Sudden Onset Tinnitus in One Ear

Hello all, I've been reading threads from this forum quite a bit for the last few days and wanted to share my story.

I was battling a pretty bad cold about a week and and went to rest in my car during lunch at work. I laid the seat back and was just listening to the radio (not loud at all). As soon as I got up and out of my car, I noticed my hearing was muffled a bit in my left ear and within minutes, pain and tinnitus had set in. I finished my shift at work, went home, took 2 ibuprofen and about a 2 hour nap.

When I awoke the pain was all gone, but the muffledness and tinnitus remained. I went to see an ENT two days later who said the ear looked infected and also had a bunch of impacted wax. Didn't seem to concerned about the ringing, but like most doc's he didn't seem too concerned about anything. I have an appointment tomorrow to get the impacted wax removed (he had to get "approval" to do the procedure due to my b.s. insurance). He also put me on a 10 day course of Amoxicillin for the infection and some Allegra for the sinus congestion.

My ears are very important to me (aren't they to everyone? ) Music is my passion, and while I can still sing and play guitar and write, working on the actual audio side of things would be quite difficult with the muffled hearing in one ear + constant 10,000hz ringing (the approximate tone of my tinnitus). I don't believe my T is caused by exposure to loud noise as I actually work on audio at really low levels (an audio engineering trick to help the music "translate" to higher levels and still sound good).

I guess I just made this post because I'm holding out hope that the wax removal plus the meds will clear up my problem and that I'll be back to my old self in no-time, but I am getting a bit down by reading everyones postings about having T for YEARS with no relief at all. I hope that I can post some good news tomorrow evening. Thanks in advance for any reading/support.

 

@MidnightOilAudio Welcome to this forum! I hope you get some good news and results from your ENT tomorrow. Be sure to let us know. I had sudden onset tinnitus in my right ear, so I understand the difficulty. But you are so fresh with the onset and got right on it. It sounds like things will go well for you.

 

Thanks, svintegrity. Was your tinnitus accompanied by a head cold or ear infection?

 

Hi 12am, There is a chance wax is the cause, it is listed as one of the causes of tinnitus, and I would imagine if there is enough wax packed in the ear there would be a muffling sound. If cleaning out the wax does the trick, let us know so we can share it with other who may ask, it not we will help all we can.

Also most who have had tinnitus are on this site once, so you will read a lot of sad stories. Have a look at Demi's "Positivity Thread under support, a lot of good stories there.

I will say a prayer for you right now...

 

Thanks, Gary. That means a lot.

I know exactly what you mean about people only being on the site once. One encouraging thing I read elsewhere was that when people have problems, they post-post-post away, but when everything clears up or is fine, you hear nothing. That's why the balance between success stories and painful battles seems so skewed towards the latter.

I am going to post tomorrow evening regardless of the outcome. If nothing else, this horrid episode has given me a glimpse into what some people have suffered with for decades. I can't even imagine that at this point.

Thanks again.

 

12:00 a.m. Glad you see my point. We will all be looking forward to hear from you tomorrow. Remember if you have an infection too, it may take a week or so for the meds to work...

 

You are most welcome Twitch. Have a look at this, you may find it most enlightening. Checkout symptoms and when to see a doctor, it's right the on the first page.

The Mayo Clinic is one of the most respected institutions in the US

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/carotid-artery-disease/basics/symptoms/con-20030206

 

Hi everyone, following up as promised, though not with an answer yet.

I am sitting in the docs office waiting to be seen and have my impacted wax removed. Wish me luck.

 

Well, got my ears cleaned out. There was A LOT of wax in my left ear. I will refrain from posting a pic.

Unfortunately my hearing still feels muffled and clogged and the tinnitus remains. He said the ear still looks infected (I'm only 5 days in to my 10 day course), and he said there's fluid behind the eardrum.

My doctor isn't very personable, so he didn't really offer me any empathy or explanation when I asked about the tinnitus. He just kept repeating "finish this round of meds and come back in a week".

 

@MidnightOilAudio .. Hi! How are you feeling? How things turned out for you? Hope you are feeling better!

 

See my above reply.

I stupidly didn't say in my post however, that the doctor noticed fluid behind my eardrum in my left ear, which is where the ringing is coming from. I was really hoping the tinnitus would fade as he pulled out all the impacted wax, but it wasn't so.

I am hoping the fluid clears up soon and I can be back to a tinnitus-free, or at least reduced-tinnitus life.

*edit: Oh, I guess I did mention the fluid behind the eardrum. Anyway, just trying to be patient and let this thing takes its course.

 

I'm glad the doctor found something so that he can treated!!!! You will be fine... Hopefully once the fluid clears up the T should go... Believe and you will see it! Blessings!!!!!!

 

Check for sudden hearing loss.
You must immediately start corticosteroids.
You can't wait the after will be too late.
Again start immediately corticosteroids you have not time to loose it's serious condition
that needs pulse corticosteroids.

 

Hi 12a.m. at this point just take you're meds and see if it clears up. Did he give you meds for the infection or something for the fluid. If you don't mind teling, what did he give you..

 

Hi Gary. He gave me amoxicillin for the infection and just told me to take Claritin-D (the 12-hour variety) twice a day. I think I am going to get a second opinion. I am going to finish his prescribed course of meds, but he just doesn't listen to what I'm saying, ie. his bedside manner is terrible.

 

I Agree, that's what I did, first ENT did not seem to really care, it was like he gave up before he even started. See if you can get a copy of his findings and what he did so you can show the other Dr. I would make the appointment now though, not wait until you finish the meds, but then that's me being me. if I do like a Dr I am otta there...

 

@gary Great advice!

 

I'm actually back at my primary care doctors office right now to get another referral.

Since I made this appointment on such short notice, I wasn't able to see my usual doctor, just a physicians assistant. She wasn't very reassuring regarding the ringing, but I inderstand there's nothing she can really say.

I'll continue to update this thread as my life continues to suck.

 

@MidnightOilAudio Thanks for keeping us posted. My T was not caused by a cold or infection. I have a vascular loop that courses through the internal meatus in my right ear. I hope the meds help clear up your problem. Best of luck!

 

@MidnightOilAudio I saw countless specialists over the course of the past year, and nobody was reassuring about the ringing. I think they just don't know much about tinnitus. The important thing is regardless of what people tell you, do not give up! You will find an answer of something that will work for you. You are still new to onset, so it may clear up. @gary has given some good advice above.

 

@svintegrity Again, thanks for the words of encouragement.

About the only thing positive that I have going for me at the moment is that I have not had tinnitus without any other symptoms. By that I mean, I have had an ear infection/fluid behind my eardrums along with the high-frequency loss and "fullness" feeling the entire time. I am just hoping with everything I have that the tinnitus clears when the fluid/infection does.

 

@MidnightOilAudio Yes, it is very positive that you have the other ear symptoms that may clear up and the tinnitus will resolve itself. That is my hope for you too! Please keep us posted.

 

Ok, so I saw a Physicians assistant who saw quite a bit of blood in my ear from the impacted wax extraction. She prescribed something called "neomycin polymyxin hc". Does anyone have any experience with this? She just said she didn't want me to get an outer ear infection on top of everything else in battling. But from what I've read on here, one needs to be very careful about what meds one puts in ones ear....

 

I would not use that. It is an aminoglycoside antibiotic. They are known to be ototoxic and with the off chance that your ear drum is ruptured you don't want to damage your ear .

 

12, it is true certain meds can cause T, but there are literary thousands of meds that have T as a side affect. I would not want to see you get a bad ear infection. Why don't you pose this question to Dr. Nagler over on "The Doctors Conner"

He is an ENT & has severe T.

 

I didn't know that Dr. Nagler was an ENT. I thought his area was general surgery. Thanks.

 

He is a surgeon.

 

I had a very bad reaction to neomycin eardrops. I would strongly advise against using these. Very strongly. The doctors will tell you that the ototoxicity is only a problem if taken systemically or introduced to the inner ear, and is safe topically if the eardrum is intact. That is not my experience or that of some other people. I had a terrible worsening of T 4 days after starting the drops (a massive new whirring sound whereas before I only had a high pitched tone). This went down some over a few weeks (not completely) but then I got hit with another big permanent T increase following a noise exposure that probably would not have hurt me beforehand. I am pretty sure that the neomycin predisposed me to this subsequent damage. Overall, I went from a fairly mild T that bugged me occasionally to one that has transformed how I feel about life.

Many people are probably fine, but I would advise not to risk it.

 

svintegrity I stand corrected, I re-read his Bio, he works with tinnitus patience among other things. Go and have a look. Either way he is a God send to many here...