UPDATE: My surgery was completed around 8am this morning. I finally feel like Iāve come down enough from the general anesthesia and pain killers to type and be coherent (haha!). It turns out it wasnāt a cyst but a soft tissue mass, possibly a benign tumor. Surgeon is pretty confident it isnāt cancerous but is getting the mass sent off just to confirm. Iāll know on August 13th. He told my partner after the surgery that a mass could really explain all these symtpoms or have triggered VM and is even more optomistic knowing its a mass rather than a cyst that its removal may cure me. Of course, the effects from the surgery make it too early to tell if its helped with majority of my symptoms, but I can say that I have immediately noticed that my vision is no longer blurry. Itās a huge difference. Iāll give another update around the 13th.
Well if there were Olympic medals for Bouncedbackness youād certainly be up there on the podium for a gold.
. Good luck with the rest of your recovery journey. Not that it looks much as if you will need it. Looks like you may have just found your answer to VM already. So pleased for you.
Thank you for the well wishes. I really really feel so much empathy for all of you who have dealt with and continue to deal with MAV/VM for so long, and who have more insidious causes. Itās a beast of a disease. My hope is that my updates could maybe help someone out there who suspects their sinuses may play a role or is the cause of their symptoms.
Time to vent about feeling really scared and disappointed. My dizziness came back yesterday morning with a big vengeance and hasnāt gone away since. I can barely make it to the bathroom (which requires a short walk to the outhouse). Brain fog is so intense too. Just lying down feels like Iām on a boat in the middle of a storm. Iām just holding on to hope that itās inflammation from the surgery and itāll go away once Iām healed but itās hard to feel hopeful. My surgeon said the surgery recovery should be a breeze but this is hell. It feels just as bad as it was when this first started almost three months ago. Iāve also been twitching all over? 
Maybe I just need to recover (and calm down) but lord am I scared.
Love, worst case youāre in the boat with us. Sucks, yes, but there are many treatment options. Most of us recover fairly well and lead normal lives. I mostly did and mainly do.
Just a thought - your home environment may be the cause. Can you stay away for several days and see how you do?
Yes I reckon sinusitis could do it. Issues with sinuses comes up on here every so often.
Unnatural and fluctuating pressure within middle ear that is not correlated to healthy operation might be enough to confuse vestibular system and brain. We have a paper in #research-theories-controversies (access when Trust Level 2) that describes vertigo and dizziness due to Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. Same could happen surely if any part of the airway in that system gets impacted?
Do all the things advised to allow your body to take care of the infection itself?
People with dizziness issues are often ill after a trip to the dentist. GA will in itself cause dizziness in some people so Iād have expected a person who already has been experiencing dizziness to be unwell post surgery. Far too early days to panic. Could well just be a reaction to inferring with your sinus area. Itās too closely linked to the vestibular system for comfort. Could very easily settle down once itās all healed up properly.
Really hoping for a happy update and that your symptoms do calm down with your recovery! 
Please keep us updated.
Just catching up with this thread. It is very scary and believe me feeling this way is normal and warranted. The cyst might have been a trigger for the VM to start. I believe this is what happened to meā¦ bppv triggered VM. When the vestibular system is grumpy and sending false messages to your brain, it doesnāt like itā¦ nor does it forget it.
Emily is right, if itās VM youāre dealing with itās uglyā¦ but can be mostly treated. I can remember sitting down and feeling so nauseous all the time. Jumpy vision, head movement intolerable etc. from what you wrote early on, your symptoms do sound like VM.
I think you made up your mind that the surgery would fix it, and have been let down. Try not to panic.
Consider medication. It has worked well for me. I have also made considerable changes to my life and diet but for the better. Try searching for the many things we have control over to help rather than focus on things we have little control over.
The best of luck darling girl. Let us know how you are soon.
Definitely a good thought although I am leaning less towards environmental causes after finding out I had a tumor and not a cyst. The tumor is so slow growing, the surgeon is thinking it has been in there for years and has finally gotten big enough to cause big problems. Thank you for reminding me there is hope if the vm does not resolve. <3
Iāve wondered if I had eustachian tube dysfunction as my right ear is constantly very full feeling. But at my last appointment before my surgery the ENT said there is no longer fluid in my ears. Which was a huge surprise to me given how pressurized my right ear is all the time. As far as I understand, there isnāt an infection that Iām healing from, as it turned out to be a sphenoid sinus tumor rather than a sphenoid sinus infection. Though I am certainly resting a lot (not too much of a choice given how difficult moving is right now) and drinking a lot of fluids to help the recovery. My main theory now is that the tumor triggered VM and itās a question of if the tumor removal will be enough to calm down the symptoms or bring on remission. As of yet, Iām still in the throws of VM symptoms. the double vision has yet to come back though.
Thank you for the validation <3 Iām trying to be strong and hopeful but itās definitely starting to wear on me. My symptoms have been 24/7 (at varying levels of intensity) since I came down with this and I definitely am just at the beginning stages of figuring out how to cope with such a change. I totally agree with the thought that the tumor may have triggered the VM. My surgeon was thinking that as well and he was very clear that the VM might be its own beast now even after the tumor removal. So he did help me with a bit of expectation management, but yes I did get my hopes up that the surgery would quickly heal everything.
I certainly empathize with your memories. It sounds like you may have recovered some?
Ah apologies, I misunderstood. Thanks for clarifying. However perhaps there is some post surgery inflammation? Best of luck with recovery! At least youāve got that out of the way now!
A final update on this thread to close the loop on my question of sinuses and VM: the tumor was confirmed today as a benign shwannoma tumor. They are apparently very rarely located in the paranasal sinuses, and especially the sphenoid sinus. ENT thinks likely it was of idiopathic origin and probably growing for a decade or more. I will be monitored every 6 months to a year to make sure it doesnāt return. However, and sadly, the ENT today said he is now pretty confident (given my continued and 2 new symptoms) that the tumor was likely incidental and that I need to see a neurologist. I have recently developed hand tremors and muscle spasms that occur all day and night and are head to toe. He said itās ādefinitely neurologist timeā. Iāll keep the rest of my updates on my personal journal if folks want to engage there. <3
On the bright side, for us, you add cool color to our community. Weāre here for you. (PS the hand tremor and muscle spasm could be MAV, though itās not the most common set of symptoms.)
Weāre here. Welcome however reluctantly to our family.