Brief Answer:
Labrynthitis vs. other metabolic problem vs. anxiety/stress

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for writing your concerns to this network and I will do my best to guide give you some guidance. In a situation such as this we should first DEFINE what is meant by "dizziness" since lightheadedness and vertigo and earache are potentially 3 completely separate processes. In my opinion, "fluid in the ears" in the absence of fever, earache, sore throat, tinnitus (ringing), and even XXXXXXX VERTIGO with or without nausea to require the use of antibiotics and especially if the examination failed to disclose any air fluid levels behind the tympanum seems like a very low probability cause to your symptoms. Having said that- perhaps Hindsight after 10 days of seeing that the antibiotic didn't work is 20/20 so we'll give the doctor his due for having made the effort. Moving forward I would not recommend that you do any further rounds of antibiotics because there are simply no data to support their use.

Labrynthitis of a viral nature though may be another possible differential diagnosis that can be very difficult to diagnose aside from vague symptoms in the head so I couldn't say that lightheadedness or dizziness couldn't be a symptom. If this were the case it is sometimes said that such a process could take up to 3 weeks to completely clear out. Frankly, I believe that diagnosis is also way overutilized for lack of anything better to tell a patient who was well one day and not the next.

I believe that in your case I would submit you for a bit of a metabolic workup with some labs and other testing as well as making sure you focused on NUTRITION, HYDRATION, and other lifestyle improvements which certainly cannot HURT though they may in the end not necessarily cure the symptoms....but worth a try. Good sleep and very importantly, CONTROLLED STRESS or at least knowing how to effectively cope with increased stress levels in one's life may be useful.

And so to that end I would have you get some preliminary labs in blood and urine and look for things in the CBC with differential that could support a diagnosis of some type of infectious process vs. metabolic (anemia, Vit. D, B12 deficiencies), or even a very subtle UTI that may not have the classic burning and painful symptoms we would be used to hearing about in a 44 year old gentleman.

If all medical tests seem to be clear and healthy I would definitely not take much more in the way of medication and think along the lines of stress, fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, and such entities which if improved could resolve the dizziness. There is also a thing called BPPV vs. ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION which I hesitated to initially mention but may be worth mentioning since 44 year old men can get this condition (though much more common in the >60 year old crowd).

In a nutshell, if your "dizziness" seems to only come on under certain circumstances such as turning or changing the position of your head, flipping over in bed, going from a standing to a lying position or vice versa.....or if when you stand up a little rapidly the world starts spinning or you feel that you're going over in one direction or the other then, you may be volume depleted and that is referred to as ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION.

These would be the several other things I would think of checking in my patient if their complaint were "dizziness" which didn't respond in 10 days to the first intention try.

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