About Eric P. Wilkinson, MD Expertise I am a board-certified otolaryngologist with additional subspecialty training in otology, neurotology, and skull base surgery. This is the subspecialty of otolaryngology that involves the ear, hearing, balance organs, the facial nerve, and surgery of the skull base including surgery for acoustic neuroma and other benign and malignant tumors of the base of the skull.
Experience Medical school, residency in otolaryngology, fellowship in otology/neurotology/skull base surgery
Organizations American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
North American Skull Base Society
American Neurotology Society
Publications Laryngoscope
Otology and Neurotology
Education/Credentials MD Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 2001 Otolaryngology Residency, University of Iowa Department of Otolaryngology, Iowa City, IA Otology/Neurotology Fellowship, House Ear Clinic, Los Angeles, CA
Question QUESTION: I hope you can help me. I am a 33 year old female who has been experiencing ringing in my ears and then I'll get real dizzy, now I've never passed out but I feel like I could. Then shortly after that I get a terrible headache. Now I do get migraines at times, but these headaches aren't migraines, they're not that bad, they're bad, but not quite as bad as my migraines. I can't understand why I've been getting like this. A couple months back, I went to the E N T complaining that my right ear was muffled and there was fluid coming out. But the E N T gave me Nasanex Nasal Spray and Allegra D, but that didn't really seem to help. Would you have any ideas what to do next? I had a CT Scan for the headaches but nothing showed up, but this ringing in the ears and feeling dizzy just started about a month or so ago. Where do you suggest I go next? Please help, I have 2 small children and I can't keep feeling like this. Thank You,
ANSWER: How long do your dizzy spells last? Do you have the ringing sound in the right ear?
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QUESTION: I answered your questions that you asked me about how long my dizzy spells last, and is the ringing in my right ear, and then I waited 3 days for a response, when you gave me my response for this, all you told me was that you already answered my questions, and you haven't answered anything. All you did was ask me 2 questions, but you never told me what it could be or where to even go next. I am at my wits end, and not sure what to do next. I think this was very rude and unprofessional. The answeres again to the questions that you asked were my dizzy spells don't last very long, 2 to 3 minutes at the most, but then shortly after, I get these terrible headaches. I also get Ocular Migraines, where I lose vision in my right eye, it's never my left eye. Do you think that the 2 could be connected somehow? And I can't really tell which ear the ringing is coming from, but I do have problems with my right ear, that is the ear that is always muffled, and I also have fluid in this ear.
Answer I thought I answered your question previously; I must have confused it with another question.
Your dizziness certainly could be migraine-associated vertigo. This is a disease that has become much more understood in the past several years, and does not necessarily have to be associated with headache.
You may need: 1) an MRI to rule out a problem with your balance nerve; 2) an audiogram if you have not had one previously to make sure that you do not have a unilateral hearing loss. If those are negative, you may want to ask for a trial of migraine preventative medication; common agents are nortryptyline, amitryptyline, and calcium channel blockers such as nifedipine.
The muffled sound in your right ear could indicate a hydrops condition, but if your hearing test did not show a low-frequency conductive hearing loss, it may be less likely.
You may want to consult with an ear specialist to put all of these things together and come up with a treatment plan.
