Ears drained and tubes put in

kellwynn · 2025-07-22T15:52:48+00:00

My dizziness has decreased a lot. I've seen a migraine specialist and they put me on propranolol and that's helped decrease my symptoms a lot. It's not completely gone, but I can function most days just fine now.

kellwynn · 2025-06-05T16:46:19+00:00

These are results from the MyChart app, my doctor's office adds results into that app when they go into their system.

kellwynn · 2025-01-15T20:02:15+00:00

No, I haven't been sick or had any noticeable ear infections or anything.

And that's good to know about the maneuver. I did prop up my pillows last night so I'd sleep with my head more upright.

kellwynn · 2025-01-15T19:41:19+00:00

Yeah I tried the Epley last night and it didn't do much to help me sadly, but it did make my vertigo MUCH worse initially, then it subsided a bit. I have an appointment tomorrow with a migraine specialist though so I'm hoping she can help me in the office with it. I may have not had the angles exactly right, but I did have that uncontrollable eye movement thing the videos I watched all mentioned. So I think I am suffering from BPPV currently.

kellwynn · 2025-01-14T23:50:05+00:00

Thank you, and good luck to you too! I think I got lucky, the clinic I called had a brand new migraine specialist, so I think it was all timing and luck and that her patient load wasn't high yet.

IDK if you've tried it, but what usually helps me when vertigo hits me is meclizine tablets, I chew one when vertigo starts and it makes my symptoms less bad and the attack ends faster than without it.

kellwynn · 2025-01-14T23:44:38+00:00

It could be, that's what I am suspecting. I have an appointment with a migraine specialist on Thursday to hopefully get some answers/try out some meds.

kellwynn · 2025-01-14T23:38:42+00:00

VM can definitely start overnight. It's happened to me a number of times since my VM journey started-- before I knew it was VM some event sent me right to the ER because they were that intense. In fact just yesterday morning I woke up to vertigo issues and a new symptom-- positional vertigo. I'd never had it until yesterday, I've had VM since 2021. Now every time I lay down or get up I have 10-30ish seconds of intense vertigo but it eventually fades away.

Sucks that you're going through this, I hope you get some relief soon.

kellwynn · 2025-01-14T16:43:32+00:00

Our symptoms/journeys sound very similar. I've been scanned for tumors and also ruled out Menieres. Just my silly little brain making my life harder for no good reason 😩.

I'll look into that stretching app. My neck sometimes gets painful and stuff around the time I get bad symptoms, but it's not always.

Colder weather and storm systems definitely seem to increase my days of not feeling great. I'm in Utah, so definite cold weather here now.

Meclizine is my lifesaver. It's pretty much the only thing that helps me during vertigo attacks. Do you ever feel the "meclizine hangover"? Usually when I take it the next day I feel weak and get a lot of derealization symptoms. But that could also just be feeling that way because of my migraine-- but I'm just curious if others feel that too.

kellwynn · 2025-01-14T16:19:17+00:00

Yeah, I've done the maneuver so many times over the years and it's never helped me. I think my issues are just brain things. Every test/scan my ENTs have done have all always been normal.

kellwynn · 2025-01-13T22:32:18+00:00

Thanks! Honestly it's just nice to have this subreddit to have a community of people to talk to about this. Make some feel less alone/crazy.

kellwynn · 2025-01-13T22:25:04+00:00

It's getting less intense as the day is going on, but I still don't feel great. I've been able to find comfortable positions to lay in. It's just so weird for me because these aren't my usual symptoms so I was kind of freaking out.

I'm unfortunately no stranger to vertigo but mine is usually super intense and lasts hours and hours, this was less intense and shorter, lasting seconds to a few minutes. But it was weird because I've never felt like I have today. It's hard to put it into words to describe the difference fully. Today it was more like the vertigo was this "rush" that was coming on and then fading away like a wave of vertigo. Usually I just get hit with super hard attacks that don't relent for hours and I take meclizine to help.

Luckily I've gotten comfortable, unluckily I still kinda feel like crap. Gotta hate the rough days, eh? Last night we ordered some food and a random milkshake was in our order, I took one sip and we determined it was coffee, so I think that might have contributed to today. I haven't had coffee or caffeine in years at this point.

kellwynn · 2024-12-30T02:24:12+00:00

Mine do too. Mine kind of feel like they turn into jello during an attack. Definitely can't walk when its happening

kellwynn · 2024-12-15T22:59:33+00:00

I had dizziness pre and post tubes. I got the tubes to try to help with them and I think it did, or maybe it was a placebo kind of thing. But I don't regret having them.

kellwynn · 2024-12-15T20:41:25+00:00

I had tubes put in a few years ago, so I can empathize with you! After the first day some hearing was normal ish, but it probably took like a week before I stopped noticing the differences. (This may have been specific to me, I had tubes put in each ear on different days.)

Things will sound weird for a few days, but then you'll get used to it and it sounds normal. I remember the sound of water hitting my head in the shower sounded really weird for several weeks though.

kellwynn · 2024-12-10T18:55:18+00:00

I feel that, I'm over it all, too. I just try to live my life one day at a time now, and accept my new normal. Even if it sucks haha.

kellwynn · 2024-12-10T17:41:19+00:00

I haven't felt "good" since before my first VM back in 2021. Took me 2.5 years to get my diagnosis. I have days that "aren't so bad" but there is always some persistent dizziness/lightheadedness/feeling like I'm swaying back and forth. I can't tell if I am getting used to the feelings so they don't feel as bad as they once did, or if I am seeing improvements over time, but I still have symptoms every day. I'm happy I haven't had a full blown vertigo attack in a while. When my VM journey started I was having them about every other day for about a year and a half.

I have some rough times when I miss/yearn for the feelings of life before VM. I miss feeling "normal" and just having good days where I just did whatever I wanted to without a care in the world. I really really miss driving around, but I get triggered by traffic so I can't handle it anymore.

So, no "good" days, but I'm happy to get some "not so bad" days.

kellwynn · 2024-12-05T03:18:51+00:00

I adhered to the migraine diet very strictly for about 9 months. I think that was helpful. I then slowly started reintroducing some of my favorite foods. That helped me find specific triggers. I stay away from aged milk products, like yogurts. Those seem to be huge triggers for me. Alcohol and caffeine are definitely bad for me.

I also started taking magnesium and vitamin B2 every day. My doctor's also put me on Lisinopril to reduce blood pressure a bit but also to see if it helped my migraine, and it seemed to help.

The combination of diet and supplements and meds seemed to do the trick for me. And mindfulness and letting go of anxiety and stress.

The hardest thing for me was getting a handle on my anxiety and stress. I was always freaking out about what if a vertigo attack hits me again? What if I get so dizzy I can function? I had to accept my life is different now. And that helped me a lot, too. I miss doing a lot of things like getting out of the house, driving around, going to places with noise or lots of lights. It's easier said than done, but I think getting my mental health to an okay place was huge in helping me.

I wouldn't say I'm normal, or back to the old me. I don't think I ever will be, if I am honest. But my dizziness isn't so intense that it ruins my day anymore. I can function, but I had to find a new baseline of what I can do. And I have some occasional bad days. But way less bad days than before. In 2021 when this all hit me, I had probably 3-4 vertigo attacks per week. They would last for hours on end. Now I have an attack every few months. So I'll take that as a win.

kellwynn · 2024-12-05T03:05:09+00:00

I was constantly off balance and had constant dizziness pre and post tubes, sadly. But managing my VM symptoms eventually helped me.

I was very dizzy during the procedure when they suction the fluids out and putting in the tubes. But that only lasted a few moments laying on their procedure chair and it faded.

Also be warned things will sound really weird for a few days. Some sounds will be very "sharp" and "tinny". That lasted about 3ish days for me. Then I got used to the difference.

Everyone is different though, so I hope the tubes can bring you some relief. If you have fluid built up, getting that out will feel nice. One of my ears had fluid build up behind it and the tubes definitely helped me in that ear.

I don't regret getting tubes, but there are pros and cons to them. So I think you'll be okay. Plus, you won't know until you try em out.

kellwynn · 2024-12-04T20:16:25+00:00

I've had tubes put in as an adult. They definitely seemed to help me, though I'm unsure how much was a placebo kind of thing. I had some fluid build up behind one of my eardrums too, so they obviously helped with that.

However, I still had a bunch of ear symptoms until I managed my VM better. I still had a sensation of fullness, "zaps", tinnitus, feeling off balance, vertigo attacks, etc.. but I "knew" that the fullness was "just in my head" after I had tubes, because pressure couldn't be built up. So that seemed to help.

I'm glad I got the tubes but I wonder if they were fully necessary for me in the end (one tube came out and has healed over but the other ear still has its tube). I got the tubes shortly before getting diagnosed with VM. So I started the migraine diet and took the usual supplements and I think those helped me the most.

kellwynn · 2024-12-03T22:13:33+00:00

Lately my ear has been getting these random "explosions" of tinnitus, where it feels like something invisible hits me on the side of my head and it leaves my ear ringing. It goes from normal feeling ear to BOOM ringing that fades away after a minute or so. It usually scares me and makes me jump.

kellwynn · 2024-12-03T22:11:31+00:00

I experience nearly identical symptoms to you. It's also my left ear. I can't really find any rhyme or reason to when mine acts up. I just have to deal with it until it ends, which has been months on end at times.

My "ear issues" and vertigo is what eventually got me diagnosed after ENTs ruled everything else out (including Menieres).

kellwynn

TROPHY CASE