I'm currently active duty ARMY stationed in Georgia. Since April of this year I started to have severe vertigo attacks multiple times a week and my hearing would come and go. I had to go to ER so much that eventually the ER doctors referred me to see the ENT and Audiology clinic. I eventually saw an ARMY ENT doctor and Audiologist in August who said it was all in my head because my hearing was "normal" at the time. My first hearing test at meps I had -5 or -10 across the board in both ears (better than perfect hearing) and now my hearing was 30db across all frequencies in my left ear. A pretty big jump but anything between 0-30 is considered "normal" according to them. Even though I told them my hearing would come and go during attacks they weren't even open to the possibility of early stage menieres disease. I continued to suffer these attacks so often that between attacks I would suffer terrible migraine headaches from the exhaustion. Eventually I was sent to a university to have an ENG/VEMP test done and another hearing exam. My results came back that my VEMP was borderline normal. My hearing test however came back surprising. I had severe to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss in BOTH ears with "good reliability" markers.
At this point, I took the results back to the ARMY ENT doctor. He was quite surprised, almost to the point of irate and demanded I retake the hearing exam. I retook the hearing exam and the same results from the university appeared. Profound hearing loss in both hears. He claimed that he didn't know if I had meneires disease because I had such a strong migraine history. He still couldn't explain the sudden profound hearing loss and drop attacks I suffer and said it was possible that I have menieres but that it could be migraine related. I was very pissed at this because to my knowledge migraines don't cause sudden hearing loss and drop attacks. A few days later an Army neurologist started an MEB for Migraine headaches. I was very dissatisfied with this because while I do suffer migraine headaches, I felt the meneires disease was the real culprit.
I did a little research and it just so happens that the university I was sent to had one of the best rated ENT doctors in the state of Georgia. She is a neurotologist who the ARMY sends patients to do invasive inner ear surgeries. Needless to say, I called her and asked if I could be seen by her and she agreed. She knew the Army ENT department I was seeing very well because they often refer patients to her. I showed her all of my records from the Army and hearing exams and she gave me the diagnosis of "Left sided Meneire's disease with drop attacks". She advised shunt surgery asap and prescribed me valium. I immediately sent these documents to my PEBLO and VA rep as well as to the ombudsmen and to of course the Army ENT clinic. Since I signed a 30 day extension to gather further evidence for my claim, these documents were uploaded in time with my claim.
I am quite relieved now but I still feel like something is going to go wrong and I might have to appeal. I had these symptoms for MONTHS but the Army did nothing until I complained enough. They tried to say it was a "benign" thing and would likely resolve on its own. What in the hell is "benign" about having a sudden drop attack and developing permanent profound hearing loss in both ears? I feel so betrayed and I would like to know what my next steps are. I'm sure I'm going to have to appeal this at some point or I will get lowballed.
At this point, I took the results back to the ARMY ENT doctor. He was quite surprised, almost to the point of irate and demanded I retake the hearing exam. I retook the hearing exam and the same results from the university appeared. Profound hearing loss in both hears. He claimed that he didn't know if I had meneires disease because I had such a strong migraine history. He still couldn't explain the sudden profound hearing loss and drop attacks I suffer and said it was possible that I have menieres but that it could be migraine related. I was very pissed at this because to my knowledge migraines don't cause sudden hearing loss and drop attacks. A few days later an Army neurologist started an MEB for Migraine headaches. I was very dissatisfied with this because while I do suffer migraine headaches, I felt the meneires disease was the real culprit.
I did a little research and it just so happens that the university I was sent to had one of the best rated ENT doctors in the state of Georgia. She is a neurotologist who the ARMY sends patients to do invasive inner ear surgeries. Needless to say, I called her and asked if I could be seen by her and she agreed. She knew the Army ENT department I was seeing very well because they often refer patients to her. I showed her all of my records from the Army and hearing exams and she gave me the diagnosis of "Left sided Meneire's disease with drop attacks". She advised shunt surgery asap and prescribed me valium. I immediately sent these documents to my PEBLO and VA rep as well as to the ombudsmen and to of course the Army ENT clinic. Since I signed a 30 day extension to gather further evidence for my claim, these documents were uploaded in time with my claim.
I am quite relieved now but I still feel like something is going to go wrong and I might have to appeal. I had these symptoms for MONTHS but the Army did nothing until I complained enough. They tried to say it was a "benign" thing and would likely resolve on its own. What in the hell is "benign" about having a sudden drop attack and developing permanent profound hearing loss in both ears? I feel so betrayed and I would like to know what my next steps are. I'm sure I'm going to have to appeal this at some point or I will get lowballed.
Take care and I hope for much success! 