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Postural Blood Flow - Its All In The Ear...


ramakentesh

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It seems to be mostly my right ear where I get pain at times that literally stops me in my tracks. Frequently have eustachian tube dysfunction on that side also, sense of swelling there, frequently feel a need to try to "pop" it etc etc

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Ram - Your spot on. Was trying to find a post that you made some time ago linking "brain fog" with the inner ear. I'm going through a mini flair at the moment, and have noticed tinnitus in my left ear, pressure and that its not working as well. Chicken and egg stuff but I think low BP - reduced blood flow to brain/inner ear = Brain fog/balance problems (in my case!)

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Also I am off to see an ENT soon about occasional blood in the saliva (nice!), but he has a knowledge of POTS/EDS so i'm going to ask him all about the link. If anyone has any questions that they might want to fling at an ENT about this stuff do let me know and i'll take a list!

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Great find rama. Thanks. I have watery ear problems too but they've lessened in the last year. I "think" this was related to being allergic to my dog who had a yeast problem and cuddling with him anyway. Still tho, if I put peroxide or alcohol in them once in awhile, they feel better.

I also have paget's of the skull so

this could be pressing on my ears now too. My right eye has already been affected according to my

optomologist. I mention this because others may have this too .. anyone know a paget's specialist ?

Tc . D

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Hey Rama, great minds think alike! I did this post about a year ago. Polled on ear problems and linked to Pubmed articles explaining how the inner ears could affect circulation. There's some good specific info in these articles.

http://forums.dinet....__fromsearch__1

Based on this, I WENT to an appt. in Houston, where they actually do the research on astronaut stuff. I had my appt. with a neuro-otolaryngologist(?), a specialist in all this. I had to go through a two hour inner ear test, where I was spun around in a chair and also where the chair leans at different angles. I had the full workup. I had told the doctor I was there because of this research, and I had a long history of one ear that rings continuously and feels like a stuffy eustachian tube. I told him I quit driving because I feel the inner ear causes my eyes to not balance out. I told him I have a fine nystagmus.

You know what I found out? My tests were just fine. My interpretation? The girl doing the test didn't know what she was doing or something! If they would have at least told me just one part of the test told them something was wrong with my ear, then I would have thought it was all done correctly. But to tell me my tests are fine?? No. That tells me the "technician" interpreted something wrong. I believe after her testing, she interprets it and sends a report to the doctor. My ear has been a huge issue with me. I still think this could be a factor, but how to get a good doctor to take this seriously? I thought I was going to the best, the ones that would really understand this issue, but I think they missed something.

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YES! This keeps coming to mind for me too. So many of us have ear problems and there are several studies/articles about the link between the autonomic and vestibular systems. The vestibular system being the thing that send signals to the ANS - so if something's wrong there?? I even e-mailed the author of these studies to ask him to look at POTS and see if there might be a relationship - never heard back.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9674521

http://www.jvr-web.org/Download/Feature_15_3.pdf

http://www.pitt.edu/~byates/research-interests.html

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Naomi, I may have emailed your last article's author in the past. Of course, I never heard back either. The first article is the one I referenced last year, and really got me going on getting my appt. with the neuro-oto.

I wonder if someone here with an ear problem lives near Dr. Yates(Pittsburgh), where they can see if he is interested?

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This is so interesting. Put me on the list for motion sickness - I don't have a whole lot of pain with my ears now - but, as a child I always had trouble. Seems like I always had ear drops and cotton in my ears. I had a doctor at Mayo, have me do that hyperventilation test and it definitely brought up all the POTS issues. That was before the diagnosis of POTS. He told me I needed to learn different ways to breathe and suggested the CD by Andrew Weil called "Breathing". I don't think that would help if there are lesions in that area causing the dysfunction. What can be done for this?

Issie

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Ok,

I refused a ent appointment as all my tests seem to come back negative. I just live with constant ringing in my left ear that gets worse as the day goes on.

Has anyone actually had anything concrete found for this symptom?

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I would like to say that over the years, I have noticed that the more calcium I take in, the louder the ringing gets. I don't usually take hardly any calcium supplements, as they really bother my stomach bloating. But, on the rare times that I do, I get reminded again how it increases my ringing. I've told a few ENTs over the last 15 years, but none have anything to say about it.

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Emma - me too with constant ringing in the left ear. It's awful. And definitely when that ear feels more clogged and ringy, I'm more dizzy. I've had more ear, balance, and inner ear testing than any other kind of testing and while little things have been picked up on here and there -- no real answers. I know something is wrong with my ears, but current available testing can't pinpoint the problem. I think if a vestibular problem underlies our dysautonomia it's not a good thing because so little is known and it's hard to treat. :(

And I'll be sure NOT take calcium supplements, Sue - wonder if milk and dairy products would have the same result? Have you noticed?

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I do drink milk, as it's the only way for me to get calcium(broccoli gives too much gas). So, I don't know if the ringing would get less. I have some rice milk sitting on the shelf in my pantry. I'm waiting to switch onto that in a few weeks. I'm doing that to see if I am having any unknown reaction to dairy. BUT, then the rice milk is fortified with calcium! Just can't win.

BTW, it is my left ear that rings also.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I saw a top ENT in the uK this week with an interest in EDS.

When I am at my worst I always have tinitus, he acknowledged that low compression acts on the ear, and in turn the processing/encoding which causes tinitus and balance problems. How, they don't know as they don't understand the encoding process.

They put 100 people in a noise proof chamber, something like 20 of them still heard noise. The noise can only have been created by the brain, but they don't know how. it seems some people are more prone to this background noise. they do know these noise comes from the brain though as opposed to the hairs in the ears.

Any way - This weeks new scientist has a fascinating article on "SPACE FOG!"

Brain fog, but the astronaut space version! This caused the MIR/Space station collision a few years ago. no mention of OI as such, but vestibular problems instead which cause the fog. It extends to all sorts of problems with perception and general cognitive decline including the ability to form mental images. sounds familiar!

Here's one paper which is mentioned in the article, but i'd urge you to buy this week's New Scientist if your interested, it's eye opening

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/19750873

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YES! This keeps coming to mind for me too. So many of us have ear problems and there are several studies/articles about the link between the autonomic and vestibular systems. The vestibular system being the thing that send signals to the ANS - so if something's wrong there?? I even e-mailed the author of these studies to ask him to look at POTS and see if there might be a relationship - never heard back.

http://www.ncbi.nlm..../pubmed/9674521

http://www.jvr-web.o...eature_15_3.pdf

http://www.pitt.edu/...-interests.html

Did you get a response? I wrote Dr Yates to ask him what respiratory disturbances he had seen with it..

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