Does Your Doctor Listen to Your Ears?

That hasn't been the case with any of the doctors I have seen regularly over the years. Some I have liked more than others (which is why I ended up seeing a new ENT after the first one was not a good communicator.) But I think it is more helpful to myself to assume that the doctor I am seeing has the Hippocratic Oath in mind.

 

What I think you should do is find out if the ENT consultant you are scheduled to see next week has a sincere interest in evaluating and treating tinnitus sufferers. If not, then I'd cancel the appointment and make one with an ENT consultant who does have a sincere interest in evaluating and treating tinnitus sufferers.

 

Thanks Dr Nagler. I'm not sure how easy it will be here in England to find a ENT doctor that's interested in treating tinnitus sufferers?

 

From my visits to doctors, none of them felt offended if i tried to show them or ask them something. They just ignored me or said that this is not going to work. I think they just don't bother with something that has 1/1000+chance.

 

It's a problem not particularly unique to the UK. Perhaps you might start by contacting the BTA for suggestions?

Or contact the GP who made the referral in the first place, and ask him or her to look into it for you. What good is a referral if the consultant has no interest in seeing patients with your problem in the first place!!??

 

For the patient in the initial post in this thread, that 1/1000 chance was 100%.

Sort of similar to the argument here in the US about gun control. Gun control opponents insist that sacrificing our individual liberties with gun control legislation will not save an appreciable number of lives. Gun control advocates point out that if even one life is saved through gun control legislation, then it is an appreciable number of lives.

 

Good question. My rather incompetent ENT (Asheville) I think has a note about tinnitus in my records and I didn't want him to do anything with it but I didn't even have to tell him because he didn't. I told the audiologist and ENT (specialty - cochlear implants, of course) about the sound. Absolutely nada was done. That's the pattern. I speak, mention T and nothing happens. T is a non-entity or just a meaningless word.

 

My respect for you, that you actually helped somebody, but you are a T sufferer, you understand the "pain". Most of your colleagues dont. And thank you for the story. 2 days ago i had a severe T and after a good night sleep it was something like 4 times lower. I guess that doesnt happen to people with acoustic trauma. Its a hope that you gave me, so thank you.

 

Seems to me you ought to be finding a new ENT. I mean, if I hired a plumber and found him to be "rather incompetent," I'd change plumbers pretty damned quick. Isn't your health at least as important as your plumbing?

 

I do understand the pain. But what I don't understand is why anybody - tinnitus or not - would put up with lousy medical care. Your doctor is not attending to your needs? Then for goodness' sakes fire his (or her) aspic, and find a doctor who will!

 

I visited 5-6 ENTs, 1 neurologist and 2 otoneurologists. I will not comment the ENTs, because I will probably be banned. The neurologist was the best of all, but its not exactly his area of expertise. The otoneurologists I cant say anything good or bad for them. The first one was a meniere disease expert and he treated me like a meniere disease patient, wich was not very usefull for me, but at least he spinned me on a funny looking chair and prescribed me 15 pills a day for three months, with questionable results. The second one also spinned me on the same chair but just once and he was more of a tinnutus guy in my eyes, but he prescribed me pretty much the same treatment I was not very eager to take 15 pills a day for another 3 months.
Long story short- I am tired of doctors.

 

actually i would be more angry if they did try to listen for it because we all know that tinnitus is an internal sound not external. So there is nothing to listen for. If the patient is asked what kind of sound it is and answers that its an atypical sound, not the usual high pitched tone, then it would be appropriate to listen for it.

 

Approximately 3% of patients with tinnitus have "objective tinnitus." If you don't listen for it, you don't find it.

 

Sir, move from Atlanta to Asheville. It's a nice place. Find yourself a new hair stylist (but it has to be a woman's stylist) and some doctors and let me know how things work out for ya . While Mission Hospital controls most of the county doctors, it's not a good hospital. Doctors - ENTs, GPs, opthamologists, and I'm sure the list goes on are all pretty bad. I lucked out getting a super PT and a great orthopedic (no surgery needed because of the PT).

You know the layout of the land here. That's why I checked out Chapel Hill for the implant (that ENT made the rest of the ENTs look like geniuses ... seriously) and had surgery at Vanderbilt in Nashville with a good ENT.

 

One ENT only did visual inspection. The other one also used a stethoscope on my upper body, but I don't know what exactly she was listening for. She didn't use it anywhere near my ears.

I hope this is of any use to you.

 

ive seen 3-4 different ENT doctors and 2 neurologist and none of them have checked my ears like that.. told me tinnitus learn to live with it, and tmj eat soft foods or ignore it. my neck hurts on the side too, and they all say maybe my neck in back where I got DDD at c5 making side of neck hurt.wish we had more doctors like you Dr. Nagler.

 

Sadly no. But wouldn't objective tinnitus be more noticeable to the person who has it cuz it'd be more like a pulsatile, right? I know mine is subjective cause my parents tried to listen to my ear but heard nothing. I guess my parents are better doctors than my ENT haha, but really all I got was the "just have to deal with it because there is no current cure for it."

 

Some objective tinnitus is pulsatile. Some is non-pulsatile.

What sort of instrument did they use?

 

Good topic. You should package it up and get it published somewhere. And no, at no stage did anyone listen to my ear. Three didn't bother with a history, and the only people who looked inside were a Junior consultant and a Junior Registrar....then I was referred "upstairs" where the credible medicine ended (you need a psychologist) because thresholds looked fine. The mention of the word "tinnitus" killed any further examination, but in one case did result in a referral to an Audiology chain that promoted Neuromonics....part owned by the guy that did the referral. Yes I have tinnitus, but my problem is Decreased Sound Tolerance which the "brains trust" at the other forum keep telling me isn't hyperacusis. At 18 months on I consider myself undiagnosed, except for TTTS and/or SM which Myriam at least identified.

 

@Dr. Nagler thanks for the info.
One thing, could you show a photo or a link of the small electronic amplifier to show it to my doctor. I am from South America and here we are lost of info like this.

thanks.
Víctor

 

Mine didn't even look in my ears ! Used a tuning fork behind my ears and the top of head and that was it. He barely even spoke to me.

 

Being ignorant and being crooked are two way different things.

 

It is harsh. I've known many doctors over many years. Some were true geniuses, some were lethal near a scalpel, but I saw very little evidence of what you may call corruption in an overt sense (although turning up in the Private Ward at 0600, giving the patient a cheery "Hello how are you?" and then billing the fund for an out-of-hours consultation is pushing it). I have a big problem with the Consultant who refers you to his other business opportunity, without really paying you any attention beyond hearing the "T" word. I also think there's a problem with full billing for specialist skills that some clearly don't have. It suggests the value they place on their time outweighs their concern for being able to provide quality care.

 

Stethoscope. My dad used to be an anesthesiologist.

 

I don't remember, but I don't think they ever did. I went to multiple ENT's and a neuro-otologist.

I was having trouble with nausea, balance, tinnitus, and sharp pain in the ears. It seems to be related to the pain in my neck, temple, jaw and upper back. So, in that sense I may have a muscular somatosound.

I had chronic pain and stiffness between the shoulder blades and neck. I didn't get tinnitus, pain in the ears and balance problems until the pain spread to my face, temples and jaw muscles.

I also have strange neurological symptoms of the face going numb as well as neuropthies all over my body that feel like burning sensations, stings, or cold wet water. I think these are the a-delta and c fibers malfunctioning. I learned that myself, not a single neurologist knew about this. They just kept poking me with needles and saying my muscles responded fine, but my problem has always been sensory, not motor.

 

Listening carefully with a stethoscope in a quiet room should suffice. No need for additional equipment.

 

That's great!

 

What if a doctor has loud tinnitus, can they still reliably tell apart a patient's sounds?

 

Tinnitus can in some cases interfere with one's ability to concentrate, but tinnitus does not interfere one's ability to hear.

 

This is not true. If I try and listen to a sound where my T presents itself I hear nothing but my T. This is proven in my hearing tests. Very good point @Carm