Well…as of yesterday morning I had never heard of AN.
But last night I had an MRI to find out if this was the cause of several symptoms I have experienced as of late.
It has been a barrage of seemingly not connected complaints that I have experienced which have brought me to this point. The main and most pressing one, and the one that made me seek medical treatment, is a sudden, insanely loud, ringing in my right ear. The kind of ringing one experiences after a loud localized explosion near the ear, like a firecracker going off 2 feet away. The ringing can go on for 1 hour or a day. There is not consistency to the duration.
Accompanying this is a feeling of mild numbness on the right side of my face. The doctor asked if the word “fullness†described it, which it does perfectly. I haven't experienced vertigo, but when the ringing happens, I've felt slightly….unsure…of my footing. My right eye has watered on occasion when this has happened. This ringing has gone on a few months now.
I have also been wrestling with unexplained depression over the last couple of years. I have had persistent headaches, although not bad ones. My concentration and memory have suffered, but I wrote that off to age (I’m a 53 year old male). I now wonder if all this could be tied in.
Anyway, I eventually ended up with an ear, nose and throat doctor, and yesterday and he suggested the MRI to “rule certain things outâ€. The certain things, when pressed, I found out to be AN. He informed me that a more likely cause was a viral infection of some type, but on reading of the symptoms to AN, everything sure fits.
So, I sincerely hope to not be joining your ranks, but also hoped that you could either alleviate my concerns or confirm them.
