Yes, I AM!

I first told my GP that my ear hurt about 3 years ago. Each and every time I've seen her for other stuff I've told her "my ears still hurts". She says every time, "Nothing wrong, nothing there."

Then I get hit with THE DIZZIES in May '05. Big time. 10 days flat out on my back. 10 days off work - 2 kids and a husband on early morning shifts. How can I get the kids to school when I can't drive then and he is at work 4 hours before! And no, they can't walk. We live 15 kilometres from their school.

Every time I looked up on the net : "Ear infection, Adult" I got carp like "Inner ear infections in adults are rare and often associated with more severe conditions and or ilnesses and or tumours blah blah blah".

Now I find you guys and find out that I'm not CRAZY! I have probably had labyrinthitis (bacterial or viral - who know yet, anitbiotics help me heaps).

ENT tomorrow for the first time. I expect I'll get told nothing and come away with nothing. At best an MRI or CT, but I reckon I'll just get blown off again. Will let you know.

Good luck with the ENT. If you get nowhere, push for a referral to a neuro-otologist. I had exactly the same - my right ear has hurt for six years and I've been increasingly dizzy and horribly weird-headed for 12, but I was told it was psychological until I saw a neuro-oto last year and tests clearly showed inner ear damage, probably from at least two separate attacks of labyrinthitis, compounded by vestibular migraine.

Don't let them tell you you're crazy. Insist on full vestibular testing (ENG, rotary chair, posturography, the works). Very, very best of luck!

Ann

I'm sorry you had to suffer for so long, and have the doctors not take you seriously. I think that doctors are out there to help people, and modern medicine does do a lot of good.... BUT sometimes doctors forget that the patient knows their body the best and that they need to listen when we say there is something wrong. I'm sorry it had to take so long. Get them to listen to you, and if this ENT doc you are seeing won't, see another one. Tell them you want an ENT test, and any other test that can help you figure out what is wrong. You are the one suffering and don't let them tell you that it is nothing, because they are not you and can't feel what you feel. I wish you the best in finding good doctors and in getting better. Let us know what happens. Good luck!
Joy

Well, the ENT guys I saw said it was Labyrinthitis. But they are Australian and when I asked them about it, they said that they call it "Vestibular something" - I can't remember what the "something" they said was....

They did all these eye test things on me: shaking my head and then making me look at a spot on the wall. Making me keep trying to look at a spot on the wall while shaking my head. Pinging tuning fork things in front of and behind my ears and on my forehead. Dragging pieces of tissue all over my face and asking me if I felt them. Holding down my eyelids and making me try to open them. Making me shrug my shoulders and them trying to push my shoulders down.

I was sitting in this weird chair that spun around and was waiting for the chair to spin or for them to try to blow air into my ear but they didn't do any of that.

Apparently, because I only get dizzy a couple of times a day then I am OK. Because I can hear well, I am apparently OK.

As for my ear canal *always* feeling wet and sore, they said to use Methylated Spirits in it? I've tried the swimmers ear drops and the oily stuff in them makes my ear hurt *more*. My own little trick lately has been using an anti fungal lotion in my ear - not shoving it into the canal, just in the outer ear. I reckon it makes its way in and is helping.

I asked about the voluntary eustacian tube popping "hundreds of times a day" and they reckon it shouldn't affect me. I asked them should I try to stop and they said only if it bothers me, but it shouldn't hurt my ears at all. Does this sound right?

I am having 3 wisdom teeth out in two weeks and am hoping beyond hope that this will help with my head pain.

They asked did I feel lightheaded or room spinning, throwing up dizzy. I told them it was the room spinning throwing up kind. This last week or so though, it has calmed and I only get it briefly. It's worse if I get anxious about it, so have started meditation and it is calming me a lot. The kids even did it with me last night :)

Anyway, here I sit, popping my ears over and over again. Can someone tell me, were all those neurologic type things they did to me testing for an accoustic neuroma, 'cause that is what scares me.

Well, the ENT guys I saw said it was Labyrinthitis. But they are Australian and when I asked them about it, they said that they call it "Vestibular something" - I can't remember what the "something" they said was....

They did all these eye test things on me: shaking my head and then making me look at a spot on the wall. Making me keep trying to look at a spot on the wall while shaking my head. Pinging tuning fork things in front of and behind my ears and on my forehead. Dragging pieces of tissue all over my face and asking me if I felt them. Holding down my eyelids and making me try to open them. Making me shrug my shoulders and them trying to push my shoulders down.

I was sitting in this weird chair that spun around and was waiting for the chair to spin or for them to try to blow air into my ear but they didn't do any of that.

Apparently, because I only get dizzy a couple of times a day then I am OK. Because I can hear well, I am apparently OK.

As for my ear canal *always* feeling wet and sore, they said to use Methylated Spirits in it? I've tried the swimmers ear drops and the oily stuff in them makes my ear hurt *more*. My own little trick lately has been using an anti fungal lotion in my ear - not shoving it into the canal, just in the outer ear. I reckon it makes its way in and is helping.

I asked about the voluntary eustacian tube popping "hundreds of times a day" and they reckon it shouldn't affect me. I asked them should I try to stop and they said only if it bothers me, but it shouldn't hurt my ears at all. Does this sound right?

I am having 3 wisdom teeth out in two weeks and am hoping beyond hope that this will help with my head pain.

They asked did I feel lightheaded or room spinning, throwing up dizzy. I told them it was the room spinning throwing up kind. This last week or so though, it has calmed and I only get it briefly. It's worse if I get anxious about it, so have started meditation and it is calming me a lot. The kids even did it with me last night :)

Anyway, here I sit, popping my ears over and over again. Can someone tell me, were all those neurologic type things they did to me testing for an accoustic neuroma, 'cause that is what scares me.
can you describe the popping?
what triggers it? its possible that the middle er muscles could be causing the popping, it can also cause dizziness due to the movement of the middle ear bones....only dr eply has wriiten about this, and some drs recognize this, its very complex.....

same here. problem here is they can not see in the most inner ear. it starts out as lab and goes into VN. this is what happened tome. the vn in me lasted almost 7 months. i am now taking allergy meds as well, which i find help me a great deal, especially with the tinnitius i developed witht he VN

My ears don't pop on their own. They don't even really feel "full" or "blocked", I just crack my e-tubes over and over and over. Feels better after I crack. If I look in the mirror when I do it, I can see the area under my chin moving very slightly.

One thing, we moved to this city with lots of hills and near the mountains a few years ago. Every time I used to visit this city I would have bad ears and have to crack and pop my e-tubes esp. while driving up and down hills and mountains. Now we live here, I don't notice "having" to crack and pop on purpose, I just do it - a lot.

I *want" to try a nasal spray with a steroid in it, atm, I'm using Rhinocort for allergies, but I can't see that it has any cortisone in it at all.

can you describe the popping?
what triggers it? its possible that the middle er muscles could be causing the popping, it can also cause dizziness due to the movement of the middle ear bones....only dr eply has wriiten about this, and some drs recognize this, its very complex.....

Lib do you know where I can find more info on this or should I just Google Dr Eply? I have looked up the "Eply Manouver" and actually used a modified version of it this last weekend when we went right into the mountains to take the children to the snow. Btw, I felt *great* when in the snow but, when I went into the cafe where it was heated, I got a dizzy attack and had to grab one of my kids for a bit to steady myself. The cold actually felt great on my head and I didn't feel dizzy at all in the fresh cold air.

Lib do you know where I can find more info on this or should I just Google Dr Eply? I have looked up the "Eply Manouver" and actually used a modified version of it this last weekend when we went right into the mountains to take the children to the snow. Btw, I felt *great* when in the snow but, when I went into the cafe where it was heated, I got a dizzy attack and had to grab one of my kids for a bit to steady myself. The cold actually felt great on my head and I didn't feel dizzy at all in the fresh cold air.
look up middle ear myoclonus, the eply manuvor is for bppv, not this condition. i was just pointing out that dr eply sectioned 2 patients tensor tympani muscles because of vertigo, i found that info on pubmed.
lib