Wondering what is wrong with my wife?

[chrisinhouston]

Weird weekend, my wife had taken ill in an unusual way. We had volunteered to spend the weekend nearby at our son's home as he and his wife were attending a 2 day event so we arrived Friday night to look after the 5 grandkids. My wife said she had an ongoing headache all day which is not like her. When we got up on Saturday she said she felt so dizzy like the world was spinning. She said it was like the few times she's had way too much to drink and everything is floating. It seemed to make her nauseous, not like a tummy upset but more like you get if you get dizzy on a roller coaster or something. Didn't get any better during the day and we mostly stayed inside with the grand kids doing things. I finally took her to an urgent care clinic as it was a Saturday and we don't have a family GP anymore. The doctor was very thorough in his exam testing all kinds of reflexes and neuromuscular reactions and finally had a radiologist do a CT Scan which seemed to show everything okay as far as he and the radiologist could see; no sign of stroke.

Her bp was high but that may have been from feeling so sick but he prescribed a bp pill to be taken after checking her bp each morning, a antinasuea drug, baby aspirin and something for dizziness.

So, she slept well last night but is still dizzy this morning upon getting and moving about. Feels a slight discomfort in her left ear but no major pain. I'm thinking she may need to see an ENT for an inner ear inspection as this seems to be the only thing that seems logical for such a problem with equilibrium.

[Griff]

You've mentioned the two things that come directly to mind stroke or inner ear problem. They were confident in their reading of the CT imaging?

[Undertoad]

Best wishes Chris - I feel like this is that rare occasion where I don't feel entitled to talk about something I don't understand. But hoping it's something minor.

[zippyt]

This may sound weird but get her eyes checked , migrains are pressure on the optic nerve , i found that if i dont keep with my sinus meds i get WAY cranky , and have to sit down every now and then because i get a bit light headed ( vision gets spinnyish ) , thats just me , and im a weird puppy

[sexobon]

dehydration
bladder infection
toxemia - food poisoning, heavy metals
side effects - new meds/supplements (Rx/OTC), dosage changes
hypoglycemia
anemia
postural hypotension
inner ear/sinus - infection, Meniere's Disease
The list goes on and on ...

Though it may take awhile, they can usually figure it out. The good news is that you can probably rule out pregnancy and Bieber Fever! Good luck.

[Clodfobble]

With the mild ear pain, I would guess inner ear infection is most likely. I've had them a couple times, and they don't really hurt a ton like the more common middle ear infections, but they made me so dizzy I couldn't stand up.

You can't see the inner ear very easily, though. If they suspect an inner ear infection, a doctor is more likely to just prescribe an antibiotic and see if it works.

[limegreenc]

Sounds like vertigo. I mentioned this in an earlier thread. Woke up/jumped out of bed too fast and couldn't get my balance. Felt like my head was turning to the left and my body followed. Fell on the floor. Very scary feeling to lose control of one's body. Went to the clinic-my husband basically carried me-and they gave me Gravol. A week later, no better so I went to emerg and was told that inside our ears is a little bubble of water, and if it gets disturbed/or water from the shower gets in the ear canal, you can get vertigo. Took antibiotics (Biaxin) and with the gravol was better in about a week.

[ZenGum]

My first thoughts were stroke and ear infection,and I'm glad the first is rueld out and the second under investigation.

There is also benign paroxysmal positional vertigo or BPPV.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benign...tional_vertigo

However this seems to be triggered by moving the head relative to gravity, and makes no link to headaches, so, maybe not.

[Gravdigr]

...five grandkids...

Well, there's yer prollum, right there...

...hope she's better.

[chrisinhouston]

Thanks for the comments. We have an appointment with my EMT tomorrow and she is feeling no worse but no better today. I guess they might do an MRI to be sure of no stroke but she has no other symptoms like distressed neuro-muscular or imparied speech or numbness, etc.

I'll post back the results of the next doctor's visit.

[Chocolatl]

I had an inner ear infection in high school that made me miserably dizzy and nauseous. It started as a fierce headache, which I initially thought was due to hairspray fumes -- it was Wacky Hair day for our school spirit week. As the day progressed, I got more and more dizzy and finally my teachers sent me home. I had to ride to the doctor's office on my side because I was too dizzy to even sit up straight. With some strong antibiotics and anti nausea mess, I pretty much slept for two days and then stayed wobbly for some weeks. My balance took years to fully recover -- for a while I was known to fall off of sidewalks for no apparent reason.

Hope that whatever your wife has is nothing serious and that she feels better soon!

[footfootfoot]

I, too, vote for inner ear infection.
Perfectly fine, being my first choice.

[monster]

I agree with the ear thing FWIW -suffering from that myself. Sucks donkey's balls and I was worried it was ongoing stroke shit at first -get that checked out and ruled out/treated. It might not even be an infection, it could be something stuck in there.

[chrisinhouston]

Well we just got back from the ENT doctor, I can never pronounce or spell the fancy name for them. They did a thorough hearing test which could indicate fluid behind the eardrum and she has no fluid and was told she had excellent hearing for age 62. Probably because she did not attend lost of rock concerts as a teenager like I did.

He did a very thorough doctor patient talk asking lots of questions and did more nuero muscular tests. His diagnosis was she may have an inner ear viral infection which is hard to treat and can take a week or months to fully clear up. He prescribed an anti viral drug and also an anti shingles drug because she had chicken pox as a child and one outbreak of shingles 35 years ago, he saw some small bumps in one ear canal that could be a type of shingles that effects the ear. Also a very small dose of Valium to control dizziness.

So we will wait and see. She can't drive until the severe dizzyness gets better so I will do the driving like I did in Wales and Australia and South Africa!