Hi all. Ive been an MAV sufferer for 5 years. I manage pretty well on meds and diet. Yesterday I think I strained a bit too much when using the bathroom (sorry) and I felt dizziness and ear popping in left ear soon after which has continued into today. Last night I woke up to feed cat and had a dizzy vertigo type spell when bending down to put food in his bowl. Feeling like I am moving even when standing or sitting still. Im really freaked out and afraid I made myself much worse than I was with MAV. Is this even possible to now have PLF as well just from this one event? I am really worried. I can take it if its just my MAV but not an additional illness. Appreciate thoughts and insight. Thank you
Well I’m no medic but I guess anything’s possible. Why should you be unlucky enough to have another condition of such similar vein. I’d put it all down to MAV for now. Lifting something heavier than you usually do will give you same symptoms and A close friend’s aunt died of a heart attack straining on the toilet. It’s not at all uncommon apparently. Time to look to some dietary fibre amendments maybe. Helen
2 Likes
So do you think it could just be that I flared the MAV? Definitely rocking alot more than usual today. even just sitting still. How would I be able to tell if its PLF?
Catastrophising is so easy to do with this crp. I’m sure you haven’t got a PLF. Maybe you just upset your ear a little bit. Give it a few days to calm down. You’ll be fine! 
3 Likes
Catastrophying is my strong suit. I would also say Dr. Google is my spirit animal. Thanks for that reality check i just panic and start reading reading reading. I am always terrified that I have torpedoed the very fragile boat I am riding on.
3 Likes
Mrs Google is a huge temptress. Be gone with her! I did that for ages, it’s part of the journey of this condition. Try to put her down and leave her to be miserable for a few weeks and you may find your freedom from that vixen will leave you happier!
5 Likes
Years ago I had a roommate who was in medical school. One of the first things they told the students was that it was common for medical students to worry that they had all sorts of horrible illnesses, because they were studying them and reading all of the symptoms! Now we can all do the same thing through the magic of Google.
5 Likes
There’s always a Plus Side to Everything you know. When I first started having vertigo attacks I was told and believed unquestionably it was BPPV. First five years I didn’t even have internet at home and the episodes were so contained I’d complete forget all about them between one and the next and Get On with my Life. Once I was really ill - chronic - there was no way I could tolerate screens of any kind so I never really linked up with Mr or Mrs Google to develop health anxiety. So every cloud really does have its silver lining. Helen
2 Likes
Even when panicked you retain your sense of humor. That’s very good!
2 Likes
This happened to me the day this condition started. To be honest I thought/am thinking about PLF for my self cause of this strain but its possible that you just flare up MAV. May I ask what antibiotic you took back in the day?
How rare is PLF? Would i be feeling it in both ears? Its mainly the left but I also have some popping in right ear and also major anxiety feeling. The popping comes and goes but the dizziness/unsteadiness is pretty constant and much more severe than usual. The anxiety feeling may be from worrying about this sudden increase of symptoms. Sorry for more questions on this. Cant let it go just yet…
Hi Kon- I took one dose if Doxycycline for acne/rosacea. It was under the name Oracea I believe. After all this time though I wonder if it really was that med that started it all or if it was merely coincidental. I think hormones my also be at play here with the timing of it- early 40s.
Extremely rare/impossible to say because there are no serious objective stats. There is a test, but it requires opening a flap in the ear drum and taking away an assay of fluid, by which time they’ve opened your ear up so they might as well (apparently) patch the windows whilst they are there (controversial). Oh and then what’s the point of getting the results from the assay since they’ve done the surgery anyway? Messy!
No to both ears, very unlikely. You need a significant physical insult to get one unless it’s congenital and in either of those cases, it’s probably going to affect one side, not both.
I was told I had had a PLF at some point but I’m not even sure of that now.
I suspect there are other issues that can mimic the symptoms supposedly caused by a PLF that you can’t prove exists/existed without having opened up the ear.
2 Likes
You don’t have PLF. If you had you will have low frequency hearing loss. In the early stage of perilymphatic fistula patients usually had low-frequency hearing impairment.
The below paper has visual confirmation of PLF after surgery and low frequency hearing loss before surgery.
1 Like
Well @Kier I was on doxycycline for two months for same reason that period. Many times I was thinking if this is the problem, maybe ototoxicity, but I really dont understand. One of my friends took it for 2 months and he occasionally take it and he has no problems.
Thanks very much for this info. I really appreciate the support from this board. Only we can truly understand each other and this crazy situation we are in!
2 Likes
I started out with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BBPV). My dizziness specialist ENT performed the Epley Manuever and fixed that problem. Then I was dx’d with Vestibular Migraines, which I have since found out through a physical therapist that specializes in vestibular problems, that it is my neck. She also thinks all the antibiotics I was on, caused damage to my inner ear that causes me to be dizziness when I see super busy patterns like walking on some carpeting that is a busy pattern. If everyone tore their eardrum sitting on the toilet too long, my husband would have that problem too. LoL. Take your thumbs & put them behind your ear(s) where the bone is and press & see if it is sore. Our Sternocleidomastoid muscles affects our head, eyes, sinus, ears, throat and can cause VM symptoms with pain, dizziness, ear popping, migraines (I get severe pain behind both eyes), amongst other symptoms. Also, the muscles at the base of our head. Try putting your thumb into those areas as well. If they feel sore, you may just have a neck muscle problem. I am so much better doing the neck exercises. If the ENT’s could think outside their box, there are probably so many of us that actually have neck muscle issues versus VM’s. My exercises make my severe eye pain go away as well.
3 Likes
Hope, a PLF is far from being an issue with the ear drum. It’s a breach of (one of) the windows between the middle and inner ears. One of them, the oval window, receives vibrations from the ear drum via the middle ear bones, but they are not the same thing. The more devastating part of a PLF is the fact that you begin to leak perilymphatic fluid from the inner ear, something that would never happen with an ear drum puncture directly (though the force required to puncture your ear drum might also impact the oval window as force is transfered via the middle ear bones.).
However, I agree, a PLF is probably no more likely than a punctured ear drum.
1 Like
turnitaround - thanks for giving me an explanation on PLF & letting me know it isn’t a torn eardrum. Good to know! I apparently I don’t know what this PLF stands for. What does it stand for?