was on two antidepressors and clonazepam as needed to help me deal with the anxiety. I rarely took the clonazepam cuz i was worried it would slow my recovery. A few months ago, I stopped the antidepressors cuz my spirits were better. But now I am back to the anxiety/depression....and I do not want to go back on the meds so any suggestions for my anxiety problem would be well received.

Please share your stories with me as I need to know that I am not alone with these bizarre symptoms...

Thanks,

Sarah

hi,
what were you diagnosed with? what tests have you had? sounds like your eustachian tubes could be the problem. i am no dr. but pressure and fullness like that sound like an e tube problem! good luck, lib

Hi sarah - I do think of you and wonder if we could chat soon on the chatty thing... Your prob does sound eustacian tube related like lib says and could be inner ear too as they are often linked. I think you need to have cognitive behaviour therapy to help your anxiety - I think this kind of thing is the way to go as opposed to tablets.

No wonder you feel anxious, depressed, tired - I dont blame you and I feel the same!

Yes I have had the same thoughts as you about cancer etc but I dont so much anymore as I know id have far more symptoms...the tiredness does sometimes freak me out yes but my vrt lady just this week said its v v v normal for people with inner ear disorders to have major tiredness. Mienis not major - just some days are worse than others...

Keep smiling petal - we are here for you and understand xxx

hi,

I have not really had a real diagnosis. I saw close to a dozen doctors in the last year but all have said I was "normal". They always went back to anxiety which was a load of crap.

I had 2 eng, the first one showed a 26% directional preponderance to the right. One neurotologist that I saw said that this result could indicate damage to the vestibular system but could not tell me what the damage was. He saw me a grand total of 10 minutes. I am so angry at the medical profession who have not taken me very seriously. I think that they could not see past the anxiety that I was expressing. I have pretty much given up on these clowns who do not wish to dig deeper with me.

I had CT scan, blood work, ECG, EEG, hearing test, and more... All tests have indicated that I was normal. But I still feel so sick and know that something is wrong.

I am so tired of fighting to see specialists who tell me that from what they can tell I am normal. I am not sure what to do now...

thanks,

Sarah

Hi emma,

I have been wondering about you as well. I just dropped you a line on the yahoo a few minutes ago. So are you still very dizzy? What's happened in the last 5 months?

Let me know if you want to chat, I am at the computer.

Sarah

I am in the exact same position as you.

I will have been dizzy for ONE YEAR on August the first.

I have had the same tests as you (except the ENG) and have been told I am normal.

I am so sick, that I can not function. I can hardly walk around the house, let alone go out. I have my boyfriend do all my shopping for me. I am crippled with this dizziness. I've been given the old "anxiety" excuse too. I am VERY ILL and VERY UPSET that no one will take me seriously.

I beg the doctors for an MRI and they won't give me one. I NEED ONE! I need to know what is going on with my head. Something must be going on to feel like awful. I too feel like I'm dying. I am waiting now to have a seizure or something for them to take me seriously. I cry a lot over this. It is so frustrating.

I totally understand what you are going through. I pray we all get better soon.

Right with you Floria. I am almost three years in and no diagnosis. I tried everything to shake this and have kept specialists in business. I know the feeling and fustration. Over the past year you may have missed some of us venting about doctors looking at anxiety-- then not looking past it! Bryan

Me too! It's taken me 4 1/2 years from having acute labyrinthitis to finding a doctor who'd take me seriously and believe I was still sick and not just anxious. She's referred me to a neurotologist who's got a really good reputation for taking these symptoms seriously, so I'm pinning all my hopes on her now. I had an MRI, which was 'nornal', and ENG, which showed a problem, but the ENT just said it would get better with time, even though I'm over 4 years in and still getting worse. It's disgusting that as well as having to put up with these awful symptoms, we have to battle to get doctors to believe us. Makes me so angry some days. Just got to hang in there, though, and keep nagging until we get to see the right specialists.
Ann

Hi Florie,

Sometimes dealing with disequilibrium issues can take a long time to overcome or adjust to. I have been dealing with imbalance issues since age 29/30. I am now 40. That’s not to say that you too will be a long-time sufferer as I am, but people do continue to battle this condition longer than a year.

Some people may experience vertigo once, and never get it again. As you can read from just this Board, other people find themselves dealing with all levels of benign dizziness from mild to severe. It is possible (and realistic to expect) to experience setbacks or continue to have episodes of disequilibrium on and off.

I understand your fears of having something fatal as the underlying cause for your symptoms. Believe it or not, most dizziness is truly benign, meaning NOT fatal and not being caused by something that is going to kill you or make you sick in other ways. Without going into all the details, if you have been seen by your primary doctor for this, he or she looks for certain signs and symptoms that accompany you dizzy sensations, to see if further testing is warranted to rule out more catastrophic illnesses. Dizziness by itself usually is not an indication of anything more medically serious going on, but it can feel that way, I know.

Sometimes a true cause for dizzy symptoms just cannot be explained. And so many conditions out there can result in the same symptoms, so what one person might have as Labs, may be Migraine Associated Vertigo, or even allergies or a sinus infection to another. One of the hardest things for me was to accept that I was healthy despite dealing with a woozy head. I finally needed to calm down and put trust in my doctor, and the specialists that I saw. That took time because I was always second guessing and doing the “what if” thing.

I have had ALL of your symptoms at one time or another, and sometimes ALL at once. It is VERY scary and very limiting. I have also had to deal with major anxiety issues stemming from this, too. Most people who experience imbalance issues also experience anxiety on some level. That makes sense because if you sense of balance is off, it’s difficult to do much of anything. And if you are able to push past the symptoms, but still feel off balance, it’s awful to try to maintain a routine lifestyle. I developed quite the fearful reaction, which lead to me literally being housebound for a while unless someone was with me at all times.

For me, once I developed different ways of coping with my symptoms and sensations, I was able to deal with them better. That included a little book called “Hope and Help for Your Nerves” by Dr. Claire Weekes, some counseling to learn how to react to my stressors and fears differently, and accepting my symptoms (which doesn’t mean giving in or giving up) but rather adjusting and working with my condition. It took time for me to “trust” my body, and that included trusting in the fact that I am healthy despite the symptoms.

Of course you’re tired! #1 you’re fighting dizziness all day, #2 you’re worrying about your symptoms, #3 you’re dealing with anxiety and all the symptoms that come with that, and #4 you probably aren’t sleeping well because of the way you’re feeling and the thoughts you’re thinking. You are using A LOT of energy.

If you go to the Stress & Anxiety Board, you will find a post that I wrote a long time ago under my old user name (Wowwweee) called My Panic Experience. Check it out and see if anything in there might help you along in dealing with your anxiety.

And, if you do a search in general in this Board under my old and current user name, you will definitely see that you are NOT alone with these bizarre symptoms. :)

Wishing you a better day. xo

I know exactly how you are feeling..I to have had the constant dizzy feeling as well as the ear fullness. I have had this everday for the past 6 months and I am not any better then day 1..In fact I think I am worse. Now I have some serious panic attacks with it. I to have not had any diagnosis...I did have a MRI, normal..Cat scan on my sinus which showed a little sinitus but nothing bad, loads of blood work for my heart, and stuff,all good, EKG and a halter monitor which of course was good. I can't even take a shower without holding on to the wall...I have 6 children and really need to get better for them.... :confused:

Hello all,
I mustve seen all the same docs as you... Im at about 17 months now and still have all the same stuff you all speak of and I feel Ive toyed with the borders of insanity many times because of it. My head always feels whacky with pressure, fullness, disconnectedness and the environment is never quite steady to my vision and I deal with the tiredness and big time anxiety and depression because of it all. I cant quite understand how Im "normal" and feel so far from it. My nervous system seems all twisted up or something. Oh yeah and to get a good nights sleep?....I dont even know the definition anymore. God help us all. I quit my job for over a year and ran up who knows how much on my credit cards trying to get to the bottom of all this craziness. Man o man. I guess it's good to know Im not alone, but hope keeps trying to evade me. anyway Im sure I'll talk to you all more soon. Thanks,
Eric

I've been dealing with this for 9 months and unfortunately it sounds like the only people that recover from this in a timely manner are the ones who are diagnosed with BPPV.

I am new on here. Well I have had suposidly an inner ear infection no real diognosis for 2 months now. Same symptoms as you ears full, pressure, dizzy faint and now I am really starting to deal with the anxiety of it all. I am still not better but I am seeing a big improvement. I went to accupuncture some one had mentioned it to me at work. I had never thought of it. I have been on all kinds of meds from the doctor for dizziness nothing works and it's just masking the symptoms not fixing the problem. I have only had this for two months and I was on the verge of suiside, I was bed ridden couldn't go anywhere or do anything unable to work. I don't know how you have made it so long, I can't imagine. So I went to accupuncture and they say it can take up to 8 visits to feel any change especially for severe conditons that have been built up over time. But after my first visit I felt such a difference for the first time!!!! I had never felt any difference that significan't before, every time I go I feel less and less dizzy I am slowly putting myself back in to daily activities but deal with the anxiety as well. Every time I go my ears open up a little more and on my last visit wich was my 6th vist my right ear has almost opened up all the way, but it is sore because it had been the blocked up for so long I guess. I have had allot of different symptoms wich I believe to be assosiated with accupuncture pressure in my head waves of movement but I think it's just everything trying to rebalance it self and it is changing and getting better so fast that I think I can feel the effects of that. So if you havn't tried accupuncture I would give it a try. I am doing better now that I think I am getting better but I have anxiety a sense of panic all the time, sometimes I can't catch my breath, I vomit before I have to go out and do something because I get to nervouse. But being tired I think could be because your mind body and soul are so exausted from trying to fight this. I am emotionally exausted. Somtimes I break out in histarics and can't stop crying start hyperventalating. When you don't know what is wrong with you, are you going to get better, when are you going to get better the whole situation seems hopeless. I am so sorry, hang in there. Let me know if you would like any more info.

what do they actually treat? do they treat your ears?...what did you teel them when you showed up for your first appointment?..just curious. thanks.