I was wondering if some of you could describe the fullness in your headthat you might be experiencing. I am doing balance exercises and my dizziness has gotten alot better (still off balance some, but can use my head alot more freely now without getting dizzy). What I am mainly experiencing now is this tightness in the back of my neck, not pain, just tightness. Then pressure goes up the side of my face into my jaw area, on to the sinus thru my cheeks and then into my nose. My face from the nose down feels drawn and my head feels too heavy for my neck. Sometimes the fullness will go on up into the top of my head where I feel pressure. Sometimes it feels like it is pushing the eardrums out from within.
Anybody like this? Would love to know and would love to know what you think it might be caused from. Could steroids cause the fullness?
Thanks for the info!
Vicki

I have this off and on, and I have no idea what causes it yet, although I can rule out steroids as I've never taken them. The worst bout of this lasted for over a year.

Hi - I get this too quite often and I have no clue what causes it at all - must be another dizzy thing!! I would try to dismiss it (yeh I know thats hard) mine kind of waxes and wanes - annoying all the same! How are you?

It's been around 4 weeks since I was told I have labs. Last Sunday I went back to the ER. They said Menieres possibly. Went to a second ENT this past Tuesday......he said Viral......so I am confused......I do get this high pitch sound in the ears .......then a feeling of fullness in the ears that includes my sinus area. The Cat Scan I had last Sunday showed my sinus clear. They sure don't feel clear.......and my ears feel blocked.......I passed a hearing test.....not sure what the hey this is, but it stinks and is creating much anxiety in me , for my life has changed so much in these past 4 weeks. I feel like I am on an emotional roller coaster because of this......I see no end to it.....one or two good days and then it hits again.......what is this?

Do you get the fullness and pressure on both sides of the face and both ears feel blocked?
That is what I have been getting off and on since this started. The Cat scan looked pretty good.....so I have no idea what this pressure is.

Hey Dizzy!

yes yes yes, these are exactly the symptoms I have had for coming up for 18 weeks now. My right side of my sinuses feels blocked all the time, same as pressure in my ear (normally right sided only) and tightness in my neck across my shoulders and up the right hand side of my face to my temple. I was told labs, then after the MRI scan which showed my sinuses as being clear, the DR's dismissed it as viral. I've been going to a chirporactor to get relief for my neck but now what seems to be happening is I am getting really blurred vision which is making the dizzies worse. Had a bad attack this weekend again and they are saying a year now. Everyone on this forum has been fab with their advice, I'm going to see a Vesitbular specialist shortly and am praying he can offer an end to this dizziness. I've also been referred to a general physician to check me out for everything else as the consultant said I shouldn't be getting worse, you are not alone its all part of this weird thing, hang in there http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif I've not been out socially since I took my first attack 5 months ago nor have I driven, I'd be interested to know how everyone else copes with going out and driving??

Hi Littleone - I first got lab's over 2 years ago and am still suffering the effects of it - they say that its no longer Lab's but the sequel to it. But I can tell you that I have gotten almost better only to revert to feeling as bad as I did in the beginning - that is normal - I am afriad.

As for driving - thats a confidence thing - why not just try a quick trip down your road or something to gradually build confidence. I too stopped driving for a bout 2 months when I had chronic vertigo and could not raise my head of the bed and crawled around literally - after that despite the dizzies I did - it is actually a lifeline cause if I felt too dizzy to cook I would drive to pick up a drive through meal - also not driving with 3 kids under 6 is a no no. Good Luck this does improve and is not for life it just feels that way when you are stuck with it.

The pressure that I am feeling is pretty much even on both sides. It just comes and goes and it seems like noise will prompt the full feeling to come on.
As far as driving, I have done very little in the past few months that I have had this. My main trouble is not being able to focus on my driving as I should. I have two small boys, 9 and 4 and I feel like I put them at risk riding with me. So, i don't drive unless I have to. The last time I did drive was better than the time before? Have you tried balance exercises and are you on any medication?

To Willsmom:
Are you on any medications and what have you taken for how long? Just curious in trying to determine how medicines affect us in this whole dizzy scene!!!
Vicki

To dizzy572:
My doctor thought that I had menieres but I went and got my hearing tested and it was fine. Also, with menieres you have bouts of unexpected vertigo at any time that can last for awhile and after the "attack" it is supposed to wipe you out for awhile. Do you get vertigo at any point or do you have to get in a certain position? Also, are you on any medication?

In the beginning I got it whenever I moved my head. Now I have days where I almost feel normal......but as soon as I get the high pitch in my ears......then comes the full feeling and pressure and then the off balance feeling. It is so strange.
ENT gave me antivert........I also have bad allergies and wonder if this is causing this. Though I have had allergies since I was a kid and never had this.
I only drive around the corner to the ma and pop shop for milk or simple things......to scared to drive further.
I was bit by a few misquitoes in August.....could this be a form of the West NIle? Guess I wonder because this virus is new and Docs know so little about west nile.......is it possilbe for skeeter bites to cause labs? Just a thought.

Dizzy572:
Do you have actual spinning or just off-balance feeling? What was your initial event? Just wondering. And also, what are your main symptoms now?

Do you guys notice your dizziness feels worse during the spells of pressure in the head?...that's the case for me. Just wondering if it was the same for anyone else....fighter

My initial symptom was a true vertigo when getting out of bed.
Now it's more of an off balance feeling when making movements. It is worse when I have the full feeling in face and ears. Had it when I went to the ER last Sunday, but nothing was found. I am worse on humid and rainy days. It is raining today. arghhhhhh

Have you done any balance exercises? I was the same way with the dizziness being worse with the pressure and also my worse bout was when we had a big rain come in for several days. I cried alot. But, honestly since I started doing the exercises I began to notice a difference. Yesterday, I went out for a walk and there was a BIG difference from the last time with my dizziness. The balance center therapist told me that she hasn't had anyone not helped with the exercises. Anyway, today I am feeling almost normal this morning. The best I have felt since July 12. Lord willing, this will be a better day! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif Hope you do too!

Had my husband drive me to the drugstore yesterday.......I did pretty good.
Yes, I do those head excercises.......I probably should do them more. I make sure to keep moving around the house dizzy or not.......I hear that helps.
Can't wait until this gone. Guess I have to keep a postive attidtude and not let it get to me. I think that doesn't help.

The way that the balance center therapist described my situation is that some people compensate with just regular lifestyle. But there are those unfortunate that require rehabilitation. I am one of those people. I know that 9 years ago I got the initial virus. The vertigo was SO severe I landed up at the hospital very sick. 9 years later (maybe from a sinus condition, had the worse sinus headache a week before vertigo attack) I wake up in the night spinning after turning over in bed. The doctor immediately put me on steroids and meclizine for about 2 1/2 weeks. What I have figured out is that the vertigo, because it was only momentary, was that 9 years ago I compensated for the damage that the virus did. I remember it taking about a year before I felt absolutely nothing when I would go to Walmart or wherever. July 12 of this year I had decompensation, which occurs from a variety of things. I should have taken meclizine for the initial attack just to be able to get out of bed but then should have stayed off the medicine and should have begun balance exercises. The sleepy medicines either hinder compensation or stop it altogether. I really believe that the medicine really messed me up and next time I have a bout of vertigo I will do things differently. What is interesting is that 9 years ago when I had the actual virus, I wasn't put on any medication because I was pregnant. And I had none of the trouble I have had (the ups and downs) this time. It took a long time to get over but was just a gradual climb with NO setbacks! Anyway, I really believe I am on the road to recovery and after alot of prayer and tears I am feeling a little better each day. I am a Christian and so the Lord keeps me each day, which I am so thankful for. Don't know what people do without Him!!
Anyway, that is my story and hope it helps. I so hurt for all of these people who struggle with this each day.
Something else that I found on the internet is that a study was done in Israel and they found that inner ear disorders have more anxiety involved than other major illnesses like MS. Do you have the anxiety and sweeps of tension, panic attacks? That for me has been the worse part. Since I have started the balance exercises that is pretty much gone!
Well, enough chatter! Hope you have a good day!
Also, do you have children? I have four. A daughter that is 22, three sons, 19, 9, and 4. I homeschool so I am at home alot. Also, am a bookkeeper for an autobody shop. Busy!!!! It helps keep my mind off me!

Hi - yes I have a 'pressure' felling in my head also. It feels like a 'fluid' related thing. I have a 'light' feeling at the back of my head, which is a bit like 'pins and needles'. My ears have been clicking/popping every time I swallow also, which doc. says is quite typical.

I have had no actual confirmed diagnosis, but the doctor seemed un-worried by my symptoms. He has, however, reffered me to an ENT specialist for further help/assurance. I am also on a course of homeopathic medicine, and have recently generally tried to eat/live healthily for my body to fight this off itself. I am of the pinion that anything the doctor prescribes will only treat the symptoms.

I have been gradually getting better, but all symptoms persist to a certain degree. Some days are okay (not worrying so much etc...) and then Bam! A crappy day comes along. The last one of these was to do with the fact that I got TOO confident and decided to have more than enough beer to drink with a friend. This set my recovery back abou 5-6 days. I'm steering well clear of alcohol for a long time now... Also, nicotine and caffiene can make things worse (if you have trouble caused by 'poisoning' of the inside of your ears - ototoxicity i think...)

Anyway - here is a website with some more info on - check it out! www.vestibular.org (http://www.vestibular.org)

oh yeah - the anxiety. I won't even start on that one....

Hi LittleOne, I may have an answer to help guide the
Dr's. 10 yrs. ago, a plane decent blocked my rt. ear.
After yrs, tests, 16 Dr's, 3 MRI's & fear, I hit the
med-library books. I begged & got a cheap Coronal-CT
Scan ($192) saved my life. MRI will not show a cyst or
sm. growth in the Maxillary sinus. CT did but still Dr.
didn't care. Temple/ear pain got bad & I yelled to get
another CT. Cyst doubled in sz. Week later face swelled
some. Well, they did endoscopic surgery & did pathology
w/ tissue that was actually a rare form of tumor that
had melted bone, spread cancers cells, & was also too
large now to get at. All this `did not' show up on MRI.
4 major surgeries later, I'm dealing but ok. Get copies
for your own reading & study them. When it's unilateral
it's many times infection. Mine went into cancer. The
Coronal will narrow things down. I had many vestiblular
work-ups. I was not `dizzy'. I had pain, fullness, ear
block & confusion from tissue invasion & swelling. Get
aggressive. To date, 5 docs (Ent, Internal, Neuro) have
never heard of Inverted Papilloma. I saved my own life
by being a Scotch-Irish Bitty! Search: Trigeminal
Neuralgia also. That's the nerve that makes your temple
& ear operate or mal-function. Let us know how you do.