Ear Pressure, Burning Pain and Tinnitus — Maybe ETD or Barotrauma?

Hello everyone,

I've been on this boat for three months now. I'm sort of habituated to it right now, but still wish to hear silence, so I want to dig further and see if I can understand what happened to me. ENTs simply can't or won't help me investigate it in details and that's why I need your help! Please try to help me if you can xD

About three months ago I started to have the feeling of fullness in my left ear. A week later I started to panic and started doing the Valsalva maneuver compulsively to see if my ear would get better. It didn't. After a week or so of doing that, one night, I tried to use Cerumin because I thought it could be earwax and a doctor told me that it would cause no harm. I put some of those Cerumin eardrops in my ears along with earplugs. I was playing some games on really low volume on my PC. I started to get really anxious thinking about my ear and, out of the blue, tinnitus started in my right ear, it was a really loud mid-frequency tone. I really can't remember if I had done the Valsalva that night but I don't think so. And I definitely didn't do the Valsalva at the moment the tinnitus started.

After the onset of tinnitus, I had a week or so of burning pain and sound sensitivity in the affected right ear. The tinnitus itself improved a lot, becoming a low intensity high-pitched noise along with some fluctuating lower pitch noise that fades away if I put pressure on my neck veins. The high-pitched noise is apparently not affected by this. The pain got better and better but never went away completely, I still have some discomfort in my ear (today it is particularly bad, burning a bit).

At first I thought it might be ETD, but after months of nasal decongestants and the feeling of fullness resolving, I still have discomfort and tinnitus. I also feel like whenever I yawn or open my mouth wide, there is way more clicking in my right ear, which is the bad one, than in the left ear.

Right now I'm thinking that I may have caused some sort of Barotrauma because of the Valsalva, but I haven't had any dizziness or hearing loss, which is usual with perilymph fistulas. My audiogram came back completely normal, despite the fact that I have no contralateral reflexes in one of my ears; the doctor said this is nothing to worry about, but I've decided to mention it anyway.

So, has anyone got any clues? Does this sound like Barotrauma? ETD? Something else?

Thank you all!

 

Hello everyone,

It's been almost three months now since I started to have auditory symptoms. At first I had ear fullness which was treated like ETD, then only in my right ear the burning pain started and some sensitivity to noise along with tinnitus, on the beginning, right ear felt sore and burning for a week or so, the pain wasn't really connected to the sounds it was mostly constant. Now the pain and the tinnitus have gotten really better, but both are still there.

At this moment, I have mild tinnitus and some burning in my ear that gets better and worse just like the tinnitus itself.

About the pain, most sound won't bother me, except for sudden high pitched stuff, cellphone speakers, dishes hitting against it other those sounds make me uncomfortable but won't directly increase the constant burning pain. On the other hand, if I listen to music at mid or even low volume for a while, 30 minutes is enough, I'll feel like my right ear is tired, worn out and the pain increases substantially(the tinnitus stays the same usually). Additionally, I have something that feels like TTTS on my left ear, but this wont bother me so much. Does that sound like hyperacusis. I mean, I don't think it does, since the pain is not an immediate result of sound and rather something that apparently builds up as sound is present for a while. At moments, the burning pain apear to reflect trough all of the right side of my brain, I never had migraines tough, nor no one in my family.

Any clues, input and advice are extremely welcome. I've been to 5 different doctors at this point and they apparently know nothing.

Thanks!

 

I can tell you what I relate with regarding your issues as I'm fairly certain mine is caused by ETD.

I had burning pain after onset, left ear worse than right, ringing was way louder the more plugged up my ears felt, everytime I swallow or yawn it sounds like a bunch of little bubbles popping in my ear.

Pain went away after two months along with the spikes when my ears would plug up, now it's just stuck at a lower level though I'm realizing its quite loud as I can hear the ringing over nearly everything except showers.

ENTs are garbage, I've seen twelve, they don't want you around because they can't sell you anything and you take up time they could be spending selling hearing aids, assuming you don't have hearing loss.

Doesn't sound like the valsalva caused it to me. I know mine started when I coughed mucus into my tubes, it all began in that god awful moment.

I'm at 19 months now, 17 with no improvements. I've seen stories where this can last years, it's good you are improving of course, but try to habituate because it could take a long time so strap in. Though I will add it could be good that yours didn't start with an incident like mine, a lot of people get ETD just randomly and for them it seems to go away faster than those of us who give ourselves ETD.

I also have some kind of fluttering or paper wrinkling sound when I hear sharp noises, it happens mostly in my worse ear.

Wish I could help more than just typing out my thoughts. As long as the popping/crackling sounds are there I presume it means your tubes are still inflamed or something is going on with them. You should try an allergist.

 

I have the exact same symptoms since February after doing a valsalva. Instant ringing and that ear has always been more sensitive to certain frequencies.

 

My ear fullness is connected to my jaw/neck. Putting heat on my neck drains fluid from my ears. It is one of the few ways to drain my sinus and ears.

The burning you said is gone. If it's still there, I was going to suggest opening your jaw and move the joint forward. It helped mine. I had bruxism.

ETD is uncommon in adults. Did you get a reading of ear pressure from an ENT? Barotrauma, doubt it.

Honestly stop trying to figure out the cause. Relax, sleep and see if you can get the neck/jaw to be relaxed. Maybe a massage.