New Tinnitus — I Need Hope — Everything Started on a Flight During Landing

Hello,

I’ll start from the beginning! Everything started in June on a flight during landing where I was experiencing severe pain from the pressure. I had tried everything, swallowing, yawning, etc and nothing was working so I blocked my nose and blew. This caused my eardrum to perforate which has not healed since mid June.

At the time I had no idea what was going on so after a GP visit, I found out I had an ear infection which was easily treated with ear drop antibiotics.
Once that was treated, I went back and found out I have a perforation along with retracted eardrums. The retracted eardrums fixed itself but the perforation did not.
5 months of dealing with no water in my ear, clicking sounds and hyperacusis later I started developing tinnitus in that ear.

I have not been eating, sleeping or doing anything apart from crying for the past 2 weeks. I need hope. My ENT appointment is in 17 days but I don’t know how long I can deal with this noise for. The GP can’t do much more to help me other than telling me to wait for my appointment.

If anyone has had/knows of a case similar to mine who has recovered, PLEASE let me know, I need hope.

 

Mine started after a flight as well. Mine did not disappear, but it got a lot better. It went from severe to mild and I can live a happy life with it now. I have tinnitus since June 2018.
You have to give it time and you need patience. It takes a while before the ears heal. Try not to panic too much, although I know that is very very hard. Mine started to reduce after 6 months and then it became mild.
Also, if your ENT can’t help you, and if you feel mentally unstable, it could be useful to get help from a therapist. It helped me a lot.
If you have any questions, feel free to message me.

 

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ruptured-eardrum/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20351884

According to the article, the eardrum perforation can be fixed, so plenty of hope. In the interim, need to prevent water getting into the ear, so moldable wax earplugs in the shower, or another earplug that does not go in deeply designed for swimming.

 

Is your eardrum still perforated? If this is the case, your outlook is very good. In one of the studies that you will find in the thread below
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-many-recover-3-studies.21441/
a bunch of people got tinnitus after being the victims of a terrorist bomb. Most of them had their eardrum damaged by the blast. After their eardrum has healed, eventually most of them had experienced their tinnitus going away.

If you have had tinnitus for less than a month, there is still a good chance that it will go away, or at least begin fading and get to the "can hear it only in quiet rooms" stage. The first 3-6 months are the worst - it will get better!

If over the next 2-3 months you experience any fading, you can assume that it will continue to fade and that eventually you will feel better.

You will want to ensure that you don't hurt your ears again, during this time of healing when you might be more vulnerable than usual.

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

If your eardrum does not heal by itself it can be "repaired" by an ENT, like putting a patch on it. Go to the doctor..

 

Thank you for the hope, it’s so helpful. Did you have a perforated eardrum after flying too?

 

Thank you for the links, I’ve had a good read!
My eardrum is still perforated unfortunately. I’m worried that if I have it patched by the ENT that it will make the tinnitus worse. I’m just so scared to be like this forever.

 

I’ve been to the doctor around 20 times since the perforation, I’m waiting on my ENT appointment which is taking forever to happen! I just want the tinnitus to stop!!

 

Is there any other way to ensure that it heals? Could it be that not patching it is just prolonging the time for it to heal, meaning that eventually it ought to heal?

 

I wonder if there is? I read somewhere that the ent gave them steroids to help the healing process...
If not, I don’t think I have another choice but to get it patched.

 

Are your eardrums still perforated?

 

Hi, yep it’s still perforated! Almost 6 months now.

 

Why dont you just go to a private ENT? That's fast..

 

I haven’t got the money for it. Although that would be the dream.

 

One thing PRP is really good at is healing eardrum perforations and that is backed up with scientific evidence.

 

What is a PRP?

 

Platelet-rich-plasma

 

Do you reckon an ENT would do this for me? Or is it something I have to pay for?

 

There are studies that show that PRP can help heal perforated eardrums:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18954495

Was about to suggest the same thing

 

That’s messed up. My wife had her eardrum rupture after a severe infection and it healed. Every few years the ent puts tubes thru the eardrums to help them drain..the tubes are so the drums don’t heal.

You need a better ent.

People are too complacent trying the valsalva. When I’m working I do it 5x a day, for 20 years with no issues.
Your eardrum is not healing for a reason.