3 Months Yesterday

I've been perusing the forum for the last couple months, but had to stop by and get some advice. I was diagnosed with Eustachian Tube Dysfunction in 2009. It really never bothered me, other than having to hold my nose and blow my tube open every once in a while. Well, on 1/25/2016, I was having a real bad pressure day. At 11:20 am, stupid me thought it would be a good idea to stick my pinky finger in my ear and try to de-pressurize that way. As soon as I took my finger out, I got a high pitch eeeeeeeeeeeeee for a week and a half. Had an emotional breakdown at work and got so fed up that I took my finger and flicked the inside of my ear again. It then went down an octave to more of a hum. Went to the ENT and I do have conductive hearing loss. Very minor. Went to a specialist and was diagnosed with otosclerosis. I am skeptical as this all started by sticking my finger in my ear, then the sound changed after doing it again. The noise has now changed to more of like electricity and comes and goes. Some days it is like an electric zap every few seconds and days like today, it is like I am standing next to a power line. Some days, it is completely silent. I broke down at home last night as I couldn't deal with it. I'm going to a chiro today, another ENT on Thursday and a neurologist on Friday. My co-worker and sister in law have gotten used to their tinnitus, but their's have been a constant sound. How do you get used to something that goes silent and then comes back with a vengeance?

P.S. I went to an audiologist to get fitted for a hearing aid. The specialists said that it should get rid of the tinnitus since the conductive hearing loss is minor. Well, it didn't. I am also not a candidate for surgery since my hearing loss is so minimal. Between the hearing aid not working and the sudden onset after I stuck my finger in my ear, that is why I am skeptical it is otosclerosis. I feel as though I hit a nerve somewhere within the ear and it is going all hay-wire. It is usually fine if I sleep on my left side (affected ear), but if I fall asleep watching TV, or get woken up suddenly after a peaceful-ish day...bam, it is all sorts of electricity/cicada sounds going through my head.

 

Do you need surgery for otosclerosis ?
Give your hearing aid time as can take a while to adjust to it.
Put it in when you get up till about an hour before bed time.
Keep your fingers away from your ear as tempting as it is....lots of love glynis

 

Funny thing is I didn't realize I had hearing loss, I thought voices were more muffled on the phone because of ETD. The voices would clear up when I blew open my tubes. Apparently, it wasn't very noticeable. The doctor gave me a year prescription of fluoride tablets to slow the progression of the otosclerosis. The hearing loss is minimal and unnoticeable and never bothered me, so I wouldn't need the surgery.

On your comment about the hearing aid: I went in for the fitting and put it on. The tinnitus was still there, although I could hear fans/vents at the same pitch in both ears, so I knew it was working for the hearing loss. I got really depressed when I could still hear the tinnitus. The audiologist then tried some masking sounds, but none really worked. The tinnitus pitch is in the higher frequencies. I did a test on my iPhone and it is probably in the 12000-13000 Hz range. Not much can really mask it except for my morning shower. I walked out of there without a hearing aid, which was back on March 23rd. The original, constant tone was probably around 8000Hz. This new buzz/zaps is actually more tolerable because it isn't AS loud and is intermittent. I think I went the first week of the month with very low, unnoticeable T and then fell asleep watching TV. I woke up to zaps and buzzing like crazy! It subsided within two days to the normal pitch and then bam, did it again about a week later. It is the spikes that get me. I figured if the T was from otosclerosis and hearing loss, it would be constant. I remember that I cracked my neck one day and it went completely away for a second or two.

Anyway, I'm thinking about going back in and trying the hearing aid again now that I've had time to think it over. Luckily, insurance helps pay some, so it won't be as expensive as it could be.

Thanks for responding!