Hi Anthony, Thanks for your post. It was a sarcastic smile, as I was expecting help from the doctor and left with a hole in my ear drum and no diagnosis. It was painful, but it did weirdly clear the dizziness for a few hoursā¦
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What a Shyster! Poor you!!
You should take legal advice. Thatās crazy. That level of trauma wonāt help any!
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Hi Helen,
Yes Dr Rauch did recommend the Effexor because I have PTSD and Effexor is one of the drugs proven to work very well for PTSD and MAV. Dr. Rauch said if I wanted to ākill two birds with one stoneā I should give the Effexor a trial. I want to take as few drugs as possible. So hopefully this will do it for me.
Ah I see. Well I hope youāre ok.
Donāt we all. Thatās certainly the way to go. Doctors really do seem to try to kill two birds with one stone wherever possible. Thatās why I was put on Propranolol by mine. Helen
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Yes I had that start happening to me my last year of employment but as time went on and as my stress increased that I was no longer able to hide my symptoms and was having trouble with the dizziness and my balance was off most of the time. But I could no longer manage them and I was lucky to have worked full time for four years after my head injury. But I had to finally quit my job and went on Disability until I could apply for SSD but I was turned down twice and the third time wasnt the charm. Then things got worse enough that I sought medical help and had all the testing and thatās when I finally knew I had MAV. And Post Concussive Syndrome. The symptoms are now less frequent not working but I do get some massive migraines when Iām under too much stress. I can manage things for the most part. It was when I was working full time and going back and forth to two offices. And all the pressures that I had to leave my employment. And go on temp Disability. I had no choice.
Dont despair. Your symptoms arenāt as intense but watch your stressors. Stress can bring them on more and then more difficult to manage. You are also lucky that itās not affecting your employment. So thatās great. I always had symptoms but didnt get worse until 10 years after my accident. Then with added stressors that I couldnt hide my dizziness nor my walking unsteadily and started to fall more on the job. And had more head pain. I had my own office so most of the time just stayed in and kept the door closed. To hide away from my coworkers. No one suspected anything except toward the end. My clients knew I had problems and then when it started affecting my work and having more attention problems and fuzziness and not being patient anymore that I could no longer work as a Counselor. That was it for me and resigned. Iām a caregiver for my aging father who has Dementia and that has been challenging for me this past year bringing out more symptoms. As I get toward the end with him declining my migraines have increased and having more dizziness. So Iām convinced that my elevation with stress has increased the frequency and magnitude of my symptoms.
I am glad that you have joined the group. Everyone very caring and supportive. It is the only support group I have at this time. But Iām limited and need to get whatever support I can. Welcome to the group. And good luck with managing things while having MAV.
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Hi Kris - ouch, that doesnāt sound very good - some Neuro-otologist!
I already have a perforated ear drum - not sure how I got mine much to Dr Sās , and my GPās consternation. They seem to think I should know - I used to get a lot of ear and throat infections as a child so blame that.
Interesting that your Neuro states that you canāt have MAV because you are not visual dominant - I havenāt heard that before, but I think I must be visually dominant as when this is at itās worst I struggle with strong patterns. Plus, like @Onandon03 I can read a book in one evening as I am a fast reader - always have been. I am not sure I always take in all the finer detail of what I am reading though.
Dr S did say that if you canāt read as a passenger in a car without getting travel sick you are more likely to be a MAV candidate and the stakes are raised if anyone in the family gets migraine - I tick both boxes! There are lots of things like that which all add up, but we all seem to be different, so I am puzzled by your neuroās statement about visual dominance. Jan 
Update: Told the doc who thought I might have MAV to give me some MAV medication. The request was declined due to my symptoms and history being non-classic of MAV.
Now they will do an ear MRI to look for hydrops. I was a bit surprised as I am lacking two key meniereās symptoms being: hearing loss and spinning vertigo attacks. I do however have ear fullness and tinnitus. This is so confusing and making me sick with worryā¦
Kris,
This is an area of controversy.
I had classic MAV symptoms but I have also been diagnosed with Hydrops by two of the four doctors I have seen.
We are still early in the science of MAV and my hunch is that many if not all MAVers have a degree of hydrops. How this comes about is unknown for many, but for trauma (e.g whiplash, head injury, direct ear injury) it is relatively obvious.
One thing to put your mind at rest: having Hydrops is not an automatic link to Meniereās. Some people with Meniereās have Hydrops and vice versa.
Hydrops is probably at least an order of magnitiude more common than Meniereās
Itās very important to mention that Hydrops is reversible. Once you work out why you have it, and treat that, it is supposed to go away slowly. It āburns outā, so to speak. That is my experience so far.
It is quite amazing the level of ignorance out there wrt to Hydrops. So few doctors seem to understand what it is and its relationship to other conditions.
Note it is extremely hard to diagnose mild hydrops. The most obvious clue is persistent tinnitus (indicating pressure in the inner ear). Current day clinical MRI may not pick up mild cases of hydrops.
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Donāt get worried. Nothing to worry about just be very pleased somebody is prepared to investigate. Getting correct diagnosis leads to correct treatment and increased chance of control. Just go for it. Quick before they change their minds. Helen
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Hi Kris
I have been diagnosed with MAV, in the beginning it was so bad with rotatory vertigo, and then scaled back a bit to constant dizziness, disequilibrium, visual vertigo. Whilst I was not bed ridden and I pushed myself to go to work, it was absolutely awful and very very difficult. I have found relief and hope with Amitriptiline, itās a wonder drug for me. So it is certainly possibly although you arenāt bedridden that you have MAV, I think without the Ami I could have gone on suffering indefinitely. Im getting better and better after nearly 2 years. May your dizziness be defeated!
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