How many of you have ear fullness to the point where you can hear your own breath of the sound of your own voice in your ears? Is this MAV thing or a Eustachian tube dysfunction? This happens to me after a shower mostly and is relieved by laying down.
E Tube problems was the first thing to ever hit me. Started with all kind of popping and crackling. Then the vertigo hit. This led me, and many specialists to DX me with Vestibular Neuritis. Almost 4 years later and my tubes still make noise all day long. I also get that thing you are talking about where it sounds like I can hear my own voice when talking. At the beginning of all this I always complained about ear fullness. Now I don’t have that feeling so much, just once in awhile. Maybe it improved or I just got better?
Either way, the vertigo and “dizziness” is long gone, but I still have balance and cognitive issues. A year after this all started I developed constant, 24/7 visual problems, which has led many to believe I have a sort of Migraine Variant now… How all the E Tube and ear problems relate, no one has been able to give me an answer. Now my ears and E Tubes, while still annoying, are the least of my worries. The visuals and brain fog have taken over my life.
Hope that helps ya!
I have had problems with Eustachian tube dysfunction for as long as I can remember (just during cold/flu season it seems). For me, it is very different from MAV symptoms - ETD causes fullness, pain, and popping (like when ascending on an airplane) and is very easy to see if a doc takes a look in my ears (ear drum will be bowed). It also causes that muffled sound/hearing yourself in your ears like you describe. I’m not sure if MAV could cause this, but blocked Eustachian tubes sure can.
Is yours ONLY after a shower? Could you be getting water in your ears? That would certainly cause it, especially if there is some ear wax it is getting caught behind.
It’s only happened after a shower and if I lay down I can relieve it. I know Eustachian tube problems are common in pregnancy so I probably am having issues with them. Why not right… Seems as though nothing can go right ever since I got pregnant.
The first time I experienced those ear symptoms was during my second pregnancy two years into Mav, apparently fluid can build up behind the eardrum or something during pregnancy, it was actually what made me more dizzy during pregnancy, my doctor recommended a saline nasal spray and another spray I can’t remember what it was called that helped a little bit.
Those ear symptoms then returned 3 yrs into my Mav journey when my pain migraines arrived. A few of the meds I have trialled have helped correct that problem, but it returns every time I get a migraine or dizzy spell or change meds.
Pregnancy although it can help Mav it can also complicate it :(. Wish you all the best.
I have had E tube problems for 30 years now. Started about 6 years before my first vertigo attack, with a head cold.
Here’s an excerpt from an interesting article wherein the author associates eustachian tube dysfunction and tinnitus/vertigo. The author is a DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) in the US. For those who don’t know, DOs are similar to MDs in the United States except their training includes some spinal manipulation techniques. They aren’t chiropractors per se, although there is some overlap. (They are more like MDs than chiropractors…) The article references a certain technique the author used to resolve a patient’s tinnitus/vertigo…
"Tinnitus and vertigo, though they can have potentially lethal etiologies, may simply be a result of eustachian tube dysfunction. Using the modified Muncie technique to treat patients with these conditions—when they derive from eustachian tube dysfunction—is safe, fast, easy, and rapidly effective. In addition, it can be an adjunctive treatment to medications or a stand-alone treatment, which can save patients time, money, and the potential adverse effects of medications. The simplicity of this technique allows its use in any physician’s office and encourages its inclusion in future research protocols. "