Vestibular ENG findings in a patient with agoraphobia.A 48-year-old woman came to the office with a 7-year history of agoraphobia Agoraphobia Definition The word agoraphobia is derived from Greek words literally meaning "fear of the marketplace." The term is used to describe an irrational and often disabling fear of being out in public. . She said she experienced great uneasiness upon entering subways, elevators, small rooms, and shopping malls. Her ill feelings began after she had undergone ampicillin ampicillin (ăm'pĭsĭl`ĭn), a penicillin-type antibiotic that is effective against both gram-negative microorganisms and gram-positive microorganisms such as Escherichia coli. treatment for a lung infection. She had no personal or family history of dizziness, hearing loss, or tinnitus. The only abnormality noted on clinical examination was that she had difficulty performing the sharpened tandem Romberg's test. Audiometric au·di·om·e·ter n. An instrument for measuring hearing activity for pure tones of normally audible frequencies. Also called sonometer. au findings were within normal limits, although she did show a mild high-frequency drop in both ears, more so on the right. No spontaneous or positional nystagmus was evident on electronystagmography. Alternate binaural binaural /bi·nau·ral/ (bi-naw´r'l) pertaining to both ears. bin·au·ral adj. Having or relating to both ears. binaural pertaining to both ears. bithermal testing elicited a mildly reduced response to the warm stimulus in both ears. No directional preponderance was present. Simultaneous binaural bithermal testing elicited a strong left-beating nystagmus Nystagmus Definition Rhythmic, oscillating motions of the eyes are called nystagmus. The to-and-fro motion is generally involuntary. Vertical nystagmus occurs much less frequently than horizontal nystagmus and is often, but not necessarily, a sign of with the cool stimulus and a weaker but definite fight-beating nystagmus with the warm stimulus. There was ocular fixation suppression of calorically induced nystagmus. These findings suggested that mismatched information was entering the brainstem from both ears. Agoraphobia is an irrational fear of public or open spaces, it can arise as a result of a vestibular system disorder that is not necessarily associated with dizziness. The uneasiness that affected patients feel is the result of a mismatch between visual and vestibular information that compensatory mechanisms are not able to resolve. From Neurotologic Associates, P.C., New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . |
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