Nystagmus

[mandihester]

I was reading over my initial testing reports from the ENT and it showed that I have nystagmus when my eyes are closed.  Is this concerning?  When I mentioned it at my neurosurgeon appointment, it was kinda brushed off- "Yeah I saw that on your report." 
I've been trying to research it a little and I'm not finding too much.  I wonder if it could be directly related to the tumor and dizziness or if there is something else going on as well. 
Has anyone else dealt with this issue?

[ANGuy]

I would be surprised if there are any of us that DON'T have nystagmus.  It is pretty much standard equipment when you get an AN.

I never heard of anything about eyes being closed, they tested me for it with my eyes open.

[Sheba]

ANers get nystagmus due to damage on the vestibular nerve.  The vestibular system and ocular (eye) system have some very tightly coordinated reflexes ("VOR") that get funky as vestibular nerve goes downhill.  This makes our eye movements more "jumpy", where they would otherwise be smooth movements.

I don't think it is that noticeable to the patient;

medical people look for it as an indicator of vestibular system damage.
Maybe eyes closed testiong is so your eyes won't stop on things you see, the movement is based totally just on vestibular inputs.

[mandihester]

Thanks for the info.  I'm glad, I guess, to know it's a result of the AN and not something else.  The audiologist found it on my dizzy test which consisted of various tests with eyes open and eyes closed.