Daily Head Pressure and Ear Ringing

[Glenville86]

Background:  Retired from the Army in Nov and had a complete physical.  Everything was fine except for lower back degenerative disk diease and mild hearing loss.  All bloodwork was normal.  Took a job in Iraq where I am currently.  Arrived in Feb.   In Jun, I was sick with extreme fatigue, headaches, and dizziness.  Saw a doctor in Jul and was given OTC headache meds.  They did bloodwork that came back normal.  Since that time I have had daily head pressure and tinnitus.  The tinnitus comes and goes and can be really loud and annoying.  Visited another doctor in Sep who thought it might be an allergic reaction and was given zyrtec for a month.  No change with the head pressure.  Saw an ENT in Oct who feels that it just a left-over from whatever made me ill in Jun and thinks it will get better with time.  I have a slight clicking in my jaw and he thinks TMJ might be a factor but I have no jaw pain.  I sit in front of a computer at least 10 hours a day.

NOTE:  I am 44 and had never had a headache prior to this.  Have never had any TMJ problems.  Tinnitus was never a problem. Never noticed any allergies before this.  Never had sinus problems.  Am in decent health and walk daily for 45 minutes. Thought it might be some sort of reaction to something here in Iraq but do not have typical allergy or sinus symptoms.  

Questions:  1) What can be the cause of the daily head pressure?  No pain, just a heavy and tight feeling from my eyebrows, temples to the back of my head.  Wake up with it.  Only goes away when outside exercising.  2) What can cause the tinnitus?

[lugo]

I earlier posted a comment about vertigo. I did not mention some other symtoms . Loss of hearing , I cannot tell which direction sound is coming from sometimes , headaches , vision problems ( like a spot  behind my pupil in my right eye & like looking thru a tunnel , mostly weeks leading up to my dizzy spell on Nov. 19 , 06 ) I do not have high blood pressure even thow it has gotten up to 148/90 when checked during the eyesight problems , it normally is 115/ 75 or 80 most times I have checked it at home or doctors office. The doctors at the hospital found nothing in all the test they took , and said it was a bad case of vertigo , due to an inflamation of the middle ear . I have had a few colds this summer which is not normal for me , but I work in the public around dirty money ect.

[lugo]

I earlier posted a comment about vertigo. I did not mention some other symtoms . Loss of hearing , I cannot tell which direction sound is coming from sometimes , headaches , vision problems ( like a spot  behind my pupil in my right eye & like looking thru a tunnel , mostly weeks leading up to my dizzy spell on Nov. 19 , 06 ) I do not have high blood pressure even thow it has gotten up to 148/90 when checked during the eyesight problems , it normally is 115/ 75 or 80 most times I have checked it at home or doctors office. The doctors at the hospital found nothing in all the test they took , and said it was a bad case of vertigo , due to an inflamation of the middle ear . I have had a few colds this summer which is not normal for me , but I work in the public around dirty money ect.

[joshpo]

all i have seen is lyme and other things, well my husband just had a CT at the ER they sent him home and said he needed an MRI but could not do it on a Sun. To make a long story short, he had his MRI the finding floored us both and now we have to wait until Monday to see a neuro, he has been sick since August, weakness, in bed all the time etc. was in hosp in NC in August for a bone disease he has.  His strength came back some but not ever to normal so this Sunday after Thanksgiving I took him back to ER (4) trips at this point.  He has pounding in his head, said his ears feel like they are ringing all the time, extreme weakness, change in personality (though he denies that of course) Not able to function is basically what it has come down to.  So ... the CT came out abnormal, he had his MRI we got the results today and I have been on line for hours trying to figure out what the h he has, The report reads like a medical journal here is some of it...Thfe are minimal patchy hypertense sighal changes involving the central pons, propably representing chronic small sellel changes/ T-2 and FLAIR images demonstratenodular mucoperiosteal thickening involving the right maxillary sinus/there ia a punctate focus of hyperintense signal on T-2,Hyoptense on T-1, involving the centrum semiovale which is hyperintense on FLAIR images/this may represent an area of small lacunar infarction with mild surrounding gliosis./the possibility of a tiny brain cyst cannot be excluded/then a bunch of other medical terms that say some things look perfectly normal. CONCLUSION: (direct from the report)There is a small round well-circumscribed hypointense area on T1, hypertense on t2 and FLAIR images, involving centrum semiovale without mass effect, edema or enhancement measuring 3 mm.  it has a benign appearance/differential possibilities should include a congenital brain syst/the poss of a small chronic lacunar infarct with surrounding gliosis cannot be excluded well that was a mouth full and i am sorry for sorry for such a long posting but I am lost, does any one out there know what this is I don't know if I can stay sane until Monday to see the neuro. thank you Joshpo

[Neuron]

My 2 cents for what its worth from a once healthy 43/m

Before the madness for me started I had steady tinnitus for about two months. In that time I was also having sometimes panicky awakenings and some tingling, numbness in my extremities. Then two months from the start of the tinnitus symptom I experienced a few episodes of heavy tremors in my legs and a bit in my arms. After the tremor episodes I was left with twitching, buzzing/vibrations, tremors/spasms, burning sensation, bug crawly feeling in my upper back, cramping, tingling and numbness in the hands and feet, tinnitus, sometimes an awareness of difficulty of walking due to a feeling of imbalance, weightloss, insomnia, aches and pains.

When the tremors started I would get the feeling of the chills like you know when you are catching the flu.

The past couple of months I have noticed a decline in cramping, tingling and numbness in the hands and feet, crawly feeling in upper back, trouble swallowing, and aches and pains and I have gained my weight back though due to less exercise over this period I have put on the wrong kind of poundage.

Testing: CT scan clear but on the EEG test during the hyperventilation part of the test my legs experienced tremors.
MRI showed no intracranial abnormalities but there was fluid around the nose compatible with sinusitis and my right ear area did show fluid compatible with mastoiditis.

The way things started and the fact that after 8 months I have no serious weakness, likely means ALS, is not the reason. My MRI showed no lesions on the brain and my symptoms are not really compatible for MS at this time; though maybe a person does not always need lesions on the brain to experience the disease in the early stages. My doctors are presuming Anxiety which if I did not have before the symptoms arose I probably have acquired by now. The neurologist I saw twice said I did not have ALS, MS or BFS but I think she just saw me as an anxious patient who was wasting her time.  

From some of the posts I have read on this website http://www.nextination.com/aboutbfs/ I could have been infected by a virus or less likely I picked up lyme from one of my camping/hiking trips to the Thompson/Okanagan region of B.C.

All the best in your quest for the truth.

Paul

[thefunkster]

chris_va i've been waking up with headaches for past 6 months or so, my symptoms are headache mostly in morning, and visual symtoms and a stiff neck. ive had the feeling of papilledema twice, but it went away after a couple of days. i got a ct scan nothing came up, can you get pseudotumor cerebri even if you are underweight? please help thx!

[Rockypu]

Not sure if this could be of help... but here it goes.   You can become allergic later in life.  I did, when I turned 40.  Not the usual symptoms that most folks have, but somewhat like you.  It turned out that the allergy was limited to the nasal passages, and not really that involved into the sinuses.  Found out I was allergic to the ink that printers use (computer, newspapers).  Some times the ringing in the ears can be caused by even the slightest of ear wax build-up.  Fianally, the fact that you spend many hours in front of a computer screen could be the cause.    Some people are sensitive to too much exposure to the screen or such close details.   Even tv watching can trigger some "brain activity" to give you the symptoms you discribe.  I get a headache watching the tv... when my husband flips the channel every few minutes.  Might not be your case.... but just food for thought.