About B. Todd Troost, MD Expertise vertigo, benign positional vertigo, BPPV, and related ailments.
Experience
Past/Present clients More than 2000 patients with vertigo.
Chairman of Neurology Department for 18 years and examiner for American Board of Neurology for over 25 years. Extensive information is provided on my commericial free website at www.ivertigo.net
Expert: B. Todd Troost, MD Date: 4/26/2004 Subject: Dizziness and Lightheadedness
Question My mother is 82-years-old and has been complaining of very severe pain in the back of her head behind one of her ears. This pain went away but she is left with a feeling of lightheadness and dizziness. She feels as if she has something in that ear; however, examinations by several ENT's have ruled out any problems with her inner ear. When she bends down, she feels as if she has high blood pressure but she has been checked and everything is normal in that regard. She only feels good when she is sitting up. Once she stands up or lies down, she is dizzy again and has a headache in the back of her head behind the ear that is bothering her. The headache is only there when she is lying down and when she gets up to walk, she feels as if she is walking sideways. When she lies down and has the headache, she feels it radiating from her neck to the back of her ear and she also feels as if she has some sort of muscle pain on that side of her face when she tries to open her mouth. She feels as if when she tries to open her mouth wide, she cannot do it (as if there is a problem with a ligament). She does not know where to turn and what doctor to see. She was hospitalized for the severe headache when she had it and had received MRI's and CAT scans and nothing was found to be abnormal. She is now trying to make a new bridge for her mouth thinking that the problem may be stemming from that area. She has been told that perhaps she has a pinched nerve but nobody seems to know where and how to treat it. It should be noted that my mother has a severe problem with sleep. She has not been able to have a successful night's sleep for a number of years and has been to a sleep disorder clinic which only seemed to help for about a month and then she went back to not being able to sleep again. She has never had a heart attack but has had coronary bypass surgery in the past and is under a cardiologist's care. There does not seem to be any problem with her heart at this time. She has recently had an examination by her cardiologist. Could this be a side effect of some medication she has been taking or could she have some sort of medical problem that nobody can seem to figure out? What type of expert should she be seeing? Please advise.
Answer Dear Ruth:
YOur mother's situation in complex, but I think she has a
significant element of positons vertigo or bppv ( beningn postional paroxysmal vertigo).
