Ear, Nose & Throat Community

Hi

Would appreciate some advice on what might be wrong with me, it's a lengthy procedure in the UK to get referred to an ENT specialist, and I'm only just starting down that path now.

I have had allergies all my life, nothing too serious, just the usual dust and hayfever, but the symptoms were always horrible. If untreated, I would experience terrible itching in eyes and throat, running eyes, headaches and then chronic fatigue just after.

About a year ago I came down with something that caused bad sinus pressure, bad dizzyness, tinnitus for the first time in my life, extreme fatigue, ear pressure, headaches. I don't think it was sinusitis because I didn't get discharge from my nose, my nose was never really blocked for long. I think I was diagnosed with an inner ear infection by my GP, but the ENT said there were no signs of infection

The ENT diagnosed Vestibular Neuronitis, but I don't think either of us were entirely convinced of the diagnosis. However, that's all I have to go on! I did some exercises for a few weeks and the dizzyness did seem to subside

However, since then, on and off, I've been having regular periods of facial pain around eyes and sinuses, nauseating dizziness (not room spinning dizziness, though I get it a bit), pressure on the sides of my head above my ears, blocked eustachian tubes, tinnitus, fatigue, weakness.

It seems to get worse when I am hungry, and subsides somewhat after eating, but can also come on before I eat and stay for some time after.

I may wake as normal in the morning with some facial pain but otherwise ok, then late in the morning I will begin to feel woozy and dizzy, and very quickly I become weak and nauseous. I will lay down for a while and then the symptoms will pass somewhat, I will then be left with something similar to what I describe as a hayfever hangover; a headache, mildly dizzy, tired. similar to what used to happen when I had an allergic reaction to pollen, treated it, and then I used to get a sort of hangover afterwards as described above. That's why I wonder if it's allergy related

At one point during a recent period of having these problems, I had bad toothache which my dentist of all people diagnosed as a sinus problem as he couldn't find any issue with my teeth

It doesn't seem to be affecting my sleep, I don't wake in the night feeling dizzy or particularly groggy

The trouble is, like today and the last few days, I have pressure on the sides of my head and mild facial sinus pain and fatigue all day long. I feel like I could sleep all day

It seems to come and go, so I might get a couple of weeks break, then I get it come back for a couple of weeks like now where I get these symptoms all day long

Having said that, even when I'm not in the middle of an attack like now, I tend to get dizzy headaches every day after lunch. I'm not sure it's related to eating or food, but perhaps the lethargy after eating and being at work in the afternoon

I've been taking Nasonex and Sudafed on and off, it doesn't always make much difference, but the symptoms fade in and out so much it's hard to tell if the medication has had any effect

I noticed yesterday that some allergy tablets I have here (cetrizine hydrochloride) did seem to remove the symptoms somewhat, but I also know that they haven't worked in the past

It's all very confusing and quite depressing, it's having quite a big effect on my life at the moment, I had to take a couple of days off sick and I can't function at 100% when I do go to work

I've heard people talk about MRI scans, what sort of thing are they looking for in an MRI of the sinuses? would it be suggested for someone with my symptoms?

Help!!

Nick