I doubt anther person has exactly the symptoms my wife displayed, but I offer this in case it helps.
Ever since we got married and way before that she was complaining of ringing in her ears and every doctor she had seen in Atlanta and later Kansas City, dismissed it as tinnitis: cause unknown. Turns out they were mostly clueless and not thorough enough. She could not phrase it using the right keywords but we learnt later that she should have mentioned that she heard a wooshing noise in her ear coupled with some ringing.
Long story short, it was a cerebral fistula, right next to the 7/8 nerve nucleus and the abnormal blood flow is what she was hearing. We learned all of this after she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage three years ago. A regular CT would not have shown the vascular issue unless it had significant mass effect. Only an angiogram would have.
They say that birth control pills, head trauma or even inner ear infections could have caused the initial clotting which resulted in the fistula formation.
While you are waiting for a neuro appointment, ask her if it is anything like a wooshing noise. See if you can hold a steth to her head and hear any flow noises (the interventional radiologists at UCSF suggested that as possible test). In my research following my wife's stroke, I have heard of AVMs bleed into the eye, not sure if they can cause nose bleeds or bleed into the nasal sinuses as well. Those should also end up being abnormal high speed blood flows and might register on a steth.
Any history of strokes or vascular abnormalities in the family ? Hope the hearing issues points to some issue close to the 8th nerve and guide them toward the location. See if you can also discuss getting a full (4 vessel ?) angiogram of the brain as well, the process has risks bit I don't know if there is a less invasive way of checking the vessels out.
Did they give her any steroid shots to reduce any neural inflammation ? See if you can talk to the doctors about this. Might help if it is more peripheral as opposed to central.
Also, in all these cases, I really think that tracking the best doctors you can gives you the best advantage. Your coast has the top 3 neuro facilities (as per my reading of the 2009 ratings): Johns Hopkins, Mass General Hospital and the Mayo Clinic. It will likely be painful to find an appointment there but always worth a try and time is really of the essence if it turns out to be vascular.
Also, check http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/CheckSymptoms. This a UK NHS tool. Maybe it will jog her memory and she can enter more symptoms and see what it's database thinks it could be.
Check http://www.virtualtrials.com/braintumorsymptomssurvey.cfm as well and see which symptoms match.
Doing online searches and self diagnosis can end of scaring oneself lot more than warranted and without a doctor's expert checkup, might be very foolish. Keeping that in mind however, always good to get more info, sometimes you might end up jogging the doctor's memory as well when you mention you research.
Also, check out what the humidity of the room is where she is at. Winter, heaters and dry air can cause nose bleeds in some people. Get a good humidifier if needed (My limited research made me pick out an Air-O-Swiss one after my wife's nose bled last month in the bay area winter). Fixing that might simplify the diagnosis if it is unrelated to her main issue.
I sincerely hope she gets diagnosed correctly soon and gets treatment. It sounds like she is suffering terribly. I wish you the very best!
Ever since we got married and way before that she was complaining of ringing in her ears and every doctor she had seen in Atlanta and later Kansas City, dismissed it as tinnitis: cause unknown. Turns out they were mostly clueless and not thorough enough. She could not phrase it using the right keywords but we learnt later that she should have mentioned that she heard a wooshing noise in her ear coupled with some ringing.
Long story short, it was a cerebral fistula, right next to the 7/8 nerve nucleus and the abnormal blood flow is what she was hearing. We learned all of this after she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage three years ago. A regular CT would not have shown the vascular issue unless it had significant mass effect. Only an angiogram would have.
They say that birth control pills, head trauma or even inner ear infections could have caused the initial clotting which resulted in the fistula formation.
While you are waiting for a neuro appointment, ask her if it is anything like a wooshing noise. See if you can hold a steth to her head and hear any flow noises (the interventional radiologists at UCSF suggested that as possible test). In my research following my wife's stroke, I have heard of AVMs bleed into the eye, not sure if they can cause nose bleeds or bleed into the nasal sinuses as well. Those should also end up being abnormal high speed blood flows and might register on a steth.
Any history of strokes or vascular abnormalities in the family ? Hope the hearing issues points to some issue close to the 8th nerve and guide them toward the location. See if you can also discuss getting a full (4 vessel ?) angiogram of the brain as well, the process has risks bit I don't know if there is a less invasive way of checking the vessels out.
Did they give her any steroid shots to reduce any neural inflammation ? See if you can talk to the doctors about this. Might help if it is more peripheral as opposed to central.
Also, in all these cases, I really think that tracking the best doctors you can gives you the best advantage. Your coast has the top 3 neuro facilities (as per my reading of the 2009 ratings): Johns Hopkins, Mass General Hospital and the Mayo Clinic. It will likely be painful to find an appointment there but always worth a try and time is really of the essence if it turns out to be vascular.
Also, check http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/CheckSymptoms. This a UK NHS tool. Maybe it will jog her memory and she can enter more symptoms and see what it's database thinks it could be.
Check http://www.virtualtrials.com/braintumorsymptomssurvey.cfm as well and see which symptoms match.
Doing online searches and self diagnosis can end of scaring oneself lot more than warranted and without a doctor's expert checkup, might be very foolish. Keeping that in mind however, always good to get more info, sometimes you might end up jogging the doctor's memory as well when you mention you research.
Also, check out what the humidity of the room is where she is at. Winter, heaters and dry air can cause nose bleeds in some people. Get a good humidifier if needed (My limited research made me pick out an Air-O-Swiss one after my wife's nose bled last month in the bay area winter). Fixing that might simplify the diagnosis if it is unrelated to her main issue.
I sincerely hope she gets diagnosed correctly soon and gets treatment. It sounds like she is suffering terribly. I wish you the very best!
