Hello everyone thank you for this amazing forum in search of answers. I will share my story in as much detail as I can and would love honest opinions.
In September of 2024 i returned back to Boston from Ecuador with a small cold, i took an edible to help me sleep and the next day i had to work at my summer job at a restaurant. That day at work I just felt off, I had this unexplainable dizziness and felt like I was going to collapse. I had this weird tunnel vision and was inside my head with my body freaking out like something is wrong. I kept telling myself it was probably the edible and to try not to think about it, but a 12 hour shift felt like hell. The next day I woke up the same, went to work all day wanting to cry because I just didn’t feel right. That night I went to the ER, and spent the whole night waiting to be seen, all my blood work, EKG, and a US of my leg for DVT was all normal. I was worried because I was flying back to Greece in two days, but they told me I was fine.
I am a 3rd year medical student studying in Thessaloniki, I flew back and when i landed on my layover in Germany my dizzy feeling came back. I started to panic again. My mom was diagnosed with Meniere’s in her 30s so it was my first thought. When I got to Greece I went to see one of the top ENTs in Thessaloniki who put me through many tests and I passed them all. He sent me for a emergency MRI of my brain and sinuses, in the MRI machine I felt that feeling and told myself whatever it is it will be picked up. He called me the next day and told me it was normal,(my report showed a 8mm tornwaldt cyst) he prescribed me some vertigo meds which honestly don’t do much, and cleared me from ENT side, he wanted me to see a neuro and a ophthalmologist. I went to neuro who did a bunch of tests also looked at my MRI he said i was fine. Went to ophthalmologist and did all the tests and i was perfectly fine besides I had an astigmatism and he prescribed me glasses. Now I am still dealing with daily dizziness, visual problems, tinnitus, sometimes migraine like headache over my left eye, and sometimes neck pain. I didnt know what to do, I went to my GP and she said she thought it was a problem with my cervical neck. I started doing my own research and stumbled upon PPPD. I felt like this made so much sense, I started doing Dr. Yo VRT videos and they seemed to help, I thought this must be the issue, i have had anxiety all my life, but couldnt believe this was happening to me. I did notice how bust streets and super markets brought on my dizziness. I was starting to have better days and stopped letting it ruin my life, i just kept living.
Fast forward February of 2025, I was starting to get this neck pain on my left side again which sometimes would bring on these left eye headaches, sometimes it would be throbbing. I went to the gym and went to go do a lat pull down and I instantly felt a sharp pain from the base of my neck down my left shoulder. It hurt so much I went home. Went to my GP and she ordered me a MRI of my cervical spine and left shoulder. Had this daily pain again and the dizziness was coming back here and there. At this point, my symptoms kept changing and i felt like I was losing my mind, somedays pain in my eye, the next ear, the next in my neck etc. I also got my last two wisdom teeth extracted which sucked because they were imbedded almost into my jaw, i thought maybe this was the cause of the all tinnitus. I went home to America for Easter break and found Upper cervical care on Instagram, and found Arete chiro in Portsmouth NH. I went and what they were saying spoke to me. They said all the problems come from the imbalance of c1 and showed my my imagine of how crooked my body is. They did a cone beam CT that showed osteoarthritis of TMJ, hypolordosis of cerivcal spine, right nasal deviation, and the last was elongated styloid processes.
At this point it meant nothing to me, I only had 2 visits for correction and it did seem to help, but I had to return back to school. When I got back i had my MRIs done. My left shoulder showed some damage to rotator cuff and inflammation of the supraspinatus. My cervical neck showed hypo lordosis, and at c1-c2 and c2-c3 posterior osteophyte brining mild pressure to spinal sac, which my doctor said is nothing concerning.
I started to put my results into Chatgpt and this is the first time I hear of Eagles. My left styloid is 40mm and right is 27mm. Almost always my symptoms are always on the left, so i was like is this the smoking gun? As I researched eagles I was like omg this sounds like me alot, but not always. I went to another ENT head and neck surgeon who dismissed the idea saying its a complex surgery and I should try Lyrica for 10 days.
I am doing PT for my shoulder and he says all my symptoms are coming from neck and shoulder muscle strain and trigger points, referring pain and causing dizziness. Last week I had the scariest episode of dizziness, it literally felt like I was having a stroke and it was like September all over again but maybe worse. At this point I have no idea, is it PPPD? Is it muscle and poor posture related? is it upper cervical like my chiro said? Or is it Eagles my new fixation as the cause? There is a specialist in Athens that I can go see but this costs me a lot of money and time. I saw people mention Dr. Annino in Boston but I don’t have insurance in America and not sure the cost and availability to see him either. I am lost and frustrated. Its why I came here to try and piece together something. Should i keep chasing this rabbit hole, or is it muscle/neck related with PPPD and I am worried for no reason.
Anyways i hope my story is well written, its so hard to not forget details. My main symptoms id say is left neck pain, dizziness, ear fullness and ringing, sometimes eye or ear pain, rarely throat pain but now i hyperfocus on these. and like my brain doesn’t get enough blood or something, I cant really explain it anymore.
