newby with questions

[melb1978]

Well, My MRI is scheduled for this Tuesday.  For the last 3 weeks i feel like i've been in the twilight zone.  I woke up one day with what felt like really stuffy ears.  After a few days i went to my gp who diagnosed it as "allergies" (with no other symptoms) and gave me a steriod shot.  Great - 3 hours later my hearing returned, but the next day i woke up in the same situation and went to urgent care.  They put me on a steriod pack - hearing returned shortly after the first does, but every morning i wake up and the hearing is gone for several hours until i take my morning steriod dose and i get it back.  Fast forward...i'm on steriod pack number 3.  I could deal with the sudden hearing loss but the amount of pressure that builds in my ears is terrible.  Without the steriods my hearing tests shows a significant hearing loss in my left ear, and no hearing loss in my right.  i'm having pressure in both but the left is far worse.  i have the facial numbness off and on and just in the last few days started feeling pressure in between my eyes and nose.  Nothing like what's in my ears.  The ear pressure is unbearable and makes it hard to function. i've never in my life had a sinus infection, ear infection or allergies.  This is all so out of the blue for me.  I'm a 39 year old mother of 2 and i just want to get this figured out.  Did anyone else have this experience before they were diagnosed?

[MarlaB]

Two friends of mine had to wait for their MRI because they had, like you, recently taken steroids to see if that would resolve their issues.

Their docs (different ones) seemed to think that the steroids that were still in their systems would show up oddly on the MRI and perhaps give a false positive or a false negative...I can't recall which one. They had to wait a few months after they stopped taking them.

Anyway, before you spend the $$ on the MRI, it might be worth asking your doc/radiologist the question.

And either way, knowing yes or no, we are all here, alive and offering support and understanding. This is a great group you wouldn't want to ever offer to join.

Marla