I am still very concerned for your brother-in-law, Jet Sitter.

There are some very serious conditions that can have loss of hearing and changes in vision as symptoms.

When you say that he sees a dark line in one of his eyes, do you mean that there is a dark area in the field of vision? Is there a loss of vision?

Years ago, my mother had a complete loss of vision in one eye, just momentarily.

My sisters strongly urged her to go to the ER. By coincidence, she had a doctor appt the next day, and she mentioned it to the doctor. The doctor immediately ordered a test to check whether her carotid artery was blocked. Fortunately, everything was okay, but it still was a very serious symptom that needed to be checked out.

The doctor could not explain why it happened, and it said that it might never happen again, and it never did.

However, we were glad anyway that she was checked for a blockage in her carotid artery and that everything was fine.

 

read this

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/26/head....ency/index.html

 

I agree with Sue. I am not a doctor (obviously), but the two incidents, both on his left side, seem like a cause for suspicion. Sometimes it seems that doctors can't see outside their specialty. As Lainey says, maybe it's time to be real pushy. I would recommend a neurologist and insist on an MRI and a CAT Scan. (Again, based on personal experience.)

In any case, I wish him the best.

 

He says that there is a "black line" that he sees in his left eye. The specialist he is going to see next week is going to check is retina for a tear. I do know that he went through a series of tests today and they all came back negative. I agree, if they cannot find the source of the problem, how are they going to treat it. For now, they haven't suggested anything. He turns 60 in another month. He has had bouts with dizzy spells for some time, but he has never lost his hearing before or had the dark line.

 

If he has all those symptoms than he DOES have a serious problem time to find new DR's and pronto!

 

A quick Google search found the following: Black Line.

This person's doctor felt it could be a "mini-stroke."

 

This does sound exactly what the problem is, all the tests came back normal. He did say that the "line" travels. Since both the hearing and the sight problem came together, they most likely are related. A mini stroke could cause both.

 

I had to go back through the thread to see where your brother was located.
It's surprising that he is in NYC.
It sounded more like a small backwater unequipped to handle the case.

I think sometimes you better off having a spouse there to advocate for you and get up in the doc's face.
an acquaintance was having severe migraines which was unusual.
His wife thought he was 'off' and just not right as well but without quantifiable symptoms.
the doctor's office didn't get very excited about it.
after leaving the office she decided to drive him to the hospital ER for a more thorough exam.
He stroked in the parking lot of the ER.
Fortunately becuase care was 15 seconds away, he came out of it OK.
Had they gone home they would have been 40 minutes away with a slightly different outcome probability.

EDIT:
BTW He was in his thirties when it happened.