MAV because of a infection?

Specific Illnesses & Conditions VM/MAV
1

I’m 23 years old Male and i live in Amsterdam.

I’ll keep it very short. I think i might have MAV even tough im not diagnosed for anything it yet…

29th of July i had Tonsillitis and a swollen neck lymph node.

I thought like always that it would go away naturally but just in case i made a appointment with the doctor to rule out a bacterial infection. Next day Monday August 1 i woke op and i had this feeling like i was high on drugs or something, or a bit tipsy i got scared and went to the first aid and they said that it was all in my head and i needed to let the infection in my throat heal.

Went back home feeling surreal like I’m not here in this world but somewhere else. Next day i went to my doctor who said that my swollen lymph node and tonsil is giving some pressure to my ‘‘Organ Of Balance’’ in my ear or also known as ‘‘Vestibular’’ and it will go away in 2 weeks and i got some Antibiotics.

After the 7days antibiotics my tonsils and swellings were gone completely but my dizziness was not gone at all!

And then on August 19th i also got Tinnitus in my left ear and i now also have them in my right ear as well!

To make it all short i have had a CAT Scan of my brain which was negative, i had a Balance test where they put me in a chair and sprayed water in my ears etc which also indicated that i don’t have any damage in my inner ear, also did a hearing test before my tinnitus started and it was perfect, also had another hearing test with my tinnitus and my hearing is still good!

Now my ENT guy doesn’t know what it is! He gave up hope and told me i should wait more and see!

I can;t believe i have this! Also it can’t be anxiety because for the past 2-3 weeks i have been going outside laughing with friends etc and putting hope up because i taught it would get better. But today after hearing that even the ENT guy can’t help me i got desperate and started crying and I’m so afraid that i will have this for the rest of my life!

I have feeling of fullness in both my ears and sometimes i get this pain in the ear like a stabbing sharp feeling, and one doctor said that both my eardrums are a bit ‘‘sucked in’’ and that it could be a dysfunction of the Eustachian tube and i got a nose spray that i have been trying now.

The weird thing is i can move around jump and do everything but it does not my dizziness allot worse, just a little, i have this spaced out…surreal…tipsy feeling constantly and i never experienced vertigo. The closest i got to vertigo was in the beginning when i had panic attacks over this and anxiety i felt like i was going to fall trough the ground and had this weird pressure on my head that made it even worse.

Now i can control the anxiety so i don’t have that anymore but the dizziness does not stop!

It has been 7 weeks and 1 day and still no improvments!

Will this ever end?! will i ever feel normal again? Will my tinnitus ever go away?! Is it possible to get MAV because of a troath infection?

Sherry

1 Like
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Hi Sherry,

I fully sympathise with all you have said… And I share most of the same symptoms as you too… Tinnitus, (tho no hearing loss), the weird spaced out feeling.

I too originally saw an ENT who said it was probably labrythitis /vestibular neronitis, and to wait… But then I mentioned my history of sinus pain, headaches and migraines. Turned out my sinuses were clear… and what you think is sinusitis can actually be migraine.

Have you had a histroy of migraines? Have you had any VRT? It’s my understanding that you can stil be diagnosed with mav even if you’ve no history of headaches, or even no headache ever.

If I was you I’d ask to be referred from ENT, to a neurologist or neurotologist.

I have felt a lot better after finding a drug that worked for me… And there are lots of people who who have also got a lot better. In the pits of this, I felt like I couldn’t ever have a life again- but I have come very far now.

However, the tinnitus has never left me. BUT I have got used to it. When I first got it, I couldnt believe that I would ever get used to it- I thought people were nuts to tell me that, but you do… x

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Thank you so much for your reply! I’m glad to hear that you are improving!

I have not had any VRT, here in The Netherlands they don’t have allot of VRT and we don’t have any Neurotologist either! Which is really frustrating. I’m thinking that i might go to London soon and try to get a proper diagnoses there. Can i ask how it started for you? Did it happened after a troath infection? And when did the Tinnitus start?

I can’t really say if i ever had headaches… Is there a way to fully compensate with MAV?

Sherry

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Hi, I read all these posts and feel so disheartened by what we all are going through. The very same queston I ask over and over again, will I ever again feel normal?
I am a COPD patient and have been on these meds for the last 8 yrs. Around Christmas, I fell really ill with persistant lung infection and was prescibed antibiotics and Prednisone as per usual. Few weeks after, my ear started hurting- went and check with my GP and he said, nope, nothing bad there! Went to another doc, same thing- my ear was not infected, inflamed or anything like it. And then it all started…
I do have BPPV and have been motion sensitive and sick for majority of my life. What I felt this spring, was different dizzy than usual -very unsteady, disbalanced, heavy, heavy headed, spaceless…I started complaining about my headaches being different- had bad ones my whole life- this time they were making me really nauseated and would feel as if they come from the top of my head. Went to osteopath and instead of fixing my spine, she decided to alighn my head plates ???) and I almost fainted three times. Three times she attempted treatments and I would simply feel “just about to faint”, and it made me feel very fatigued and very disbalanced and unsteady for hours, very anxious too. I stopped going to her.
I don’t even know what started first; my anxiety or this dizziness, that now is I dare to say, constant. The hardest thing for me is movement, motion (my own) makes me really bad, i feel anxious all the time ( I do have a history of GAD) and visits with friends became hard on me- noise and lights would create almost like chaos in my head and I would have to excuse myself in order not to faint or drop. Shopping in supermarkets is a big challenge. I work sometimes with sunglasses as I feel it helps somewhat. I dont think I will ever be normal again…went to see ENT, complained about fullness in my ears and tinnitus almost all the time, disequilibrium of some kind…not sure what he’d like to do next. He did mention MAV, and gave me many articles to read. My blood work is good and I am awaiting CT scan, but he also mentioned that it should be OK- I have no other neurological symptoms of any kind- dizziness with motion and sensory disturbance of all kinds.
I started Celexa 5 days ago and am titrated on 2.5 mg only for nopw…hoping to get some effect. I simply need help and hope, then life would perfhaps get easier. Thanks, sanya

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Hi again, and just to add that I am a 51 yrs old female that just approaching menopause (last 4-5 months), so I have lots of hormonal influence too.