Am I Wasting My Money Going to See an ENT?

I've had a recent spike in the volume of the ringing in my ears- I was woken by it last Monday night. I'm thinking it's been caused by me listening to loud music in a new pair closed back headphones. At the time the ringing in my ears increased, I didn't know what tinnitus was.

For as far back as I can remember, I've always had ringing ears- I actually assumed it was the sound of silence that everyone heard. At the time of the spike, I thought it was caused by me taking vitamin d pills (which I googled, and there is some consensus it can).

I went to see a GP and he look in my ears- he saw that both of them are blocked with hardened ear wax and he suggested that I get them cleaned out. I ended up making an appointment at local pharmacy to get it done on Tuesday. I wanted to clarify what method was going to be used- looking online microsuction seems to be more desirable than syringing, which is what is planned I think. I need to call them to double check.

My problem is that I also booked an appointment to see ENT specialist on Monday- a day before the wax cleaning. My question is: am I wasting my time seeing an ENT doctor before my ears are cleared. Am I just going to be told to get my ears cleaned before anything else can happen?

Looking over posts on this forum, it seems that there is an opportunity to take steroids help reduce the damage if it's done early. So far it's been around 6 days since the initial spike (the loud music listening was spread across a week before the spike, but I don't think I listed to loud music for more than 2 hours total).

I'm panicking because it feels like I should be more proactive in dealing with this. While the ear ringing has gone down slightly since the spike, I'm adamant that it's double what it was before. I don't know whether this is in part due to me thinking about it around the clock. I can hear it over pretty much anything- even busy streets.

I'm also taking magnesium as that's been suggested before. It's probably also worth mentioning my sister and mother also suffer from tinnitus, though I never knew until now. They are both convinced I shouldn't do anything about it except get my ears cleaned.

 

Yeah you would be, they suck and view tinnitus sufferers as a complete waste of time take it from me

They will not help you. There is no cure or treatment. But they won't even tell you if it might be like TMJ or something or anything all

You would be paying for a doctor to tell you to get used to it and maybe get some delicious pills to help numb you from your misery

Save your $

 

I can understand your view on ENT doctors, but surely it would be worth at least one visit? Should I reschedule my appointment until after I've had my ears cleared?

 

I think it makes sense to see an ENT, to rule out ear infections, etc. You may want to see your ENT after that wax procedure.

 

Let me re-word:

Go see an ENT [preliminary caution only] and keep expectations in check as you will probably be disappointed

 

When it comes to the outer and middle ear, there are things an ENT may be able to do. When it comes to the inner ear, say the cause is ‘damaged hair cells’ you are basically wasting your time. I seem to think this is the usual diagnosis, once everything else has been ruled out. The ENT will probably put an auriscope in your ears and tell you everything is normal, there is nothing physically wrong. What are you moaning about .....

 

You're going to let somebody in a pharmacy clean your ears. Do you know damage can be done cleaning wax out of ears? What are their qualifications for ear cleaning, what procedure? I would see the ENT first and let a trained doctor solve the wax problem.

 

After yesterday's seemingly trivial event, with the impact of the iron lid on the tank, I did not rest for the whole day. I was literally going crazy. I could not understand how it happened ... And I decided to recreate the situation, to conduct an experiment with the tank. And heading to him, hooked the tank lid behind the washing machine (a distance of about 3 cm). I did not have time to put my fingers on, as she collapsed again. And I was even closer to the tank - in the half meter. The blow was in my ear ... I experienced a shock. How do you think this is dangerous? I took the NAC for prevention, should it protect? In my I'm going crazy ..

 

I was thinking this as well- the GP I saw said that ear cleaning is no longing provided by the NHS (I live in the uk) and that I would have to book it privately. The GP practice receptionist then told me that their visiting audiologist was fully booked until February next year and recommended that I book at a local pharmacy instead. I will call them before I go to make sure the person doing it is qualified.

If I see the ENT surgeon/ doctor with blocked ears, will he be able to clear them on the day?

 

Of course it's not a waste of money, its important to rule out any other potential issues. I would suggest you get the ENT to do the ear wax cleaning though. I don't let anybody but a specialist near my ears now

 

Here in the US there are drops that can loosen earwax. I would look for something like that and see if you can solve this without intrusive methods and at a reasonable cost.

 

I asked the GP whether I could get away with using ear drops like you suggest and he said there was quite a lot of wax in there but I could try. He said I should use olive oil drops.

Is there a risk that microsuction could make my ear ringing worse? I also wasn't advised that I had to use olive oil drops prior to getting my ears cleaned- I just read a thread where microsuction made someone's tinnitus worse. I'm scared to get this done now.

 

I don't know whether to delay the ENT appointment to a later date and try to resolve the ear blockage with drops now. The reason I want to see the ENT asap is in case I could take steroids for the spike... I don't know whether this is futile.