inner ear

[ely]

i have a doctor/medical type question. my dad has this recurring problem with dizziness, nausea, vomiting etc.
it happens when he gets down on his knees and looks up under something or if he works under a sink, or changes oil on a vehicle sometimes does it.
yesterday it happened when he looked under a couch in the living room.

starts out with dizziness , he gets all clammy and turns white, then starts with the vomiting. he is usually ill for a couple days before it passes. he may go several months between events.

it seems to have all started a few years ago after he wrecked his jeep pulling a load of logs(stupid trick i know) but he did suffer some minor head trauma what with all the goodies flying around the cab of the jeep.

the reason i ask is my coworker told me of a medical show on TV that had a few people with the same type problems only a little worse. said that it was a leak in the sack of fluid that has something to do with the eqilibrium and the inner ear? says that it was a simple procedure to fix it.

i also knew an older friend that had a problem with the liner of that sack slaking off into the fluid and causing him severe dizziness not sure they ever had a fix for that though.
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if any of this is familar to anyone please say so, im trying to find out where to start with getting him some help.
my dad will go to a doctor if he finds the one he needs, but he is not about to go see a "transmission man" when he needs the front end aligned.

[Gary_C]

I would say it's best if he starts with a GP (general practioner) who can narrow down the possibilities and eliminate some possible causes. A good GP can run the tests that any specialist, if needed, will need to find a solution.

The most common cause is called Vertigo and there are anti-nausea medications that can be useful. My wife just went thru a bout of Vertigo and she took a medication for about a week and it has gone away.

[Cypressstump]

I got the same thing,,, an it ain't fun when it comes on. It's called Meniere's Disease   (Ma-nears),, comes with ringing in the ears, loss of hearing, course some of my ringing and loss is from lack of proper hearing protections during my construction days.

It is so bad sometimes I will nearly get sick to my stomach from dizziness. I went to my family doc who sent me to a specialist.. And friend has this as well, he told me his doctor adjusted the 'rocks in his head' and it went away.   There are crystals that are suspended in the fluid inside the inner ear. Sometimes the crystals kinda bunch up and affects your balance. So I went to have my rocks adjusted.

What the doc did was to have me lay on the exam table,head hanging off the table lower than my back, but neck supported neutral..then roll my head to the right side slowly for 10 seconds.. then back to neutral for 10 sec. .. then roll to left for 10 sec. .. then back to neutral, then set upright and focus on a object (finger in my case as a cop would do you for DWI check), then repeat the other previous steps another time, then focus once more. it's hard to to do.. brain spinning at warp speed.. probably vomit. but hang in there..
When I did this treatment, it took a couple days but I gradually got better, till the next time which was months later.

Do a google search on it, there's lots of info, no real cause they say,,also no real cure.  Good luck to him. It really sucks to be so dizzy at times.
Stump

[Ianab]

From Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_ear

Interference with or infection of the labyrinth can result in a syndrome of ailments called labyrinthitis. The symptoms of Labyrinthitis include temporary nausea, disorientation, vertigo, and dizziness. Labyrinthitis can be caused by viral infections, bacterial infections, or physical blockage of the inner ear

So it certainly sounds like something that could result from a head injury, but there are multiple causes. Symptoms would be similar to seasickness, as that is also caused by the fluid in the inner ear sloshing around in a weird way.

There would be various treatments depending on the exact cause, but your GP is the place to get started.

Ian

[doctorb]

Ianab-

You may be right, but labyrinthitis is usually not as "positional" as ely described.  People with labyrinthitis can have those symptoms at rest.  It seems to me the description provided states that there is a provocative maneuver or position of the cervical spine that brings this on in ely's dad. 

Neck hyperextension (bending your neck way back, like looking straight up into the rain)  is associated with similar symptoms in some patients.  This can be related to blood flow issues (carotid and vertebral arteries), as well as inner ear problems.  I would suggest a visit to the GP first, with a strong request for subspecialty follow up from an ENT or neurologist.  Get ready for a bunch of tests!

[ely]

thanks all.

[Cypressstump]

As DoctorB ststes,, I did have to suffer thru many tests,xrays, hearing chamber tests, ultra sound,they may have even shined a light thru my noggin from one side to the other or blew some cobwebs out..  ;D

As I was almost being released, with the docs stating they really found nothing , I asked about the crystal adjustment,, they said sure we can, brought me to a room,laid me down , got me sick to my stomach and 15 minutes later I was on the way home feeling worse than I did upon arrival. My dizziness slowly began to lessen each day afterwards.

I'm not impying that that is the cure to the mans fathers issues, but definately something worth looking into, especially as the procedure can be done at home.

The symtoms I was experienceing was I got super dizzy when : turning my head too fast, laying down to sleep, looking up, changing eye sight focus too quickly, setting back into a chair too suddenly, anything that involved head movement basically. It is something that would drive a man insane if the dizziness stayed that bad too long. My spells would come and go, some more severe than others.