@krisjb1 Thank you for your reply. I wanted to relay some of my experience with my cervical spine. I had a collapsed C5/C6 disc and a bit of disc movement at other levels, but the discs were all intact. I have another condition called thoracic outlet syndrome which causes tightness in my neck and shoulders and actually compresses nerves and blood vessels under the collar bone. That is worse on one side. I got a lot of muscle spasms because of my spine condition and with the unequal tension side to side, it would rotate the vertebrae in my neck independently and they would stay like that. I ended up with a bad episode of vertigo when I looked up at a bird flying over, and the world started spinning.

I also had the headache like you describe, extreme dizziness, face and ear pain, and it does start at the back of the head. It is stretching the muscles on one side in the rotation and they start complaining. This also causes the vertebral arteries that are in the sides of the cervical vertebrae to become stretched which reduces blood flow to part of the brain. When I looked up, I kinked that already stretched artery which started the vertigo. I worked with my p[physical therapist on this and it was resolved by realigning the vertebrae. I know how to recognize this right when it starts, and correct it after working with my PT. I had spine surgery 6 years ago, so my neck has calmed down. I still have the TOS and do stretches for that, and I can get spasms that start to twist my spine to a much lesser degree. There have not been episodes of vertigo since my spine surgery. I also make sure to stretch the incision scar on my neck periodically that gets tight because it adds to everything.

You could have a CT scan instead of an MRI. A CT is a collection of X-rays made quickly that are are assembled into a 3 dimensional image. That may show the doctor a problem, but not with all the detail of an MRI. I know those machines are loud and you have to wear earplugs. It might be worth asking if ear protection similar to headphones could be used in addition to earplugs. I have tinnitus too, and using earplugs alone was OK for me. Nothing got worse.

Do you think a followup with a spine specialist would be in order? I know how bad that feels when you are so dizzy and nauseated that you can't function or even open your eyes.