Clogged Ear and Nose After Semi Loud Event

Hello, unfortunately I'm back after a long time away.

I initially got tinnitus more than 1 year ago due to acoustic trauma after a loud night out. It's had a lot of ups and downs since then and there was a point where I'd actually habituated.

However I am refraining from literally everything and it is just not a great way to live. But there have been unexpected loud events that triggered my tinnitus over the past year.

Yesterday for the first time I decided to go to a small gathering at a friend's house. It was pretty quiet at first but then got quite loud towards the end. I don't think it was past 100 dB at all, I'd estimate 90 dB max near the speaker. I was standing pretty far from the speaker though and going out a lot to get rests. And the rest of the time I was able to maintain regular conversation so I think it could not have been that loud.

My mistake was that I forgot to bring my regular protection. I was only really exposed to the loud for like an hour (although I definitely know that is enough for acoustic trauma).

Which brings me to today. I did not wake up with a spike or anything, however my left ear feels super super clogged. And so does my nose.

I'm wondering if it is an unrelated cold that I'm catching or if the event might have made this happen. I would appreciate any wisdom or experience on whether you guys think this might mean acoustic trauma or whether I should wait it out.

I have a few boxes of Prednisone ready that I could take however I can't really go to ER because of insurance and the soonest appointment I could get with an ENT would be months away. In any case I live in a really small town so the ENT is no good here and I don't really have options.

 

If both your nose and ear are plugged then it honestly might be a cold. There are so colds/flus flying around and being around people in a confined space could bring out some congestion symptoms.

With that being said, if you have NAC and magnesium I would take some for the next few days. Don't freak yourself out or check for your tinnitus to see if its gotten louder.

If you have some sudafed I would take that to open up your nose/ear if its related to congestion.

Hoping for the best for you!

 

Sometimes I feel more congested after a night of drinking even without having a cold