Congestion & Barotrauma (?) Led to Tinnitus — Looking for Answers

Hi everyone,

I'm a long-time lurker, first time poster. I want to thank this community for the support and wisdom, it's helped me a lot.

My tinnitus started on January 4th, 2021. Pre-story: I stayed at a friend's house that was rather damp and freezing. I believe it was moldy, too. I did not feel fully sick, but I did develop a minor cold and an irritating cough. The cold was very minor though. Heading home, I felt fine but drove over a mountain range and felt my left ear get blocked a few times, then returning to normal as we descended. The tinnitus started in the left ear the next day, it was intermittent at first and became constant four days in. It's almost always in the left ear, very occasionally popping into the right.

The beginning was so rough. No sleep. I took a course of Prednisone. No difference. The tinnitus was/is worse when lying down. Otherwise, I'm not seeing much of a correlation to anything, e.g. food or time of day. I saw an ENT in March who did say my nasal passages were inflamed, there was some mucus in my left sinus (tinnitus is in the left ear also!) and he also recorded negative pressure in my left ear. He said I have ETD and that also explains why the tinnitus is worse when lying down. I was prescribed Budesonide in saline solution, I took it for two months, but did not feel like it was making a big difference and I don't want to take steroids since they can cause cataracts.

I have not had a cold since and I would say my tinnitus is about 60-70-80 per cent better. It depends on the day. But it's still there, non-stop. And my morale is suffering. I've noticed a potential correlation with my menstrual cycle, the "eeeeeee" always gets really bad around the 19th-20th day of my cycle which should be when progesterone is highest. I know it impacts mucosal tissues: even my endodontist confirmed that when I had cyclical gum pain. Joys of being a woman... So I'm suspecting the mucosa of my inner ear/ET is somehow impacted by hormones. Anecdotal, but I have months worth of logs now.

I am trying to find solace in philosophy and spiritual practices. But I miss silence. I feel broken. I still have hope that it will go away, since I'm doing so much better, the volume is much less, I can sleep again. But sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night, I just feel hopeless. I would love to hear people's takes on congestion/ETD/barotrauma... I appreciate both hope and tough love. Thank you.

 

Hey, my tinnitus also started the night after a bad cold, but I already had some slight hyperacusis after a head trauma from a car accident, so unfortunately I don't know exactly which was the culprit (I lean more towards whiplash). I also took Budesonide because of my cold but it did not make much difference.

However, my tinnitus behaved similar, the first month/months were worse and then it lowered quite a lot and followed a path of long ups and downs. Today I can live with my tinnitus without a problem, most of the time it is pretty low. It is the fear of it getting worse and the constant walking on eggshells, wearing earplugs all the time and so on... So I get the feeling of being broken.