Has anyone heard of this medical condition?

Question

I need some help with a medical problem. Doctors can't seem to find a problem, so maybe someone out there can recognize the symptoms. I'll start from the beginning.

I'm a 27-year-old male. About two years ago I started to get vertigo. It would last for a day or a few hours. It would happen every few weeks or so for about a year. It would happen when I was outside working. If felt like the world was spinning, just like the feeling of being on a carnival spinning ride.

6 months go by with no more symptoms.

On News Years of this year I drink and smoke. I wake the next day with my left ear almost deaf and the vertigo is so bad I can't get out of bed for 3 days. I go to the doctor and she gives me congestion medicine. It does nothing. The vertigo calms down after about a week, however the hearing loss is still there. I can barely hear out of my left ear.

5 months go by and I still can barely hear out of my left ear. About every month or so, during these 5 months, I get another vertigo attack. When I have vertigo, the hearing loss gets worse. This will usually last about a day. Then I feel normal except for the hearing loss.

About a week ago I had another vertigo attack and of course my hearing got worse during the vertigo. This time it lasted about a week. I could barely walk the first couple of days. I went to an ENT specialist who did a MRI scan. The ENT found nothing and said everything looks fine and sometimes nerves just go bad. Yes, that's all he said (actually, he had his nurse call and that's what she said when the MRI results came in). He didn't say anything about another test or even a hearing aid. So I'm stuck back at square one with a doctor who doesn't want to help. That makes 3 doctors who have no idea what's wrong.

Recap:
Hearing loss all the time.
Vertigo comes and goes.
When the vertigo comes my left ear goes deafer.
Vertigo sometimes comes when I drink, smoke or work outside.

I hope these symptoms sound familiar to someone out there.

Please excuse the bad grammar and thanks in advance.

Answer 1

From the history u have given doesn't seem u have ear infection or cervical problem your doc must have ruled it ou,the MRI has ruled out any tumor:

History isn't clearly suggestive of BPPV-benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.To find out visit this site

http://www.tchain.com/otoneurology/disorders/bppv/bppv.html

Seems like u've got MENIERE'S DISEASE...disease of the inner ear.for details,visit:

http://oto.wustl.edu/men/mn1.htm

.unfortunately has no cure..but u have known risk factors-alcohol and tobacco.Caffiene and too much salt also precipitates attacks.

Alcohol and tobacco produce many horrible synergisms n you are showing 2 of them:

1-Vertebrobasilar insufficiency- causing vertigo.
2-Ototoxicity- causing hearing loss., or
simply meniere's where these aren't the cause but precipitating factors.

Incase u are thinking why did u get these n why not other who also smoke.Answer is genetic susceptibility n u happen to have it i guess.

If u wanna treat your problems and many many others (all sorts of cancers,liver disease,heart disease etc) u must quit these two.Remember its not u who's smoking the cigarette but the cigarette is smoking u n alcohol is drinking u .

Answer 2

I am going through the same thing..(hence the name dizzychick) .been 3 years now...had to quit my job it got so bad...It could be something called Meneire's disease...Which if you check out all the sites..there is no cure.....BUT i don't take no for a reason....I would go see a naturopath or homeopathic doctor...they can help....There is an imbalance in your body somewhere that is causing this...medical doctors do not help with everything. If they can't match a med to a symptom...they just say "live with it"...but how can you live with vertigo????...Please check out the Marshall Protocol(www.marshallprotocol.com)..I am on this now, and am 85% better after 7 months...there is a lot to read on this site, but take time to read it...a lot of chronic problems are caused by bacteria in your body, that doctors just can't find on normal blood tests...I had 2 MRI, ct scan saw ENT,neurologist, blood tests galore...and they came up with nothing..I had my vit d tests done...which proved I had an overload of bacteria......now I am on the Mprotocol...and getting better...Take care Sandra

Answer 3

I'm glad that your MRI was normal, because I was thinking of an acoustic neuroma or other tumor causing this condition.

I think the two commonest conditions causing your symptoms are Benign Positional Paroxysmal Vertigo and Meniere's disease. With the hearing loss, I would tend toward the latter. Perhaps you can search out more information on these two disorders.

Your ENT left you in a lurch, perhaps unintentionally. I would insist on talking to him or her personally. There are ENTs who further specialize in otology, just ear diseases. Perhaps you need to consult one. And yes, any doctor you consult should aggressively address your hearing loss. Good luck.

Answer 4

go to an audiologist or an ENT. it sounds like maybe your left ear just isn't draining properly and getting infected. I know if my ears don't drain or pop i get vertigo and you can't hear properly. But see an Ear nose and throat guy. a normal GP can't help you. even if they wanted too.

Answer 5

Impaired hearing or partial deafness. With tinnitus, there is nearly always a noise of some definition or other in ones ears and this affects the hearing even if there little or no noise.