I want to start from the beginning, but it is a long story. To sum up:
Had sinus infection in August was placed on Augmentum and then levaquin.
After the levaquin, I still had these headaches and then the ear ringing
started. Went to GP four times and told me it was allergies. Put me on
stuff -- did not work. Went back again and said it was migraines. No
word on the tinnitus. Went to neurologist. Had MRI and was normal. He
put me on antidepressants, which I have been taking for a month, with no
relief. He seemed like a waste of time. Went to my thyroid doctor (I
have three small small nodules) and he said my blood test results were
normal and that to see a neuro or ENT. Went to gyno (hormomonal?) and he
said probably not. So I have been to four doctors in the past seven
months with no relief in sight. All of these visits were at MY request,
not my GP's. They all keep telling me to go somewhere else.

The sound I have is a high pitched screech. It is better in the AM and
then continues on during the day and about 4:00 PM I am beside myself.
The sound correlates with my headaches. The louder the sound the more of a
headache and vice versa. These sensations in my head move from the top of
my head to over my eye and then just plain hurts. No Advil or tynolenol
touch it. I made an appointment with an ENT for March 15th. This is my
last hope, I feel. What if he says nothing is wrong. I don't know what
bugs me most the headaches or the ear ringing, but they seems to go
together. I have tried vitamins, with no help. Right now my head is
pounding and my ears are SCREECHING!!

Please help me. Will my ENT send me off with no help. I don't know what
else to do. These doctors don't seem to care. Is it my thyroid, my
sinuses, my head or what?? No one will answer me anything. I am so
frustrated and angry. Thanks for listening to me.

Sue
:confused:

Sounds v much like migraine - MAV - look it up on net - hopefully hbep will add something here xx

HI there Sue,

Sorry you are going through this. As you are probaby aware, the ringing in your ears is called tinnitus - you're not alone, many people suffer from it, including myself.

For many people the cause of the tinnitus is unknown. It is actually a good sign that yours correlates with headaches as this may point to the cause. Generally speaking unless the tinnitus is related to another condition, it can't be cured, although people do acclimatize to it. My guess is that your doctor is right and this is migraine. You say -These sensations in my head move from the top of my head to over my eye and then just plain hurts - pain in the head and specifically over the eye is very typical of migraine. Migraine can affect the ears, causing tinnitus, fluctuations in hearing, full ears and dizziness. Do you know for sure that you had a sinus infection when you were treated with the antibiotics? I ask this as often migraine can cause facial pain that directly mimics a sinus type pain - were your sinuses X rayed? It's possible that this was migraine all along. Another thing - some antibiotics can cause tinnitus as a side effect. There is a small possiblity that the drugs played a part, although I'd put more money on it being the headaches causing it.

I'm not sure how useful an ENT is going to be to you. I think a more clued up neurologist would probably be the thing. ENT's although specialists in the middle and outer ear, generally view tinnitus as being incurable. If, as I said, the tinnitus is linked to another condition, namely migraine, then to get to the tinnitus, you treat the migraine, not vica versa. An ENT won't know much about migraine and will probably just be baffled by you. Although they can often refer you for tinnitus retraining therapy, which can be very effective in helping people acclimatize to ti. I guess it might also be worth going and have them check out your ears to make sure there's no infection which could cause tinnitus. Which anti depressant has the neurologist put you on? Old style anti depressants - amitriptyline and others in that group are used to treat migraine - is it one of those or an SSRI? There are many daily preventatives for migraine, and if you're not depressed, I would recommend one of those over an SSRI.

One other thought comes to mind. When someone has facial pain, headaches and tinnitus, another cause can be tmjd, or mpd - a disorder affecting the jaw joint, or the muscles surrounding the jaw joint, or both, it's often caused by clenching or grinding the teeth. I have this disorder, and believe me, when the pain gets going it's excruciating. Do you clench or grind your teeth? My MPD started with excruciating pain in my sinus area. To complicate matters further - this condition is often a trigger for migraine. The drug of choice to treat this is the one I mentioned before - amitriptyline - not for depression, but to block pain receptors. It also responds to muscle relaxants, and sometimes anti seizure drugs such as neurontin. To check out whether you have this, it's generally the diagnostic terrain of dentists who specialise in it and oral surgeons. Although a good ENT or neurologist should be aware of it. If you do clench your teeth, you need to get fitted with a mouthguard that will deter you from doing this and will allow the area to relax. Neck and facial stretching exercises can also really help.

I am more inclined towards migraine than tmjd, due to the pain over one eye. As I said that would point heavily towards migraine. As I said earlier, I think you need a neurologist who takes you seriously and will go all out to try and help with the pain you're in. If the neurologist you saw has put you on an anti'dep commonly used for migraine treatment, sometimes this can take up to 3 months to kick in. Did he tell you why he was giving you this drug? To treat migraine? If you do see another one, you can try asking about tmjd, or mpd, you don't always need to have obvious jaw symptoms with this condition (a commom misconception) often the pain/symptoms are referred in to the face, sinus area, ears etc....

I hope you find some relief,

best,

hbep

Hbep - wanted to ask have you tried Feverfew for your MAV? Know someone who also saw LL and was diagnosed by her (MAV) who has been virtually cured by feverfew.

xxx

Thanks for all your input. It has helped me tremendously. Did some research yesterday regarding levaquin and found that it can cause a host of all problems, including headaches and tinnitus. I was on it for 21 days for this "sinus infection." I did have x-rays of my sinus and they found two small mucus cysts in my cheek cavaties. But, this does not bother me at all. It is over my eyes, the back of my head, etc. that bothers me. But, the more of a headache, the louder the ring.

I am on amptraiplaine(?), the antidepressant medicine and have been for three weeks now. No relief yet. I am up to 40 mg per day. Go see neuro in April.

I don't think I grind my teeth at night. My jaw is not sore at all. Been to dentist and he didn't say anything about my teeth.

My sinus feel okay. I don't have any running nose or stuffy nose or dry nose. It seems, to me, to function well. The only thing that was noticeable was when this all started I could not touch my eyebrows. It was painful. But after a few weeks this went away, but not the headaches. Right now my head hurts over my right eye, but radiates down the back of my head sometimes.

Neuro says maybe I am not producing enough serontonin. Who knows.

Just feel everyone thinks I am a crazy loon. I feel I have done all I can do to help myself. I don't want to put my hope into the ENT, like I did the neuro. when I came out of his office all I did was cry because I got no answers from him at all. When my MRI came back normal he just went me a note saying "normal" and that was all. No phone call, no nothing.

One thing that is weird is when I get the headaches I get very very upset, because it has been seven months of this. After I cry, and blow my nose, I feel so much better. The snot (excuse this, sorry) is clear, but it seems to "release" my headache. I just noticed this on Sunday when the headache and ears came on.

Thanks for listening again!!

Sue