A Tinnitus Related Problem? (A Type of Ear Discomfort)

[Deathhammer66]

Hi everyone, first of all sorry for my English but it's not my national language so I could make several mistakes...

I've been struggling with some kind of ear discomfort which is not tinnitus itself(well, I can say that I have tinnitus, but it's so small that it doesn't even bother me; I hear it only when it's rather completely silent and that doesn't affect my life in any way) but I believe it may be connected with it. It's been a year since I noticed something is wrong.

The feel is actually very hard to describe as it's very weird and can be various at different times. In the most cases it's like there's something stuck inside my ear. I had my ears washed many times by a doctor and it didn't help at all, I'm sure it's not caused by wax. There are also plenty of other symptoms: itching, tickling and even small pain(but rarely) that is pulsatory. Also, often I get an odd and very uncomfortable feeling of coldness, wind(NOT the sound of wind but the feeling like the wind blows inside your ear) and water(but my ear isn't wet at all). It usually lasts after a few seconds but it's truly unpleasant. Additionally, I've noticed that it almost always happens when I get up from my bed after lying on it for a longer period of time. I don't know, maybe it's something connected with a change of blood pressure? However, it also happens when I'm just sitting and just reading the internet... Furthermore, the other thing that I have noticed is that usually my overall discomfort is smaller on the morning and it gets worse as the day goes on.

About four months ago I went to laboratory with my ear swab and it was revealed that I have Staphylococcus aureusin my ear and some kind of fungus also so I was pretty sure that's the cause for my problem. Soon later I went for a five-day therapy in order to elliminate it. After it was finished I felt like it got overall better but shortly after it just came back to the previous state(a placebo effect?). Recently I've made another test; it had shown that there's nothing infectious in my ear so I believe the discomfort is not really connected with bacteries or something like that...

Now I think it's necessary to say that I'm a huge fan of music(metal music in particular). I've bought my stereo system back in 2014 and since then I have been listening to much music everyday. It was surely quite loud but obviously not to the point where it caused pain or even any smaller discomfort or uncomfortable feel. There was nothing suspicious going on. Also, I was usually listening to music on my headphones before sleeping; just an hour, not more. Well I have to admit that I was listening on a high volume but it didn't cause any symptoms; when the album ended I just took off the headphones and everything was fine. Now I'm obviously almost totally absent from using them(last time it was August this year) as I'm very freaked out and I don't want to make things even worse. I must mention that I never use in-ear headphones as I know they could make damage to ears very easily, I'm using just headset(circumaural headphones). Well, listening to music, discovering new albums etc. is my passion and the thing that I love doing in my free time mostly, but nowdays I don't find any pleasure in doing it - all because of that weird things going on inside my ears. Being in silence helps a bit but it doesn't make the feeling disappear. Honestly it all makes me depressed and frustrated as I can't enjoy the thing that I like the most. I believe my problem is very likely to be connected with loud music, but it's weird at the same time - I don't hear any voices, it's surely not tinnitus and I also don't have any ear damage detected(in fact, my hearing was considered perfect so...). I wonder if there's any solution to my problem. Of course, I have visited many doctors but most of them are just helpless and don't know what's going on. I even had CAT scan of my ears to see if my ear drum isn't damaged for example but it showed that everything is ok. I really don't know what to do... Currently I am trying not to listen any music or just VERY quietly to see if that will make any difference...

So, anyone here with similar problems? Maybe someone knows the solution, I would be grateful to see any advices...

Sorry for wall of text, by the way, I am not very good with explaining things shortly.

 

[Deathhammer66]

So once again I am back there and my doctor sees absolutely nothing - like my ears are fully ok. I am getting closer and closer to believe that's something related to nerves, brain or something. I am going to visit a neurologist.

Since my first post things have changed a bit; now it's different but it seems the whole situation is even worse. So, my left ear seems to be full but there's no wax. It is also "muffled" in some way but my hearing is fine; hard to explain. However, the thing that does really bother me recently is my right ear, which is ringing(but the sound itself is not that annoying, I can stand it and I often don't even notice the sounds) and I feel really goddamn physical discomfort here, it's not pain but it's plain irritating and annoying, like there's a spike stuck inside. Like I said it doesn't hurt me(only pulsatory pain but it's rare - occurs once a few days and lasts after a moment) but it makes me exhausted and deconcencrated. They say there's nothing inside - but I FEEL some kind of the physical object. Since it all started about one and half week ago I also feel a weird pressure on right side of my head sometimes - that would make sense because my main problem currently is right ear. Furthermore, when I swallow water I feel something in the right ear, like the fluid gets inside... not literally, but the moment I swallow I feel like something moves in my ear... another thing really hard to explain, sorry guys but I'm trying as much as I can.

Any ideas?

 

[stophiss]

I think its possible you have an ear fairy. Ear fairies are virtually invisible, fly around quickly and are hard to spot.
They do wacky things like blow in our ears...and even stick a feather in our ears and tickle them. Many with T have such companions and I haven't heard of a way to get rid of them.

Seriously...good luck. Don't rule out allergies...if your ears feel plugged or itch.
It seems many on this forum with tinnitus and hyperacusis have a different feeling in their ears like you describe including me. Although my hearing is pretty good, my ears feel a bit plugged at times.. It may even be muscle related specific to the inner ear. Don't know and hopefully somebody will try to give you a better explanation.

Good luck.

 

[Deathhammer66]

I think its possible you have an ear fairy. Ear fairies are virtually invisible, fly around quickly and are hard to spot.
They do wacky things like blow in our ears...and even stick a feather in our ears and tickle them. Many with T have such companions and I haven't heard of a way to get rid of them.

Allergy it's rather not. I had multiple tests done to reject this possibility.

Good luck.

Well thank you. I know it's hard to come with proper explanation of my problem. It is quite unusual and even I find it hard to describe it all what I exactly feel...