I've been having "dizzy/lightheaded" spells for many years now - actually as far back as 1990. It starts out with a real hard spell of dizzyness and my head feels full and fuzzy. It seems to be more noticable when I lay my head down to one side or even just move it to one side. I have 24/7 ringing in my left ear (possiblly the right one too but I don't notice it since my left ear is ringing loud and constant. Anyway, the last 2 years, I've gotten 2 bad spells and it knocks me for a loop. It actually last for about 4 hours where I'm really, really lightheaded and then it disappears. I then only feel "unsteady" for several days/weeks at then it goes away all together. This time I decided enough was enough! I went to my family doc. He said my ears looked good. He sent me in for an audiogram. Everything looked good but I do have a slight hearing loss in both ears (something they told me happened to everyone after the age of 50). Now I'm scheduled to go see an ENT on August 7th. What is next? An MRI? I'm very claustrophobic and I honestly don't think I could handle one. Someone told me ENT's sometimes put water in your ear to make you dizzy - is this true? All this inner ear stuff is confusing to me. The audiogram people told me physical therapy might be a good idea but to wait and see what the ENT doc tells me. I worry about brain tumors but I don't want to get myself worked up before I know exactly what's going on. Can anyone give me an idea what might be in store for me as far as tests, etc.? Thank you for any help you can give me!
This is from my post on another thread. Your message reminded me of it so I copied it for you. Hope it helps.
[As far as the MRI goes, I had one on my lower back. It wasn't so bad. Nothing touches you. There was a semicircular hard cover moved over me.
You will probably have to lie still, which makes sense .. like an X-ray.
I was given earplugs and asked for something over my eyes (so I wouldn't get cross-eyed looking so closely at the inside of the cover - . Might be good to take one of those airplane eyecovers with elastic around the back) Then I took a nap-- telling myself that the loud banging noise was just an electric drill outside my window! (I'm real good at denial.....in this case, worked well).]
I've been having "dizzy/lightheaded" spells for many years now - actually as far back as 1990. It starts out with a real hard spell of dizzyness and my head feels full and fuzzy. It seems to be more noticable when I lay my head down to one side or even just move it to one side. I have 24/7 ringing in my left ear (possiblly the right one too but I don't notice it since my left ear is ringing loud and constant. Anyway, the last 2 years, I've gotten 2 bad spells and it knocks me for a loop. It actually last for about 4 hours where I'm really, really lightheaded and then it disappears. I then only feel "unsteady" for several days/weeks at then it goes away all together. This time I decided enough was enough! I went to my family doc. He said my ears looked good. He sent me in for an audiogram. Everything looked good but I do have a slight hearing loss in both ears (something they told me happened to everyone after the age of 50). Now I'm scheduled to go see an ENT on August 7th. What is next? An MRI? I'm very claustrophobic and I honestly don't think I could handle one. Someone told me ENT's sometimes put water in your ear to make you dizzy - is this true? All this inner ear stuff is confusing to me. The audiogram people told me physical therapy might be a good idea but to wait and see what the ENT doc tells me. I worry about brain tumors but I don't want to get myself worked up before I know exactly what's going on. Can anyone give me an idea what might be in store for me as far as tests, etc.? Thank you for any help you can give me!
Hi Catcopy
...."Can anyone give me an idea what might be in store for me as far as tests"....
Yep they(ENT or Doc's) could run any of these Vestibular Tests(From the "Sticky" first post on board)---Northwestern Univ, Dr Hain Web Site)
Re: What happens next? 
