Hi there,
I recently wrote on this forum explaining a list of symptoms I have.
To summarize, seven years ago, after going through an extremely stressful time and having a lot of anxiety, I woke up one night to a pendulum sensation in my head. It was very intense. If I could compare it to anything, I would say it was like an excruciating headache without the pain. When I went to the hospital, they diagnosed me with labyrinthitis and with two weeks of rest, I went back to “normal.” After that episode, however, I was never the same. It felt like my proprioception was off and rooms had a tilting feeling to them. I also had an internal off balance feeling and rocking sensation.
I was never diagnosed with MAV at that time as my primary care physician was aware of the pre-existing anxiety condition I had (panic attacks and GAD) and so, I went on with life thinking that all of these terrible internal movement sensations were a result of my anxiety.
After my second child, which was a year ago, I started to have panic attacks for the first time in 10 years. I felt that it was weird I couldn’t control them since I knew what panic was all about and was able to keep them under raps them since I was a teenager. I was also working full time, self-employed - with up to 12 hours a day on my laptop. My four year had just started school, and I was responsible for getting her there with the baby. For some people, this may not seem stressful, but for me, with a million things to do even for my own business, it just seemed overwhelming.
I started then complaining of headaches, and I thought they were tension headaches because I was constantly carrying around the baby. I also wasn’t sleeping at night. Some mornings I would feel like I got hit in the head by a bus. I developed total brain fog during this time with bouts of sadness but not full blown depression. The anxiety was the worst part.
Then, I started complaining of extreme light sensitivity. I thought I had “pink eye” because I would wake up with so much water in my eyes. I went to the optometrist who said I just had dry eyes.
Then started the dizzy spells. While at my office, if I leaned my head to the right to take a phone call or look down on a piece of paper, I would feel a spinning/adrenaline sensation come over me. I quickly would change position and wait for the dizziness/panic to subside. This was obviously not helping my panic attacks, either.
I went on 2.5 months thinking this was panic disorder until a visit to the chiropractor made it a lot worse. The dizzy episodes were becoming so close together.
I was finally diagnosed with BPPV at the ER. I went home and did the Epley maneuver, and the spinning went away, but I have this constant off balance, panic sensation. My eyes are super sensitive, and even though BPPV is gone (because I keep testing the Epley), I get these spinning episodes that are positional.
Tennis courts, grocery stores, just about anything seems super bright and surreal. And even though the “BPPV” was in my right ear, I have fullness in my left ear when I wake up in the morning with slight ringing. I also cannot take noise. It makes me so confused - even my children yelling and crying makes me cringe.
I have been to an ENT twice who says he can’t see anything wrong - my hearing test was normal on both occasions. The neurologist says it seems like Migraine. My only hesitation is the ear fullness and the fact that even after long periods of headached (pain) free periods, I feel totally off balance and out of sorts.
I have developed Agoraphobia because i am scared to be dizzy and be out in a public place even though this has been going on 5 months and I have managed.
The naturopath seems to think its my neck and the SCM trigger points can cause ear fullness but not BPPV.
Keep in mind, no one ever performed the Dx Hallpike. They just went on description alone. I had the classic symptoms of BPPV before, spinning would start within 10 seconds of lying down and go away within a minute.
Any suggestions? My VT says that it could just be that my brain still thinks I am dizzy but sound sensitivity does not come with BPPV to my knowledge. And, also, I did have an upper respitory illness before all of this but that wouldn’t explain the panic attacks and my ENT says not really a cause if BPPV.
Based on my symptoms it can be so many things:
MAV
GAD
BPPV
SCM trigger point
I am so lost.