In my case, I have been to multiple hospitals including TIER ONE clinics. Unfortunately, hospitals will refrain from stating any of our complaints is the result of a covid infection, even if you have positive COV blood tests like i did, if you are lucky, they will simply write it off as Vestibular neuritis or Labyrinthitis (which in itself is not a diagnosis) - it just means a "virus" attacked your inner canals. I am a sufferer and I will list my top 5 primary symptoms
- 24/7 Dizziness
- 24/7 Head Pressure
- Visual disturbances
- Severe balance & unsteadiness
- Unwell feeling (insane pulling & pulsating sensations, stinging, burning sensations etc.)
From my experience in addition to all the research i have gathered (religiously studied vestibular deficits from the encyclopedia of neurology + dozens of NLM case studies out of desperation), I have concluded the following:
1. Covid will and can inhibit a vestibular neuritis attack
2. Covid will assault your nerves beyond a traditional VN attack
3. Covid can cause simultaneous & acute bilateral damage to both sides of your semi-circular canals, this is oblivious to your go-to ENT btw
4. In addition to #3, which is mostly peripheral damage in the eyes of your ENT, Covid will present itself with Central damage, this can be observed by up-beating nystagmus that is rather random & spontaneous (in my case it showed up twice in 5 tests)
5. ENT will perform standard tests that will not properly diagnose you, because they usually do not perform tests to check all 6 canals in all the frequency ranges due to absence of proper equipment (or know-how). They will not mention this to you btw.
6. Covid will most likely not present itself in MRA, MRI or CT scans
7. Covid can and will attack either your inferior and superior nerves (or both), in my case, it was the superior
8. ENT will only diagnose you within their scope i.e BVVP, UVH, BVH, VN, VM, LAB etc. and will refer you to PT or prescribe betahistine / SSRI's etc.
9. PT exercises (VRT) are useful, but the extent of their effectiveness depends on the diagnosis in #8. This is why you find patients reporting how exercises helped along with anti-inflammatory foods while others did not see any significant improvement (they do not know their diagnosis in #8)
All of what you describe I go through daily. Thank you so much for doing that research. I am so afraid to look anything up.
The dizziness and unwell feeling and the pulling and burning feeling have only presented themselves since my first bout. I cannot understand why the neurologist can not make the connection. They stop short at "well maybe because you were inactive due to the COVID". No, sorry, I've had flus where I was inactive just as long and it never resulted in nerve damage or the inability to balance or severe heat and cold intolerance.
Thank you again. Your post is so very helpful.