Bad Day = Muffled Hearing — Prednisone, Yay or Nay?

Long story short... I went to an ENT 2 days ago to check my right ear after I pulled on it (with some pain) a few weeks ago... I told him my hearing was better out my left ear. He said "that's odd as the left ear is full of wax"... He pulled out a piece about 2cm long (manually). That ear felt slightly muffled afterwards, but nothing too bad and seemed okay 30 minutes later.

I drove an hour back with a family member at the wheel... I wore Peltor X5as while on the highway (except when ascending a very tall bridge). I noticed things seemed a little louder on the way back (vehicle is RAM 1500 and very quiet normally). Once into town, I took the earmuffs off and found the truck louder than usual. Then I noticed the rear window behind me had been cracked about an inch the whole way back, the family member driving must have touched the button by accident (and didn't notice).

When I got home, my hearing was muffled in both ears. Not majorly but everything sounded soft. I seemed to recover some of the high frequencies that night, but not totally.

Next day and today my left ear still feels a bit muffled and the tinnitus is through the roof in both ears (especially the right which was my trouble ear to begin with).

I have Prednisone already prescribed by my doctor for tinnitus flare-ups... but I am not sure if I would take it or not (some posts by @Matchbox seem to indicate one could be worse off). I am a little gun shy as I know it has caused my spikes to increase while on it, but also give the occasional "quiet" day...

What would you do, if in the same boat?

 

I would take a hearing test at home, compare it to my normals, and determine that way. If there's a drop beyond 5 dB, I'd probably take it. Be sure it's in the same spot, same quiet as usual.

No drop? Even if the tinnitus is screaming, no steroids.

Taking steroids also risks putting yourself in a bad situation where you can't get off, especially frequently taking it, even smaller dosing.

If I ever take them, it's ALWAYS supppppper gradual tapering and ALWAYS avoiding sounds whilst on them to avoid new tones or awful garbage wavering. Who knows why I got them, but you don't want them, so don't do what I did.

 

Thanks for the reply. Up until the fall I had used them willy-nilly if I had a spike. But not high dosage, like maybe 15 mg for a few days, 10 mg for a few, 5 mg, 2.5 mg and decided it probably wasn't good for me. I did get days of silence even on those types of doses.

Unfortunately, I don't have any hearing tests to check against (even an online one). I just have unscientific methods of standing in front of a mono sound source and comparing left and right ears. Up until a few days ago, the left was more prominent especially with high frequencies (crystal clear sounding). But now, while still localized to the left, things sound more "AM" radio quality rather than "FM", although I have had fluctuation in hearing quality many times over the 18 years of this nonsense.

I am thinking I will see how things are tomorrow morning (~2.5 days since the events). If things are still off (or worse), I will probably start, although perhaps not such a high starting dose (60 mg) as most people take.

 

Anything over 5 mg will be detrimental if you keep using it willy nilly.

If steroids work? Great. It's inflammation based, start going down that route, hold the steroids for if you lose hearing.

It can make things a lot worse using them so much (trust me).

It isn't like a benzo vacation, they're last resort meds (especially over even a mg! you need to remember this stuff is WAY more potent than the cortisol you make, doses for people with Addison's disease is in the range of 1-5mg).

If you develop cortisol resistance (which might not go away!), then the tinnitus will never die down on it's own, and you'll start getting a slew of other really bad health issues or possibly trigger something autoimmune (worse hearing loss and bilateral tinnitus, your hips will decay and die or develop glaucoma in your 30s). Basically treat it as the ace up your sleeve, not the Advil you take for a headache.

For testing hearing I use Hearing App from Google Play and some good quality headphone cans. That in a quiet quiet quiet room is what I do. Works fantastic. Keep a log every week or so so you actually "have" a comparison. Very useful if you lose hearing to have actual proof at the ER.

 

No, I would not take Prednisone.

 

Hi @frischky -- Check out THIS POST on Vit. D as a potential (and plausible) alternative to Prednisone. And this...

Prednisone for Hyperacusis: Any Experiences? Natural Alternatives?

At the above link, I discuss bioidentical hydrocortisone as a possible substitute for prednisone. I actually think hydrocortisone is a better option than Prednisone, because as you likely know, a person can experience some pretty severe side effects from Prednisone, including anxiety, sleeplessness, etc. I believe that even relatively low doses of hydrocortisone for a few days has the potential to have a significant impact on inflammation in the inner ears.

 

Wierd, both time I got my earwax cleaned out I got tinnitus. The second time it worsened it. Earwax may protect ears from sound damage imo. Only issue is water getting clogged and getting an infection.

 

Sorry to crash this thread but I have a very similar question!

I haven't been on the forum for a while because I kind of learned to live with my tinnitus. Even when fleeting tinnitus episodes caused a huge spike, I would try and relax, telling myself that this will soon pass. And it usually does.

For me, I have noticed a huge huge huge link between fleeting tinnitus and upper muscle tension. Sometimes I get a spike that lasts a bit longer but a massage or a warm bath or hot compress will actually ease that.

I have TMJ, as you might know. I have been using a new splint for a while and it's relaxing me more, I don't have as much pain as before.

Now... This sounds great, doesn't it?

It was, until today.

I was checking some messages on my phone when I suddenly felt this drop like in fleeting tinnitus in my left ear. But it felt different, too, because there was no big spike with it and even when I moved my head back into a straight position, it wouldn't go. And then I had this super weird feeling of pressure and fullness and as if something was just stuck in my ear canal. I felt like I heard my own voice weirdly and the left ear was muffled.

I could still hear the TV in the other room or other people talking, but it just felt off. I could hear the ticking of my watch. Still, it was as if I was "wrong" in the room, disorienting because one side wasn't "open". No vertigo though.

I decided to lay down on my bed because I thought it might help if it was muscle tension, but it didn't do anything. It feels as if my left eardrum is "heavier" when I move my head to the right side than vice versa.

I drank some water to calm down and took a very hot shower. It feels a bit off still but almost normal now, I am not disoriented anymore . If this was the level I had gotten from the start, I would think it may be TMJ or not important, but seeing how there was this moment of pure panic-inducing weirdness, I am so scared this was SSHL.

The whole period of feeling a lot of pressure, quite a lot of muffling etc lasted about 1 hours and 43 minutes.

It is too long to be fleeting tinnitus, but is it too short to have been SSHL?

My ENT is on vacation, the next ER is a ways off and I am not sure they would give me anything. They didn't when I went once for a spike because of loud noise.

Should I try to get Prednisone some other way? How?

I took some NAC I had in the house because I read that it can help. What would you do now? I am scared I am missing an important window, I am scared this means my hair cells are damaged or dying, I am scared it will be back.

I am also scared to go to a doctor and being told I am crazy. Or also, being told I have hearing loss and need hearing aids.

I realise this post sounds annoying and panicky and desperate but please, I would really appreciate some input.

I did take an App Hearing test that is supposed to be quite accurate from the Apple App Store. I don't have any significant notches to report but all in all, I am just so uneasy with all that happened. My neck is hurting really badly right now.

 

I know that feeling and how scary it feels to have an episode like that. I believe it was a fleeting tinnitus episode even if its ringing seemed to not start or maybe it started at very low level and it got dampened fast.

It hasn't happened to me to have such a long duration though - usually the disorienting or the hearing dropping lasts a few seconds (1-5 seconds) and the ringing some seconds more (3-15 seconds).

The disorienting feeling is the worst. For me it's almost as if one side of my head is like upside down or it's being sucked in or out. Scary stuff.

But I wouldn't worry too much if it's gone now and you have no noticeable hearing loss or other symptoms. No one can say for sure, so try to relax and distract yourself with something (easier said than done...)!