Question:
my GP put me on 60 mg of prednisone for 5 days and all symptoms,
except the tinnitus, did improve. Well, the pred dose ended over the
weekend and today I'm miserable....extreme dizziness, ear pain, feeling of
fullness in the ear. My vision is even blurred...I'm sure from the
dizziness, at least I think that's why.
I asked the audiologist if this could be Menier's, but she didn't think
so....she said Menier's causes hearing loss in the lower frequencies....my
loss is in the higher frequencies.
BTW, this all started in November when I suddenly had a clogged ear, which I
assumed was due to wax buildup. After about a week, I went to my GP and he
said I had an ear infection....he could see fluid. He put me on
antibiotics, which didn't even phase the problem.
Answer:
its probably got more to do with your RA as there is a joint in there that
can be affected by the RA. Go see your RD because if the prednisone helped
it is more then likely RA related. Or as you said autoimmune related. My mum
has RA (30 years) and so do I(2 years) but she gets awful problems in here
ear and its due to the RA.
It could be that you have several problems which act both independently and
together to cause these problems. Unfortunately, when you have several
problems, each of which might be intermittent, proper diagnosis is difficult.
It often helps to have your GP send you to whichever specialists he/she thinks
MIGHT be able to help and to have all of the doctors discuss the results with
each other.
As Susan pointed out, it could be RA affecting the bones in the middle ear.
You could also have possible nerve damage from earlier events, as well as a
sinus infection, etc.
I was exposed to very loud noises in the service, and have a hearing loss
(different frequencies and amounts in each ear) and have intermittent bouts of
tinitus. I also have allergies, which sometimes cause sinus congestion and a
feeling of "hearing things through cotton".
A few times, I have had a side effect from a medicine which has caused
dizziness and hearing anomalies (hollowness, high pitched whine, etc.)
The problem with diagnosing intermittent problems is they don't always act up
when you are being tested, so the doctors don't see them.
It might help to keep a "diary of problems" listing each problem, when it
happened in relation to other events, how long it lasted, etc.
I sincerely hope that your doctors can figure it out and give you some (or
complete) relief.
