Permanent ear fullness and VNG test
JayDee
crazy for years now.
I don't really have tinnitus, but i do have an extraordinarily
annoying problem with my left ear going on three years now, and that
is a CONSTANT fullness in my left ear that NEVER gets better. Really,
in three years i have not had five minutes of my ear not feeling
congested at all. During the first 1-1.5 years, i had an occasional
feeling of being pulled in one direction but that has resolved since,
and now it really is just the fullness feeling that remains. That and
my left nostril is always stuffed. The fullness seems to get worse if
I play around with the muscles under my ear (weird, huh?) and
sometimes the right ear gets the fullness, but much less and it
actually does go away.
The unbelievable ENT adventure:
I've been to several ENT's since.
1) A doc that was supposed to a be a specialist in balance disorders.
I saw this guy while i was still getting that feeling of being pulled
to the left. The result of my VNG showed a 60% decrease in vestibular
response on the left side, and slight 10% low-frequency range
conductive hearing loss on the left side. He diagnosed me with
Menieres and i tried the dyazide for a few months, to no avail. I also
had a VEMP test which was normal
2) second doc I saw diagnosed me rather quickly with called cochlear
hydrops which is apparently like menieres, but with more vertigo - I
didn't have any vertigo.... never have.
3) a chiropractor who thought i might have tmj causing the problem
with my ear because my jaw was hurting occasionally and because the
muscles below my ear seem to irritate the problem. tried to treat the
tmj by sticking his finger in my mouth and manipulating muscles back
there. Didn't help at all
4) The 4th place I went to (House Ear Clinic in LA, supposedly one of
the best places for ear stuff) diagnosed me with a fistula of the semi-
circular canal on the left side. The CT scan revealed no fistula and
the doctor's recommendation was to get exploratory brain surgery!!!
She was THAT sure it was a fistula that she didn't want to try
anything less invasive first. According to the radiologist, it's very
unlikely to get a fistula in a place that cannot be seen by CT.
5) A fifth ENT said that the Audio Test was not consistent with
menieres and since i don't have any "attacks" of vertigo, that's
unlikely.
I was recently reading about Patulous Eustachian Tube Dysfunction and
wondered if I may have that. I made another appt with a sixth ENT but
i'm afraid he'll diagnose me with some other inner ear thing based
solely on the VNG despite my other symptoms.
TWO QUESTIONS:
1) can a eustachian tube problem cause a fullness sensation in my ear
that NEVER EVER goes away even for a few minutes? Valsalva move
doesn't cause any crackling at all in my ear but sometimes things will
sound differently..
2) can a eustacian tube problem cause an abnormal result on a VNG like
I had?
Anything anyone can recommend would be very much appreciated! I just
feel like with my ear being affected by the muscles around it and
valsalva changing the way i hear in the left ear combined indicate a
problem that isn't simply inner ear. The fullness also occasionally
occurs in the right ear if i hold a phone up to it or something.
What's a good next step?? Thank you so much for reading this all!