Question: I am a 64 year old female. 5'4" , 115 lbs. I have very loud tinnitus in both ears which has slowly led to moderate hearing loss. 3 years ago, I suffered my first bout of vertigo when I sat up from a lying position on an exam table and the room spun sideways and I rolled off but was thankfully caught by a health aide. My next vertigo episode happened 2 years ago, was much more severed and lasted approx. 24 hours. I have been diagnosed with BPPV (horizontal canal), I have low or normal tension glaucoma and fairly significant visual issues which are being handled by a glaucoma specialist. I have difficulty walking in a straight line, aka, I tend to zig zag or put one foot over the other, I have moderate to severe dizziness and use a pole for walking around so as not to lose balance and fall. I've been to an ENT who performed numerous tests none of which showed anything. I have had at least 6 MRIs of my brain both with and without contrast which also turned up nothing. Also had one or two MRIs of my Cspine both with and without contrast. In 1991, I suffered a compression fracture of C-7 which causes pain a lot. Recently, I saw a neurologist who found "a long segment area of T2 hyper intensity in the spinal cord not related to compression or C-7. At first I thought he meant I had this condition in my second thoracic vertebrae but apparently that was not what he meant. He meant that the term T-2 can also be used to describe some coinciding symptom (such as water?) in the affected area. He didn't say it was water, just gave that as an example. I am due to see him Sept. 26. My biggest concern is that some of my doctors seem to think I have MS or perhaps Lupus (though I've never had the facial butterfly rash). I have since learned that MS is almost impossible to diagnose and that such a diagnosis would be more a process of elimination than anything else. Needless to say I am scared to put it mildly. This has been going on for about 3 years and I am now having panic attacks (which I had when I was much younger) but they've come back because, well, I guess I'm feeling more than a little panicky. i am not diabetic. I am on medication for high blood pressure, Xanax for panic attacks, Cymbalta for depression, Lisinopril for high cholesterol, Lumigan for glaucoma and low dose of Hydrocodone for pain along with a lot of Advil. About a month ago, I started to feel much stronger, muscle-wise, and balance-wise which I consider a blessing, God knows, but I am still in considerable pain (scale of 7 out of 10). I have no family history of any of these conditions. What I most fear is getting on some MS medical regime and then finding out that I don't have MS and have to go back to all sorts of testing. I can't begin to tell you how many blood samples I have submitted, all of which show nothing. I've been tested for Lyme which is widely rampant here in the Northeast but those tests came back negative as well. I heard someone talking about Cholesteatoma which involves a small hole in the inner ear which can induce sound or pressure induced vertigo and is very difficult to diagnose. But once it is treated, almost all vertigo, dizziness, and hearing distortion seems to go away. Have you heard of this? Some days are better than others. Other days, I'll get off the couch and practically pass out. It's altogether maddening, obviously. Do you have any ideas of what this might be or might NOT be based on what I've said? Are there any particular tests you would recommend?


I have a fairly thick packet of test results, blood results, MRI results, etc, and I think it would be quite unwieldy to download them. Some are handwritten and almost illegible. I did not receive any paperwork from the ENT which is irritating considering that my ears and perhaps inner ear are the problem but I supposed I can request a copy of his results if need be. The MRI/radiology results are practically Greek to me but maybe not to you. If you think a particular test result(s) might be helpful, I can try to dig them out and put them in a .pdf form. I also have a disc showing the actual MRI(s) or at least some of them but I am not allowed to send that considering it's worth something like $10,000 and only able to be read by specific type of machinery though I could probably find a simpler typed version of those results maybe.

I forgot to add one important symptom in my write-up. I have NYSTAGMUS in addition the rest of my symptoms.