My problems began in September. All at about the same time I developed dizziness, tachycardia, heart palpitations, fatigue, and I felt like I had fluid in my ears. A cardiologist says nothing is functionally wrong with my heart and an ear, nose and throat doctor said my ears looked fine, but he suggested mold allergies as the cause of the dizziness. The dizziness stopped in December, all the other symptoms persist. I have been put on Indural for the tachycardia. Recently I noticed my nose was swollen on the inside (I don't know how long it has been like this) and the doctor said I had sinusitis and prescribed augmentin. He said sinusitis was responsible for the pain and pressure in my head. On the ninth day of my treatment I broke out in hives on all of my joints, the doctor seemed baffled and suggested an allergy.
My questions are:
1) Should I be suspicious of allergies for all my problems and
can allergies just develop like this?
2) Is it possible I've had this sinusitis since sept. and it is
the cause of my dizziness and feeling of fluid in my ears?
3) Is there anyway the sinusitis and my heart
palpitations/tachycardia are connected since all my symptoms
began at the same time (mid-september)
4) Could this have any relation to the five bilateral
myringotomies I had when I was younger.
Thank You
Answer -----------
As I understand the problem, you have persistent tachycardia, fatigue, palpitations, and a sensation of fluid in the ears. Initially dizziness was also present, but is now resolved. More recently, the development of nasal stuffiness led to a diagnosis of sinusitis and during the treatment for sinusitis you broke out in hives.
First of all, it is not likely that sinusitis is at the root of your symptoms that have been present since September. While sinusitis, particularly chronic sinusitis, can cause general fatigue and a sensation of pressure in the ears, it is not likely to cause those symptoms without predominant nasal symptoms such as nasal stuffiness, post-nasal drainage, facial pressure, etc. Tachycardia and palpitations are occasionally symptoms of medications known as decongestants that are commonly used to treat sinus symptoms, but they would not be considered symptoms of sinusitis.
Allergy is a possible cause of such a constellation of symptoms although it would be of low probability. Classic allergic symptoms include watery nasal discharge, nasal stuffiness, itchy watery eyes, sneezing, facial swelling. It is unlikely that allergy would cause a constellation of symptoms as you describe without one or two classic allergy symptoms.
The constellation of tachycardia, palpitation, fatigue, and dizziness would initially lead me to look into blood pressure disturbance, anemia, cardiac rhythm disturbance, as well as metabolic or endocrine disturbances such as thyroid disorders or diabetes. The initial evaluation of such a constellation of symptoms should therefore first be performed by a primary care physician rather than a specialist of any kind in my opinion. Sinusitis and allergy would be way down on the list of possibilities. Furthermore the possible relationships of ear disease and/or sinus disease with your symptoms would be easily addressed by findings on physical examination and possibly a limited screening CT scan of the sinuses, with the latter x-ray study suggested only as a last resort in diagnostic inquiry into the evaluation of your symptoms.
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Steve Dankle, MD
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Milwaukee, Wis
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