Deaf After Punctured Eardrum

My ENT perforated my eardrum yesterday so I could blow out all the mucus after an ear infection.

Now I'm totally deaf with no way to mask my tinnitus which has a new low pitched tone now as well filling my head.

I'm beyond scared.

Mucus still leaks out of the hole. Crackle sound nonstop in my ear.

I'm on antibiotics as well, but I take NAC to try and counteract possible ototoxicity.

Just lying in my bed, shaking with nerves.

When will I get my hearing back?
Anybody experienced this?

 

If you look at the first post in
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-many-recover-3-studies.21441/
you will see that some of the studies had to do with the people whose eardrums were damaged by explosions. A very large number of those people recovered from tinnitus and regained hearing. What happened was that after their eardrum had healed, eventually their tinnitus went away and they regained hearing. But it took months before they were healed. I think the lesson for you is that ears take a long time to heal and that months after the eardrum heals, your hearing ought to return and all of the new tinnitus tones you have been hearing ought to go away.

 

Thanks, that is reassuring. Hopefully it won´t take that long for my eardrum to heal as it was a small puncture done by a small needle. I´m still blowing out mucus. I worry about the mucus (probably filled with bacteria) entering my cochlea.

 

Your case is still probably not as bad as the case of the victims of a terrorist attack whose eardrums got blown out (and most of whom were able to recover in the end).

 

Surely not. It´s hell not being able to mask my tinnitus though. It has kept me alive for 4 years.

 

Is it the case that both of your ears became deaf after your eardrum in one of the ears got punctured?!

 

I got ear infection in my right ear, where my tinnitus is. He punctured it to get the mucus out, I thought I would get my hearing back, but it got even worse. Stone deaf now

 

@grate_biff Everything I read indicates the healing process can take a couple of months. Pain is common but they all say it will heal and deafness is common and will restore.

 

If it's any comfort, my eardrum once ruptured after a flight, I was practically deaf in that ear for a week. It was a painful nightmare, whenever I sneezed or yawned it felt as if someone was stabbing me in my ear. My hearing gradually returned as it healed and yours will most likely do that too.

 

I’m sorry that this happened. How’s the recovery @grate_biff? Any improvements?

 

This is terrifying, I really hope you get better <3

 

Actually something weird happened these last days. I´m still deaf to high frequency sound and my tinnitus has totally changed character. It was a high pitch squeal that was painful, even though it was not very loud. Now it is a soft kind of white noise, much higher in volume, but not painful and not as bothersome. Much easier to mask as well. These are my feelings at the moment anyway. A bit concerned about how loud it is now.

I still have some mucus on the inside of my membrane and I wonder what will happen when it clears up. Back to basic? will it get worse? I may have lost some hearing from the infection as well.

But I have bigger fish to fry at the moment. Tried to wean off Venlafaxine the last few months. It didn´t go well at all and it increased my benzo use. Very mentally sick right now and gonna get committed on Monday :-(

 

@grate_biff I’m very sorry you’re going through this tough period right now. Please stay strong.

Love and respect
Stu

 

Thank you so much, Stu!

 

You'll be in my thoughts! I hope things work out for you

 

@grate_biff
Shoot me a PM bro, I was on Effexor for over 10 years and came off successfully.

 

@grate_biff
Hey bro how are you holding up? Any improvements?

 

Eardrum ruptures typically heal (thought this usually takes weeks), be patient and wait for it to restore. It's normal to be scared once you go deaf, take comfort in the fact that in your case this is most (very) likely a temporary condition and that your hearing will go back.

 

Hey Stu,

Thanks for asking. My hearing is coming back slowly and I did a test at my ENT that reassured me it would be back to normal, at least up to 8 kHz that they are testing. They test both hearing normally (through your eardrum) and conductively to establish this. Because of all the mucus in my middle ear my hearing at 4 kHz was down to -75 dB loss. No wonder I had a new tinnitus at that frequency. It's now gone.
I can mask my tinnitus again and that is a big relief. That's the good news!

Sadly, I have bigger fish to fry at the moment. Just escaped 3 weeks in psychiatric ward. It was not easy. I just can't handle the noise of being among other people and daily noises. My Noxacusis is through the roof. Insanely painful reaction to almost every sound. Normal one to one conversation I can handle.

I went through the system, asking every doctor I met for a procedure I have belief in to treat my intensely painful reaction to sound. It's called "spiral ganglion nerve-blockade". Nobody had even heard of it except one who had a family member with the same issue that benefitted greatly from the procedure. And even though I was at a hospital, they could all see my pain, there just was no way they would help me. There is just no inter-relationship across different wards at hospitals in Norway. He even told me if a patient had a cardiac arrest at a psychiatric ward, they would try and reboot his heart, but they wouldn't do any further tests as to why it stopped . It´s just insane how the health care system works over here. One should think Norway as a rich state would be ahead in medical practice. That's far far from the truth unfortunately. I could go on and on about it.

Also, I was tapered way too fast on one of my meds (Remeron) so now I´m struggling with severe nausea, and panic attacks on top of everything else.

At least now, I can hide in the basement from all the noise in the world .

Wish I had better news Stu!

 

I’m happy to hear your hearing will return to normal and your tinnitus is now maskable.

Whoah . Did you literally escape or did you just get discharged ? :O

The lack of help there is disturbing

I’m pretty sure you know this but CBT, mindfulness, exercise and talk therapy.

Have really helped my depression and anxiety. If it wasn’t for tinnitus that I can hear above all else I’d say I’d be a happy camper

I hope you find the relief you need bro.

 

WTF? Is that even normal?

 

Yes, to speed up the recovery!
I´m glad he did, cause I was spewing out infected mucus from my middle ear days after.
Don´t want that shit diffusing into my cochlea

 

Thank you. It´s maskable, but only with a noise I found on YouTube, and my hearing aids are too old to handle that frequency. The hearing aid industry is not bothered to help high pitch (over 8 kHz) damage or masking sufferers btw.

I discharged myself! Psychiatry isn´t for me! Made me feel even sicker and I couldn´t handle all the noises.

It´s unreal!

Exercise definitely helps, other wise I´m beyond talking about it. I have done nothing else for almost 5 years.

Right back at you Stu. Are you going to try Leniere?

 

I dont think puss (neutrophils) is ototoxic.

 

@grate_biff
Thanks man I need some relief also. I can hear mine over my shower and everything else normally. This condition is seriously showing me what suffering is. If I don’t have significant improvement by the time it reaches Canada yes I’m going to try it.

 

Many on this forum list ear infection as their cause, so there is a probability it is!

 

The puss isn't what damages tissue,it is the bacterial/viral waste products that damage tissues. If the infection is over, the resulting puss isn't going to hurt you.

 

Oh' man that sounds unpleasant. I'm sorry to hear that. The good news is eardrums are actually pretty good at healing themselves completely, and it sounds like the hearing loss is conductive and not sensorineural.

 

It used to be common in the old days.
It is generally used to relieve the pain due to the extreme pressure built up into the middle ear. Rather than wait for a "natural rupture" (tear), poking a hole helps relieve the pressure which, in turn, relieves the pain.

It also provides a way for antibiotic drops to reach the middle ear, which can help address the infection.