I Came Down with an Ear Infection

So I came down with an ear infection in my left ear this week. And my left ear has been ringing on and off for the past 3 days. Will this eventually go away when the infection clears? Because I normally just have T on my right ear and I don't really feel like having it on my left as well.

 

@Lisa123 did you see a doctor? I'd discuss with the ENT a course of prednisone and non-ototoxic anthibiotics

 

Yes I did, I have been taking antihistamines(cirrus) and anti-biotics (amoxicilline) for 2 days now. My ear doesn't hurt anymore, but it still feels 'full' and the ringing persists

 

If ENT diagnosed an infection, the anthibiotics should work in 4-7 days. I'd give a try to prednisone too

 

Yes my GP diagnosed an infection (to get to an ENT where I live you have to atleast wait 2 weeks) and prescribed me those medicines. Why would you advise prednisone?

 

The sense of fullness is normal at this stage, once recovered it will go away together with the ringing. Don't focus on it!

 

take methylprednisolone immediately together with amoxicillin
start with 32mg methylprednisolone and from response you will see what you do after.
antibiotic will clear infection but corticosteroids will clear inflammation quickly.
If you don't clear inflammation you will kill bacteria but can be too late for inner ear.
In these conditions with antibiobitics must get and corticosteroids together.
Is life saving if you get it quickly before inflammation expands.
The 1st problem is the inflammation and 2nd problem the bacteria.
You must kill bacteria that cause inflammation but first must stop inflammation.
There are cases that bacteria killed but inflammation continues for some days more so the
damage can be done from your immune system response to bacteria and from bacteria itself
for this reason methylprednisolone is essential in therapy of bacteria.
In reality corticosteroids does not kill bacteria but after some use help bacteria to expand
because the stop immune response. But if you get for 2-3 days you avoid the catastrophic
side effects of inflammation until antibiotic kill bacteria.

I think that your ent is not good you tell that you have ringing and it did not give you corticosteroids? Damn idiot.
Take immediately corticosteroids every second you loose the possibilities to recover reduce dramatically.

 

I totally agree, but I'd start with a higher dosage (of course, always to discuss with doctor!)

 

My ear doesn't hurt anymore, can it still be inflamed if it doesn't hurt anymore?
You're kind of scaring me

 

yes

 

I agree you are more correct.
Start with higher dose 70-80mg methylprednisolone now and make a pray not to be too late.
Don't wait tomorrow take methylprednisolone NOW.
5 x 16mg pills = 80mg

Nerve cells don't die immediately but after die there is not exist regeneration so if you take it now
perhaps it not too late. The best was to have taken from the first moment you heard T.
Don't wait your doctor tomorrow it will be too late take it now...

 

It's not possible that everyone who has an ear infection and gets prescribed only antibiotics and antihistamines will get permanent T. There must be people out there who had some sort of temporary T during their ear infection. It isn't even that severe at the moment. Only bothersome in silent rooms

 

@Lisa123 No one is a medical doctor here, but I agree that you should ask your doctor about a short series of steroids. They are often given along with antibiotics for ear infections.

If your ENT won't prescribe steroids, see if your family doctor will. Sometimes, those family doctors are more willing to help us than ENTs or neurotologists.

It is very possible, of course, that your new tinnitus will resolve on its own. I would NOT be afraid or focus on it. That is the worst thing you can do. You need to relax and try to ignore it, and preferably also keep soft masking sounds on in the background for a month or two.

That said, a short series of steroids may be the "ounce of prevention" you need to insure the new noise does not become permanent.

So be strong and find a doctor ASAP who'll help you. You will be fine!!

For more information on steroids and tinnitus, see this thread:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...ers-oral-and-injections.348/page-3#post-87062​

 

Everything seems to be fine now today. My left ear has calmed down. The ringing seems very faint now even when plugging my ears. Hopefully it'll stay this way. I'll keep this post updated. Perhaps to reassure those who are new to T and get an ear infection with their pre-existing T, that everything will be just fine

 

I am very glad that you are feeling better.

And FWIW, I am unaware of a single reliable and verifiable study indicating that steroids have any role whatsoever in cases such as yours. It's true that some doctors do prescribe them, but best I can determine it's more based on the idea, "Well, why not give steroids a shot - couldn't hurt" than on any science. For somebody posting here to needlessly scare you and to characterize your own doctor as a "Damn idiot" for practicing responsible evidence-based medicine is not my idea of what support boards should be about.

Dr. Stephen Nagler

 

I was offered steroids 2 weeks after i got T. I figured this was too late and i could not find any science behind it.
My MD doctor offered it so I wonder, was she a "Damn idiot" to put me at the risk for the side effects of steroids or she was a "Damn smart" and I am looser who did not take the offer? Steroids seems like an experiment. I did not take it. Should I regret it? I will never know. Hard to call those doctors idiots as they just don't know themselves. The only think that I know for sure is that I was an idiot of not knowing how serious me hearing is. I was aware, but not enough to protect myself a little better.

 

@Lisa123 -

Firstly, I am so sorry that your ear infection caused you Tinnitus. It is generally believed that your Tinnitus is, however, generally treatable and manageable - that's the good news.

For what it's worth, I have a deep inner ear or lower middle ear inflammation and/or infection that has caused sometimes-severe, but always persistent, Tinnitus in both of my ears, but mostly my left ear, for the past 9 weeks. And, 9 weeks in, after just ~4 days on them, I am responding very well to amoxicillin and prednisone. I'm not sure which of the two medicines is mostly responsible, but I suspect that the anti-inflammatory properties of prednisone have been giving me much of my relief.

@Dr. Nagler is right, and what he says is exactly what other doctors have told me at the various hospitals (like Mass Eye & Ear Infirmary) and ENTs that I have seen - no one really has a protocol that insists on prescribing steroids as part of a treatment course for otitis media. I was prescribed steroids very much with the "oh well, why not? it can't hurt" mentality.

To set your mind at ease -- The only cases that I ever know of prednisone being time-sensitive to administer are in cases of acute hearing loss where there is suspected damage to the cilia of your cochlea; in those cases, prednisone can help mitigate and potentially heal some of the damage if administered within the first 72 hours of an onset of hearing loss. This is proven research that MEEI conducted back in the 1980s, but only applies to the sudden and dramatic onset of very noticeable hearing loss. It is not applicable to most cases of Tinnitus, but obviously, you might understand why there's a lot of panic about things being "too late" or you needing to "act quickly." It generally does not apply to cases like yours or mine.

Sending you positive thoughts this New Year, and I'm thrilled you are feeling better!

 

Treatment of acute tinnitus
There is a consensus among clinicians and researchers that
different neuronal mechanisms are involved in the onset of
tinnitus and in the transition from acute to chronic tinnitus.
Therefore, treatment approaches will probably vary with the
duration of the disease. There is no pathophysiologically
founded border between “acute” and “chronic” tinnitus.
The currently used distinction is arbitrary and varies between
3 and 6 months.
In the majority of cases, acute tinnitus resolves spontaneously.
Thus therapeutic strategies could aim to provide an
environment that facilitates tinnitus recovery. For example,
in the case of acute tinnitus associated with sudden hearing
loss or noise trauma, treatment strategies which restore
hearing function are expected to have beneficial effects on
tinnitus. In sudden sensorineural hearing loss up to 65% of
patients experience spontaneous recovery of pre-loss hearing,
others experience no recovery at all. The high variability suggests
that there are different forms of sudden sensorineural
hearing loss with different etiologies. Among others, vascular,
inflammatory, and infectious mechanisms are probably
involved. Accordingly, proposed treatments include systemic
or intratympanic steroids [60-62], vasodilators [63], and antiviral
agents [64,65]. Good evidence is only available for steroids [66],
with intratympanic steroids being equivalent to high-dose oral
prednisone therapy as primary therapy. As salvage therapy,
intratympanic steroids may offer the potential for some degree
of additional hearing recovery, although it remains uncertain
if this improvement is clinically significant [67].
(Berthold Langguth† & Ana Bele´n Elgoyhen
†Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Germany)

Here prednisone is part of the frontline therapy. In my case, it lowered the volume of my T around 30%

 

So if you actually read papers 60, 61, and 62, you will see that the first two papers deal with sudden hearing loss and the third involves the use of oral xanax with or without intratympanic dexamethasone injections.

I'll stand by my original statement.

Dr. Stephen Nagler

 

I went back to the ENT today (I was lucky I could make an appointment for today). So my left ear went back to ringing loudly and it continued feeling stuffed. I wasn't going to keep testing my luck so I went back. They did some tests and apparently I've got some fluid behind my eardrum. Not enough to perforate it though, so she prescribed me Medrol. Hopefully this will help and I can go back to my usual tinnitus which I was already habituating to..

 

Hi @Lisa123, I was wondering how you are feeling now? How is the T?

 

Got to say I think Carlos's warnings and advice totally irresponsible.

Lisa did it all clear in the end?