My first thought for his symptoms was Ménière’s, which is an inner-ear problem. If it’s an ear problem, be sure to get a referral for an ENT and not an audiologist, which is where my insurance sent me. An audiologist is a hearing doctor (from Latin audire, “to hear” – audiovisual, audition, audit, audience, auditorium); an ENT – otorhinolaryngologist (Greek – oto- “ear” – cognate with “audire”, showing how languages use the same roots for related but distinct concepts – otoscope, otitis), rhino- “nose” (rhinoceros, rhinoplasty, rhinitis), laryngo-, “throat” (larynx, laryngeal consonants, laryngitis), log- (an element which makes little sense in modern English, but derives from logos, “word (en arkhêi ēn ho lógos, “in the beginning was the Word”) a speech (eulogy), the faculty of reason (logic)”, here in the sense of “theory”, -ist “practitioner”), or ear-nose-throat doctor – deals with the head cavity. The hearing doctor had no clue as to why my hearing was perfect except for the lowest frequencies in my right ear. Pissed me off, though he did blast out my ears with a strong jet of water and I could hear better than ever before.

Thanks be to God that the Ménière’s ran its course in about a year. I doubt it’s that, since Ménière’s causes severe vertigo, tinnitus, and fullness in the affected ear as well as low-frequency hearing loss, though insensible, which is a lot more than just wobbliness. I’m just giving it as my own example.)

Of course it could be a brain tumor.

(I must warn you not to jump to conclusions before you’re checked out, whether it turns out to be as benign as Ménière’s or as serious as cancer or MS. I had trouble swallowing a few years ago, having to swallow over and over to get a bite of food down unless I chased it with a sip of water. Even the primary doctor suspected an obstruction – i.e. throat cancer, and I was still smoking a pack a day then – but the gastroenterologist, after increasingly unpleasant tests, from a simple esophageal endoscopy to a barium swallow to manometry, which is when they stick a tube up your nose and down your throat into the stomach and have you swallow a bunch of times – the gastroenterologist (Gr. gastro-, “stomach”, entero- “intestines”, literally “innards” or “inward parts”) diagnosed esophageal (Gr. oeso-, “bear, carry”, phag-, “eat”, -os, Lat. -alis, “pertaining to”) motility disorder (when the nerves are out of sync with the throat muscles), which ended up going away after a couple of years. Tl;dr it’s overwhelmingly likely to be benign and something you’ve never heard of, especially at only 43. Since the inner ear regulates balance and tumors cause problems with it only if they’re pressing against the nerve, you’re probably fine.)