Hello everyone
I was getting treatment at this neurologist’s clinic for a while due to covid damaging my inner ear and causing vertigo and peripheral neuropathy. But I was treated so poorly today that I am apprehensive about going back there.. I would love to hear if you have any recommendations about a neurologist who specializes in vertigo and inner ear damage.
Location is Tokyo.
Summary: Around June, An ENT doctor diagnosed me with significantly poor hearing and inner ear function (we had test results from previous years to compare since I always go to this ENT clinic) and he did the vertigo maneuver on me to see if I have vertigo due to dizziness and nausea. I collapsed on the floor with nausea which made it very obvious that I had vertigo. I was also suffering from body shivers so he said I should go see a neurologist ASAP because my condition was serious. He also found out some abnormalities in my respiratory track due to covid and acid reflux.
So I visited this neurology clinic because the hospital I was referred to could take me in a month in their earliest convenience. The clinic actually did a decent job at first, giving me a cervicospinal exam (xray), MRI and checked my central nervous system throughly to see if I have a stroke or spinal abnormality. In the end, sensei said I have peripheral nerve damage due to a second covid infection, and the diagnosis matched my symptoms. He actually prescribed me a pretty effective medicine that alleviated my symptoms.
Today I visited him again because on Monday I suddenly started having a double vision on my way home, followed by tinnitus and I collapsed on the street. It was a bad fall and I have a bruise on my leg. Then yesterday I had a similar double vision followed by severe headache, shivers and nausea. It usually is triggered by bright lights, screen time (It took me a lot of time to type this) or eating. It happened a total of 4 times actually so I was worried and decided to visit the clinic again. Today it happened a few times as well before and after the clinic visit. Lying in a dark room helps.
He was so rude I was speechless. He asked me why I bothered to even see him if my symptoms come and go, that if I had a stroke or brain damage I would continuously have double vision, (I wasn’t there for a stroke or brain damage, I have nerve damage and vertigo?) but since it happens in short intervals of time multiple times a day it’s nothing to worry about, that maybe I should see a psychiatrist.. and he had the nerve (no pun intended) to ask me if I take psychiatric meds (not in a helpful way but an overtly condescending way)
Vertigo is a neurologist’s job to take care of and I’m sorry but how can I know how stroke or brain damage works? This is why doctors exist, to help us and educate us. He seemed to be a doctor who offers informed consent but I guess I was wrong. I quietly left his room and he STORMED OUT OF his office and approached me in the waiting room, his face very close to mine.. and repeated the same thing. That was uncalled for. I don’t think I deserved this treatment as I try to be polite to the sensei and his staff so I’m very confused. I guess he was in a bad mood but I’m having bad days half of the year since I got Covid in late 2022.
It’s hard to bounce from clinic to clinic while I’m sick but I don’t want to go back there. I will not name this clinic as i don’t want to deal with the repercussions of a defamation case. I would appreciate if you can recommend me doctors, neurology clinics or hospital departments that specialize in inner ear damage and vertigo. What I experienced was demoralizing but we have to advocate for ourselves and there are doctors who are nicer.
triggers for double vision and dizziness: Eating, screen time, bright lights, hot and humid shower or hot and humid weather, Standing up too fast
Double vision stops when I close one eye. If I open both of them while it’s happening it’s like my brain cannot process the image coming from both eyes. It doesn’t happen continuously but comes in attacks multiple time in a day.
by Nanakurokonekochan