Fistulas create a lot of odd symptoms.
Wouldn’t it seem more likely to have hearing loss though if you had a fistula? Did you have hearing loss?
None to begin with … it may depend on which window’s affected - there are two in each ear.
I only started to develop hearing loss about 5 months after my accident. I only had vestibular symptoms initially.
Then mild hearing loss and tinnitus started a week after imbalance returned (high frequencies only)
This is fully explained by pressure disregulation or Hydrops - a complication of fistulas. As the fistula heals, the pressure goes up because the body reacted to the fistula in the first place by increasing the perilymph pressure to negate the problem with the leak. The pressure causes tinnitus and no doubt reduces the sensitivity of the ear (hence the HF loss). It’s not necessarily destructive but in my case that remains to be seen.
The hearing loss is potentially reversible if pressure returns to normal. Prognosis is in line with initially hearing loss at the time of trauma, so I wouldn’t worry about this too much.
I also wonder if the pressure rising evolved to help prevent infection getting through the window - a higher pressure would tend to push pathogens safely away from the inner ear.
Read this and notice the uncanny similarity to MAV!:
https://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/unilat/fistula.html
Also read this thread fully:
http://www.mvertigo.org/t/ive-had-it-guys-im-going-to-look-into-perilymph-fistula-plf-surgery/13792
I just read the thread, and wow, you were definitely on to something. The draining sounds like me too. When I move my jaw left and right for example, it creates a minor post nasal drip. Not sure if that was the case for you.
My joints feel way less tense this morning after the TENS therapy and way less pressure. I’ve read on this forum that other that have MAV get ear fullness and I have read on TMJ forums that they get ear fullness, too.
Did you have the surgery or did I miss that part?
I saw the surgeon. But given I was improving spontaneously I wasn’t prepared to take the risk (the surgery is unreliable but he personally claims a 75% success rate). I will see him in a few months again to judge my progress.
What are your current symptoms?
I still get little fluid in the morning which drains away almost instantly I get up. But nothing like the ‘glug glug glug’ I used to get.
I get some feeling of pressure in the affected ear when lying in bed.
Bed spins and vertigo: GONE.
Dizziness: GONE
Imbalance: mostly GONE.
The worst symptom is now tinnitus which still varies in intensity.
I have very mild hearing loss aka ‘dulled hearing’ that seems to vary.
All in all improving!
And with all this I was able to drop to only 10mg amitriptyline but am confident that I’ll be able to come off meds entirely soon.
I went for another hearing test today and my right ear showed some hearing loss with low frequency sounds. I asked the audiologist to do it again because I had my daughter in my lap and she was rustling through my purse and was distracted. She said second time it was normal.
Would meniere’s hearing loss change in 5 minutes…she said it could fluctuate but not that fast. Thoughts?
I very much doubt it.
Menieres is very rare. I still think you may have a fistula. That can mimic menieres but is not menieres.
Somebody on another forum suggested aneurysm can cause constant headaches… I would think in 6 months I would know it was aneurysm… what do you think?
Have you had an MRI? You should definitely get one to rule out Neuroma. That’s standard practice.
I’m having one in October … I had a ct scan though. Does it sound like aneurysm because I get light headed when I talk a lot like a rush of dizziness
I’ve not heard that to be a common cause of dizziness. Dizziness is almost always an inner ear issue.