4 replies to this topic

[Orthorexic]

Roughly two weeks ago, I cleaned out my ears under the shower with a home ear wax removal kit called Audispray, and while carefully spraying the saline solution in my ear, I suddenly became very dizzy for approximately 10-15 seconds. Because of this, I suffered a massive panic attack and ever since I'm having a feeling of slight lightheadedness, mental fatigue, difficulty concentrating and brain fog. Occasionally, it also feels as if I'm wobbling a bit when walking, but my friends and family don't notice it and they say my movement looks normal. Still, I'm extremely worried that I somehow damaged my inner ear and especially the left of my vestibular system. How likely is this if:

-According to my GP, my eardrums are completely fine. I have no pain and no ruptures or holes. She also dismissed inner ear damage, saying I probably accidentally performed a caloric reflex test on myself.
-I have no noticeable hearing loss. Did countless internet tests over the last couple days and they all come out fine. I can hear sounds up to 15kHz, which is apparently normal for my age (29).
-There is no sign of nystagmus and I can follow moving objects with my eyes fine. If I try to fixate my eyes on an object though, it's not perfect. My eyes occasionally jump (microsaccades?).
-I have little trouble standing on one leg with my eyes closed for over a minute. I do have to make some minor adjustments with my muscles to stay still, but I guess this is normal?
-I can stand on one leg pretty much indefinitely with my eyes open. On one leg, I can also bend my knee and pick something up from the ground without falling over.
-I have little trouble standing on a Kettler balance board for over a minute. Although if I try to do the same exercise with my eyes closed, I fall over very quickly.
-There's no vertigo or anything like that, just a slight feeling of lightheadedness. It's very minor, it's not as if the whole world spins around.

Since I'm somewhat of a hypochondriac and prone to panic attacks, is this just in my 'head' or should I genuinely be concerned about vestibular damage?

Edited by Orthorexic, 11 December 2012 - 01:31 PM.

[Mind]

Hmmm, I am no doctor, but I would would wait a few days yet. See if the feeling diminishes. Maybe get busy with some other tasks to take your mind off of the lightheadedness for a couple of days (I know, kind-of tough being "somewhat of a hypochondriac").

[Orthorexic]

Yeah, you are right. I shouldn't focus on my symptoms so much. I felt better yesterday already when I was busy, instead of being obsessive about my balance/tiredness. I'm close to the conclusion now that vestibular damage is very unlikely, since there's no pain, no damage to my eardrums, no hearing loss and no noticeable balance problems. I still feel a bit weird ('brain fog' and I'm tired very quickly), but that's probably a residual effect of the panic attack and subsequent stress. I also have a mild upper respiratory tract infection, which doesn't help either. Throat is painful, lots of sneezing and nose is stuffed. And even in the unlikely event that there is some vestibular damage, apparently, the brain adapts over time, so it should just go away anyway.

That said:

-Is it normal to be slightly unsteady on one leg with eyes closed?
-Is it normal for the eyes to jump occasionally when the eyes are fixated on a single point?

These still bother me...

[niner]

-Is it normal to be slightly unsteady on one leg with eyes closed?
-Is it normal for the eyes to jump occasionally when the eyes are fixated on a single point?

The first certainly is. The second might be.

[Orthorexic]

Okay, that's reassuring to hear. As for my eyes, it's not as if my eyes jump all over the place, it's just that I'm not able to focus my eyes indefinitely on a point. I notice minor jumps, maybe every 5-6 seconds. If, for example, I try the Lilac Chaser optical illusion, I can manage to make the dots disappear with ease, but they reappear briefly when my eyes jump.

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Lilac_chaser

EDIT:

Hmm, it seems that visual fixation is never perfect. According to Wikipedia:

"Visual fixation is never perfectly steady: fixational eye movement occurs involuntarily."

http://en.wikipedia....xation_(visual)

And this is from 'The Neurology of Eye Movements':

"Steady fixation may be disrupted by slow drifts, nystagmus, or involuntary saccades. Since normal subjects show miniature movements of all three types, determination of abnormal fixation behavior is sometimes dependent on statistical analysis of measured eye movements."

http://books.google.... steady&f=false

Since it's surely not nystagmus, I will just accept that these minor jumps are normal then.

Edited by Orthorexic, 12 December 2012 - 09:21 PM.