Well what a waste of my day. FIrst of all he spent most of the appt nagging me about smoking. He had me stand on one foot and touch my nose looked into my ears and ran a pressure and hearing check. Apparently he can find absolutely nothing wrong with me. So like I said my biggest fear is that he has no answers so there you go. He said maybe illness.....maybe spontaneous vertigo that will go away in 3 months who knows...said if it persists call my GP and ask to see a neurologist. Now I am even more depressed than I was originally. God forbid someone cares that this damn thing is ruining my life and want someone to be proactive and help me.....

Just talked to GP said she wanted to try me on pregnazone or something?? not sure what it is anyone ever heard of that or something like that?

Sorry to hear about your experience at your appointment,Ive also been told by an ear doctor, in plain words to get used to it and learn to live with it. I wish you a speedy recovery..........

probably was talking about Prednisone- a steroid that would reduce inflammation. I don't know much else about it except you don't want to be on that for an extended period of time. My daughter has been on it for croup-it reduces the swelling of her vocal chords-and she's only on it for about 3ish days.
If I were you, I would call the primary care doctor back and ask for a referral to a neurologist or find a neurotologist. Be ready to not get an appt for weeks.
I have found in my struggle to get healthy is that doctors just aren't invested in finding a solution for you. The two things that are going to get you better are time and you.
I have gone to 2 ENT's, and will be seeing a neurologist next month (and I will be calling them next week-cuz apparently they're closed this week-and putting myself on the cancellation list.) I am not an aggressive person by nature. I hate the feeling that people are annoyed with me. But, I'm getting over it. I'd rather have someone ticked at me than spend another month waiting.
My husband is the king of analogies. He is a computer "geek" (I say that lovingly). He says he'd never tell a client having problems with their computer that he's not sure and if it's still not working in 3 months to call back. He would ruin the reputation for himself and his company, not to mention have clients leaving left and right!
I feel your pain, so you'll have to be proactive and not let the doctors get you down.
Also, try to relax. Try not to obsess. I do it, and I find I'm worse those days. Take time and focus on other things. Call a friend. Do something with your kids that forces you to be away from the computer. Try it for a day.
Sorry you had a disappointing day, but chalk it up to a learning experience.

Hi,

I'm afraid you've just discovered what the majority of people on this board have discovered at one time or another - ENTs know very little about inner ear disorders. It's a little known fact that an ENT does no further training in to the inner ear - they are specialists in the middle and outer ear and the nose and throat. The true specialists in the field of dizziness are called neurotologists (different from a neurologist) they do 4 more yrs training on top of ENT training in to dizziness and are qualified to recognise dizzy conditons and to give a diagnosis. If you put VEDA in to a search engine - (vestibular disorders association) I think they list specialists by region.

I was initially diagnosed with vestibular neuritis, with the added complication later on of vestibular migraine. I did not get this diagnosis from the two ENTs I saw, one of whom told me I was suffering from anxiety - another told me he had no idea what was wrong with me. I was lucky enough to be introduced to a friend of a friend who had, had vestibular neuritis. He told me to ignore the ENTs and to go to the neurotology clinic as he had been through a similiar nightmare experience himself. This was a year in to my illness. They knew what was wrong with me straight away - clearly had a very low opinion of ENTs - they obviously saw a lot of patients who had seen ENTs who didn't know what the hell they were talking about. They ran some balance tests and gave me my diagnosis. It was a very happy day - finally to get some answers.

ENTs don't tell you that dizziness isn't their field - I think this is arrogance. They assume they know what they are talking about and treat you like you're crazy. To anyone on this board your symptoms are a bit of a no brainer - there are very few conditions that manifest as yours has. The two conditions that most people on this board have with your symptoms are vestibular neuritis or vestibular migraine. As yours started with a cold the former is much more likely. If the problem persists for a long time it might be worth looking in to the migraine angle.

Wannarun is right, prednisone is a steriod that can be given to people in the early stages of lab/vn - I presume as wannarun says it can reduces the inflammation in the inner ear. Although don't quote me on that. Might be worth a shot. Although I woulnd't expect any quick fix cure from it.

As horrible a time as you are having, if this is vestibular neuritis, which I'm pretty sure it is, then you are going to get well whether you have a diagnosis or not. As you have seen a doctor I think you can at least scrub round any panic about this being something terrible or life threatening, the doctor would have spotted that.

As I said before, remember that a lot of people on this board are the difficult long term cases, there is no reason to assume that will be you. By the time you get an appointment with a neurotologist your symptoms might be gone. Try to keep the panic, depression or anxiety to a minimum. Anxiety and panic and depression actually hinder recovery from this condition as they interfere with compensation. Believe you will get well, try and stay active - all these things will help you to get better quicker.

best,

Sorry to hear about your appt, but Hbep is right on everything!! You wil get better, but it will take sometime. Did he say anyting about VRT's?? All the best to you.

Jax

He didn't say much about anything kinda seemed liek he thought I was making the whole thing up but that cpuld be my own insecurities....

like hbep said, make an appt to see a neurologist.

The mechanism by which prednisone is prescribed is in the acute stages of the viral attack. Since the virus causes inflamation in the inner ear or on the nerve, which eventually results in the damage that leads to the labs and the dizzy feelings, their thought is by reducing the swelling you will reduce the amount of damage that occurs and therby lessen the severity.

I dont know how much it will affect you, but if there is any inflammation which is still ingering, it will reduce it. I would try it.... It wont hurt. You dont want to be on steroids for extended periods of time because moon face or cushings may occur, but that is real long term, like months. What your doctor is suggesting is 7-10 days or so...

Nice post HBEP...


Yeah, some docs theorise that a quick dose of steriods during the inflamation stages will reduce swelling and therefore damage to balance system. However, I think this would have to be in the first 48-72 hours of the illness to have much of an effect (most use a single injection), as by then any virus/inflamation would be on it's way anyway... Worth a go though, but avoid the long term use.... I suspect your GP is not offering you this because of their understanding of inner ear conditions, but more likely simply because presidone is often prescribed for middle ear or sinus infections (which are different from inner ear problems) but in your GPs mind they are all pretty much the same thing..