Hi, i've never posted anything before, but i'm running out of options and could really use some advice. My symptoms started 8 months ago, i was going to the gym to get rid of some baby weight and i started to feel off balance, i went to my dr after about 2 weeks and was told i had a sinus infection, and even went for sinus x-ray, i went on antibiotics and seemed to be getting a little better, then my dizziness came back, then i was hit with horrible headaches, the first one lasted about 2 weeks straight, had to take percocet to get relief. Went to ER had CT scan, it was clear, had lots of bloodwork, all clear. Went to ENT everything was fine. Went to neuro, put me on topamax, didn't like the way it made me feel, he thought i had migraines, stopped taking topamax. Had horrible anxiety and panic attacks, especially at night, was put on serax, still taking, helps me sleep. Then i started getting severe pressure in my head and ears, this seemed to add to my balance problem, symptoms come and go. I now have left eye lid twitch, on and off everyday, left hand numb and tingley and left foot numbness. Am now seeing chiro, not sure if helping, am seeing neuro again in march. And headaches come and go, but when i get them they are very bad. I've never had a problem with any of these symptoms. Not sure if i have inner ear problem or something more serious like MS. I also had negative MRI/MRA. If anyone has any insight on my problems please help!!! I have a 1 year old, and it's very hard getting by day by day with these symptoms.

Hello there,

Welcome to the board. It's very late here in England so this is just a quick preliminary post and can write more when less tired. Just wanted to say that your neuro may well have been on to something. Although an inner ear disorder is still possible, with the tingling in your extemities and headaches accompanying your balance issues it sounds very likely that a condition called migraine associated vertigo/dizziness could be what you have.

As a starting point a poster called Scotsman recently provided a brilliant link which gives short on line film clips from a specialist explaining the different dizzy conditions. I have reposted his message about this with the link at the end of my post. I would follow that link and watch the video link entitled migraine associated dizziness. You may need to download a little piece of software to watch it. I am a computer idiot but managed to do this with no problem they tell you on the site what to do, took two minutes the video clip is very short but immensely informative.

Here is Scotsman's post cut and pasted with the link below

Hi All,

Check out this great site:

http://www.meei.harvard.edu/patient/rauch.php

(preapproved by mod1)

Scroll down to the bottom and click on the links to a number of excellent short talks by Assoc Professor Stephen Rauch. I particularly liked the one on "Vestibular Compensation" and his analogy comparing compensation to learning a second language - very cool. He understands the many years involved in the chronic compensation period following a vestibular injury which I was impressed by. There's stuff there on BPPV, MAV, VRT and Meniere's too.

Best...Scott

thank you very much for your reply, i watched the video, and it does sound like alot of the symptoms i have, i will be following up with my neuro in march, and hopefully i can start some sort of treatment. The thing that worries me is that the numbness on my left side used to come and go, now it seems to always be there, and my right hand is starting to feel numb also. With the migraines would the numbness always be there, or come and go? i also have problems focusing at times.



Tasha

Hello,

I do know with migraines that people can get continual visual symptoms, namely they see constant spots in their vision, or shimmering etc... Obviously people can also become dizzy/vertiginous 24/7 due to migraine, a number of people on this board have had this. With migraine people tend to be most familiar with an intermittent pattern, but it isn't always the case, symptoms can last for long stretches. I'm not as familiar with how long numbness and tingling can last with migraine, although it can definitely be part of a migraine pattern. I would hazard a guess that as with the other things, if the migraine is still in play, then the symptoms could be continuous, but it's an area I am not clear on. Obviously they would be looking for MS on an MRI, so the fact that, that was negative is a very good sign. Again, a lay persons guess, but with the amount of symptoms you have, I would have thought some evidence of MS would have shown up if that's what was causing this.

My hunch is that migraine could account for all the things that are currently happening. Could you bring your doctor's appointment forward? When you feel this bad another month and a half or so is a long time to wait. It seems you are experiencing a lot of anxiety - people with balance symptoms generally do - it's a horrible thing to go through - and you're obviously concerned about your other symptoms too. You need to lay those concerns to rest and be able to get on with getting well. A good neurologist who specialises in headaches would be able to answer your questions about numbness and tingling and migraine far better than me and would also be able to choose another migraine drug (topamax is only one of many) that might agree with you better.

Something that may be very relevant here is the fact you were pregnant not long before this happened. I notice you say your child is one year old. Hormonal shifts are often a migraine trigger and you're by no means the first person who has come to this board who has recently had a child and started experiencing balance problems. In fact I've seen a few similiar posts - I've been on the board a while.

Take comfort from the fact that you have seen doctors and had all the right tests and all the grim things you are worrying about they will have been looking for and haven't found.
Hope this helps,

Hannah

Thanks for your input, I spoke with my family dr today, told him my numbness is getting worse and spreading to right side, also left eye feels weak and gets tired fast compared to right eye. He is trying to move up my neuro appt, he thinks could possibly be neuropathy, but i've been told so many different things it might or might not be. Hopefully neuro can do more tests, it's been about 4 months since i seen him last, maybe something will be different this time and i will be able to get a diagnosis, i have a lot more symptoms now since last time i seen him, i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Hello,

That's good news about your doctor, it's so unfair when people are left to worry for such long periods on their own. It's not at all uncommon for people to only get diagnosies when they show more symptoms, it's unfortunate as it means waiting, but frequently it becomes clearer what's going on. That's what happened to me. I really hope you see your neuro sooner and he can put your mind at rest. Neuropathy does sound like a possibility. Please keep us posted as to what happens.

best,