Can a sinus infection slur your speech and cause dizziness?

[Justaguy1206]

Hi, my girlfriend has had a sinus infection for about 3 or 4 weeks now. About a week ago she started throwing up, a few days later she was having dizzy spells. Thinking it was from the antibiotics, she had the doctor change the prescription to something else. When she started taking this antibiotic she began to have slurred speech and seemed almost incoherent at times while still vomiting and being extremely dizzy. In the past month she has been to 3 doctors, has been put on three different antibiotics and a z pack, and has had her blood tested and had a CT scan of her sinuses. Finally yesterday we went to the ears, nose, and throat doctor and he sent her to the ER where they ran an MRI, everything came back fine. The doctor said she still had the sinus infection, and she was more than likely suffering from vertigo. She is still dizzy and slurring her speech though. My question is can the severity of the sinus infection be the reason she slurring her speech and having dizzy spells? I would appreciate any help, we don't know what else to do.      p.s. she is a diabetic and wears an insulin pump on her leg.        

-a very concerned boyfriend

[fitz653]

Hi, My father has same problem. he diagnosed as type 2 diabetic and also has sinus problems. He began to get slurred speech a few months ago. the slurring doesnt occur all of the time but is very noticeable at times. The doctor felt this was due to his sinus infection and gave him a nasal wash. since then the problem did improve slightly but not enough and so he is on an antibiotic for sinuses now. He is also on a blood pressure tablet and perhaps this is the cause? it does sound more like the diabetes. If anyone could advise that would be great!
Thanks

[Justaguy1206]

The slurred speech is getting better. Her sugar was really really high and her doctor told her when it reaches up that high it can cause those symptoms, so we're hoping that's all that was wrong, thank you for the info and advice!

[geminigirl1963]

A sinus infection can cause dizziness because of the fluid/infection build up in the ear.  However, I don't think (I'm not a  doctor so I don't know for sure) that it would cause slurred speech.

My first thought when I read your last sentence about her being a diabetic is that her blood sugar is out of whack - either because of the infection itself, the meds she's been on, or due to her vomiting.  My suggestion would be to take her to her doctor that prescribes her insulin pump and insulin and have them do some testing to make sure that a) the pump is functioning properly and b) that her blood sugar is ok (not just an "instant test" to check her sugar at that minute, but a test to test what her average sugar levels have been over the past week or more)

Best of luck and please keep us posted on how she's doing.