posted
I am still wondering if my ear issues are related to lyme or not...they were one of my first symptoms and have not really improved since starting ABX 2 months ago.
I have a fullness and ringing in my right ear. I hear a constant plusing noise too. I occasionally get shooting pain in my ear as well as pain around the ear. I've had dizziness and vertigo in the past but seem to have compensated for that. I also have a hearing loss and some fluctuation in my hearing too. I also get a soreness on my neck as well as a popping sound in my neck on that side too.
I just don't know how this is all related to lyme... sometimes i suspect some inner ear problem but my ears have been checked out pretty good by an ENT. My ENT did suspect Meiniers and I know Lymies are often diagnosed with Meinier's.
Does anyone have any theories on lyme and ears?
Thanks in Advance, Christine
Posts: 127 | From Toronto, Ontario Canada | Registered: Nov 2007
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Tinnitus / hearing problems are no fun. For some, like me, it took a journey to figure out my particular causes of tinnitus.
Good treatment for Lyme cures it, to the extent that it's caused by Lyme. But you have to wonder what else it could be, and it could be many things.
Two months of antibiotics isn't really long enough to get rid of tinnitus and hearing problems, that is, if you start treatment from having chronic Lyme.
It often turns out to be work, to figure it out. Zithro can cause it. But there are MANY things and it can be a combination of disease, musculoskeletal problems and other conditions.
It's usually metabolic mayhem. Sometimes it's a mechanical problem.
posted
Jemsek Specialty Clinic J-Letter April 2008
EXCERPT: "Clinical Pearls" in Lyme Borreliosis Complex 'The sore throat that is not a sore throat' - What is Carotidynia? Frequently our patients describe sore throats as part of their recurring symptom complex. Often, when specifically asked, the patients note that ear pain accompanies the throat pain, but the patients often state that their primary physician can find no reason for their discomfort. In fact, on examination, there is no sign of inflammation of the throat or ear.
The condition 'carotidynia' is little known but is, in fact, common. On careful examination, one can easily detect swelling and pain at the carotid bulb, which is located just lateral to the top of the thyroid cartilage (Adam's Apple) and is the location at which the internal and external carotid arteries separate, or bifurcate.
Our theory is that this is yet another sign of inflammatory neurological disease associated with LBC, since the carotid bulb is known to be a baroreceptor, which means it plays a prominent role in monitoring blood pressure. As such, it is loaded with nerve fibers, some of which mediate pain. Since the fibers at the bulb lie in proximity to the throat and may radiate to the ear area, our patients complain of 'sore throat and earache', when in fact the throat and ear pain arise from an inflamed carotid bulb. The mediation of this pain is most likely from the Nerve of Hering, a branch of the 9th cranial nerve (glossopharyngeal nerve), and/or a branch of the superior cervical sympathetic chain.
Posts: 789 | From CT, | Registered: Jun 2006
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Cass A
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11134
posted
I had severe tinnitus--like a washing machine going in one ear--start up overnight about 4 years ago. That was the symptom that led me to Lyme and co-infections.
Tinnitus is a Lyme symptom, but is also on co-infections lists. It is also a hypothyroid symptom (something you can check for regarding that is to take your temperature. Look up Wilson's Thyroid Syndrome or Wilson's Temperature Syndrome on the internet for more data) Tinnitus can be caused by ototoxic drugs (a search for "ototoxic" here at Lymenet will get lots of data).
Also, use the Lymenet search feature on "hearing" and "tinnitus." There have been many, many posts about these issues.
Tinnitus is one of the problems that the Marshall Protocol seems to handle...eventually.
Mine has been getting less recently with treatment for Babesia and taking lumbrokinase, which gets fibrin out of the tiny capillaries.
Best,
Cass A
Posts: 1245 | From Thousand Oaks, CA | Registered: Feb 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
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Here are lots of links from my research over the years. Hope you can find what you need to calm down the tinnitus.
Magnesium may be of help.
--
VESTIBULAR LINKS
PubMed has medical abstracts from around the world.
(if your own voice is way too loud to you, crunching a carrot is like a cannon being shot in your head, etc.) Bouncy eyes and Tulio (noise triggers nausea) . . .
This is beyond hyperacusis, but can certainly include outside of head sounds, too.
====================== THE AMERICAN SPEECH-LANGUAGE-HEARING ASSOCIATION (ASHA) . . . is the professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 127,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists
OTOTOXIC DRUGS: BACKGROUND AND GENERAL INFORMATION
My original page on ototoxic drugs addressed only NSAIDs, and I put it in question and answer format. Gradually I've added sections on other drugs, ...
21st Century Veterans Health: Hearing Impairment, Audiology, Ototoxic and Noise-induced Hearing Loss, Veterans Administration Independent Study Course (Ring-bound) by U.S. Government (Ring-bound - Mar 3, 2007)
posted
Nor has tinnitus stopped for me. I have been off antibiotics for 2 years, and it is still present.
I think I have learned to live with it....at times, I don't hear it at all except when I stop to see if it is there, yes, it is. But maybe not as loud. At first, it absolutely consumed me.
The neuro-ophtamologist (sp) I went to said she believed it could be caused by antiobiotics. However, and this was nice to hear, she was NOT discounting the lyme bacteria from causing it. She just could not blame lyme as we don't have lyme in BC!
Posts: 190 | From BC Canada | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
two ruptured eardums and severe vertigo were my first major presenting problems with Lyme. Yes they are caused by the Lyme in my case, and it is common. You can go to all of the ENTs in the world, but my feeling is that it will be a waste of your time.
My first ENT told me " the only way to know if you have an inner ear infection is by doing an autopsy".
I then proceded to go to countless of ENTs who diagnosed "meniere's" etc. But what was the point? The "meniere's" was caused hby a chronic infection in my inner ear.
I still battle with ear problems, but nothing like the past. it goes away with treatment but takes a long time. The inner ear is a hard place for the abx to penetrate.
Just be patient if you can. and it will get better, as long as you are unnder the care of a good Lyme literate doctor.
Posts: 589 | From Rhode Island | Registered: Jun 2006
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daise
Unregistered
posted
I found that I had to be like a detective, to figure-out what caused the dang ringing.
In the process, it turns out, that my overall condition improved, because by tracking down causes of tinnitus, I discovered out of the ordinary musculoskeletal stuff that HAD to be dealt with if I were ever to get on the other side of tinnitus and Lyme/bart/babs.
Go ahead ... dig into keeblers good help and my journey, and consider how things might affect you, with what you know about yourself!
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