Need Some Opinions- Had Positive Vestibular Test Today

[ana_22]

Ok i need some opinions / thoughts.

i had some vestibular tests today, hearing was perfect, well all were ok except for one. i think its called the caloric test where they put hot air and cold air in your ears.

anyway the lady doing the test said that there was significant nerve damage on the left ear and that that would be making me feel unstable.

so i have a piece of the puzzle. i see my neuro in a couple of weeks so she may have more info. but what the lady said today is that damage is permanent but you can do some exercises to help retrain the brain.

now all my symptoms started together a year ago.....dizzy, nausea, tachy, no appetite, GERD, light headed, OI (without BP drop) i aslo get blood pooling in legs and arms if im standing.

so some symptoms can be attributed to the vestibular damage others cant.

so my question.....do you think my dysautonomia could be post viral, as in a virus damaged my ear and also my body? could this type of ear damage be autoimmune? or could it be pointing to other things?

this is the first test ive had that has come up abnormal!!! eveen my TTT was ok (HR only to 102) so they diagnosed pots only by symptoms.

anyway today i see my GI doc after the scope i did, hopefully everythings ok there.

just wanted to get others opinions and has anyone else had a caloric test that showed weakness?

thanks

[futurehope]

I had the caloric test (among others) done at the "Dizzy Clinic" at Hopkins back in 1996. I was dizzy all the time, and did not know I was anemic and probably prone to POTS.

My caloric test was normal, but my balance was a bit off of normal for my age when doing a "standing balance" test. (Duh! I probably had POTS for years before I knew about it.)

As to what the test shows and whether you have a permanent or temporary deficit, I think you're doctors are going to have to come up with a diagnosis. Interestingly enough, the ENT clinic at Hopkins (the "dizzy clinic"), did not even have a clue or give me any ideas about being tested for POTS, even though, in another area, Dr. Rowe works with children and POTS there.

So, not all doctors know to "look for" a diagnosis of POTS.

I hope this a one piece of the puzzle for you and ultimately helps give some answers.

[Sophia3]

My test for vertigo and other stuff were "NORMAL" but made me very ill for hours, especially the water flooded into the ears. got so sick after one ear they did not do the other and I had to lie in dark room until specialist could see me.

I was told my brainstem over reacts to visual stimuli ( I knew this but it was confirmed)

Before the specialist I was told to do brandt daroff exercises by my endocrinologist/ANS doc or somebody else...maybe this doc told me to do them as well. Made me sicker at first but helped in long run.

Not sure about your situation since you have damage...but this retrains vestibular system. DO NOTE I induced dizziness and nausea with exercises but that went away and got better. Here is one link on BPPV

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

[morgan617]

First off I applaud anyone who survives these absolutely barbaric tests! I told my ENT he was a sadist!

The damage can be caused by any number of things, autoimmune, trauma, age, there a lot of things. You may have meneire's in the left ear, which is autoimmune. many think you have to lose your hearing, but I have it in both ears and have the "vestibular" type, so have very little hearing loss.

The exercises are not fun, but are found to be helpful in most people. First thing you have to do is find out the cause. Acoustic neuromas are a fairly common cause of one sided problems. It's a very benign tumor (100% of the time) that presses on the inner ear and nerve. My guess is, your neuro may want to do a CT scan or MRI to rule that out. They are removed easily and usually completely curative.

I have a lot of symptoms with my meneire's, but I also have a lot of autonomic stuff with bp, pulse and stuff, unrelated to inner ear. I'd rather have the tumor than meneir's if the truth be known, you can cure a the tumor, the meneire's is chronic.

Good luck with your neuro visit, hope they get to the bottom of things for you sweetie! morgan

[ana_22]

thats for your input guys, it gives me something to think about before seeing the neuro so i can get some questions ready. i dont think i have meneires as i dont really get ringing or deafness.

i have alot of gi symptoms that started the same time, so im guesssing maybe a virus started all this? because yeah sure vestibular disorder can cause nausea. but how can it cause diarrhea, back pain etc?

my appt with gi doc went well. this is a new dr, as my old one left the practice. he was really good and scheduled gastric emptying study.

[ramakentesh]

My understanding - which may be limited with ear disorders - is that the type of dizziness attributed to ear disorders is related to balance and is vertigo - room spinning - rather than presyncope, lightheadedness. I know a guy with Menieres and he gets attacks of nasty vertigo even when lying in bed.

Having read some of your posts you have said things that to me would attribute most of your symptoms to OI. Im no doctor but there are certain things only a potsie would know. Could be very wrong though so interesting to see how it pans out.

BP drops arent always present in POTs - infact some specialists class people with BP drops in NMH rather than POTS.