What is Perilymph Fistula?

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What is Perilymph Fistula

• Perilymph Fistula causes, Symptoms and treatment

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Perilymph Fistula Overview

• A Perilymph Fistula can be described as a tear in
  one of the membranes separating our middle
  inner ear. Our middle ear is filled with air,
  while our inner ear, on the other hand, is filled
  with a fluid called perilymph. The inner ear
  the middle ear are usually separated by thin
  membranes called oval round windows. In the
  event that one or more of these membranes have a
  tear in them, it causes perilymphatic fluid in
  the inner ear to flow out into the middle ear.

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• This inadvertent fluid exchange creates a
  difference in the fluid pressure of the inner
  ear. The nerves otolithic organs situated in
  our inner ear are associated with maintaining our
  balance while standing, walking, sitting, etc.
• This difference in fluid pressure in the inner
  ear leads to balance disorders hearing
  problems.

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What are Perilymph Fistula symptoms?

• Perilymph Fistula symptoms include
• A feeling of fullness in your ear
• Sudden hearing loss
• Inconsistent hearing loss
• Dizziness /or Vertigo symptoms
• Persistent, mild nausea
• Temporary memory loss
• Motion sickness
• A feeling of unbalance, particularly to one side
• Recurrent headaches
• Persistent ringing in the ears

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• Perilymph Fistula symptoms can worsen when youre
  doing any of these things
• Experience altitude changes
• Lift heavy things
• Sneeze
• Cough
• Laugh

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• Some perilymph fistula patients dont experience
  any symptoms, while others show mild symptoms
  that are hardly noticeable.
• Some people report simply feeling somewhat off
  not in tune with their bodies.
• Although Perilymph Fistula only affects one ear
  at a time, in certain cases, severe head trauma
  can lead to bilateral perilymph fistulas in rare
  cases.

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What are Perilymph Fistula Causes?

• Perilymph Fistula can happen after you experience
  certain head trauma or barotrauma(a condition
  that involves extreme, rapid changes of
  pressure). Several reasons lead to this pressure
  change air travel, childbirth, scuba diving,
  heavy lifting, etc.

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Other potential Perilymph Fistula causes include

• Experiencing whiplash
• Puncture in the eardrum
• Being exposed to loud sounds like gunshots or
  sirens, very close to your ear
• Frequent, serious ear infections
• Blowing your nose very hard

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• In some instances, Perilymph Fistula can also be
  present in a patient since birth.
• In some other cases, patients report developing
  perilymph fistula cases spontaneously, without
  any immediate or apparent cause.
• A major cause for these spontaneous cases is
  usually an old injury to the inner ear membranes,
  which might not have caused any immediate
  symptoms at the time of it happening.

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Perilymph Fistula diagnosis tests

• Perilymph Fistula can be difficult to diagnose as
  a standalone condition. Post-trauma symptoms such
  as dizziness, headache, etc. can be linked to
  other conditions like a traumatic brain injury
  with a concussion.
• Primary Perilymph Fistula symptoms also have a
  lot of similarities to Menieres disease, a
  disorder of the inner ear that causes balance
  disorders hearing loss among patients.

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• . Its also easy to confuse its symptoms with
  Vertigo, another vestibular disease that arises
  out of a fluid disbalance in the inner ear
  causes dizziness, nausea, headache a spinning
  sensation among patients.
• Read up more on Vertigo, its symptoms, diagnosis
  treatment in detail here.

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• Its super important to ensure that your
  healthcare provider gives you the correct
  diagnosis, as Perilymph Fistula Treatment
  treatments for other vestibular conditions like
  Vertigo, Menieres disease, etc. are different.
• Healthcare providers will use a variety of
  Perilymph Fistula tests to diagnose the causes of
  Perilymph Fistula in a patient.

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Some of those tests are

• Hearing tests to ascertain the functionality of
  the patients ears
• Balance tests to determine the functioning of the
  inner ear
• CT Scans
• MRI Scans
• An electronystagmography test, also known as ENG
  Test. The test looks at your inner ear activity
  in the context of different sounds to determine
  if the fluid pressure in your inner ear is
  abnormal,
• Perilymph Fistula test that keeps track of your
  eye movements while applying pressure to your
  external auditory canals

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• Healthcare providers usually consider a
  combination of your medical history test
  results to determine whether a patient is
  suffering from Perilymph Fistula accurately. The
  confirmation often comes from MRI /or CT scans,
  sometimes also with a surgical exploration of the
  affected area.

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Perilymph Fistula treatments

• Perilymph Fistula treatments vary according to
  the symptoms youre experiencing.
• At the onset, your doctor might prescribe you
  something as simple primitive as bed rest
  activity-restriction for about 2-3 weeks to
  minimize the effects of the symptoms.
• If this approach helps your symptoms to subside
  leads to improvement in your condition, your
  healthcare provider might continue with this line
  of treatment.

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• If the above approach doesnt work for you, then
  your doctor might try a Perilymph Fistula
  treatment called the Blood Patch Injection.
• The Blood Patch Injection is a fairly new
  treatment for Perilymph Fistula that involves
  injecting your own blood into your middle ear to
  help patch up the broken window membrane between
  the inner ear the middle ear.
• The Blood Patch Injection may also be used as a
  first-line of Perilymph Fistula treatment in some
  cases of Perilymph Fistula.

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• A 2016 research studied 12 Perilymph Fistula
  patients, all of whom had been given the Blood
  Patch Injection. The study recorded that all
  except one of the patients responded positively
  to the Blood Patch Injection, showed
  improvement in their conditions.

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Is Perilymph Fistula surgery needed?

• If both of the treatments mentioned above dont
  work, your doctor might recommend Perilymph
  Fistula surgery to help ease your condition.
• The surgery usually takes between 30-60 minutes,
  during which your doctor lifts your eardrum
  through your ear canal so tissue grafts can be
  placed as a membrane between your inner ear
  middle ear.
• Post-surgery, patients might experience a little
  dizziness, which may last for up to three days.

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• After three initial days, the perilymph fistula
  surgery recovery period begins, youll soon be
  able to experience normal ear functioning.
• However, its important to remark that in certain
  cases, even Perilymph Fistula surgery might not
  improve or restore hearing loss in a patient,
  congenital or post-traumatic.
• These patients, however, might still experience
  some relief from dizziness, headache persistent
  ringing, with the surgery restoring the fluid
  pressure in their inner ear.

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• As part of the Perilymph Fistula surgery recovery
  period, youre required to take absolute bed rest
  for three days immediately succeeding the
  surgery.
• Youll also be directed by your doctor to adhere
  to these few rules for faster post-surgery
  recovery
• Avoid lifting objects heavier than 10 pounds,
• Avoid activities that could possibly cause strain
  to your nerves, like diving, rock climbing,
  marathon running, lifting weights, etc.
• Sleep with your head elevated to maintain proper
  fluid pressure in the inner ear.

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• Youll need to stick to these guidelines for at
  least the next several weeks to a month
  sometimes, even more, post your Perilymph Fistula
  surgery.
• The recovery period for each individual differs
  according to their condition response to the
  surgery, is usually pegged at 1 month to a few
  post-surgery.
• Its important to follow the guidelines laid out
  by your healthcare provider strictly for the
  entire duration of your post-surgery recovery
  period. Otherwise, your Perilymph Fistula might
  not fully heal.

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• Thanks