ENT no help.

Went for my ENT appointment on Monday. I've been waiting for the appointment for two months. The consultant had the wrong notes & thought I was someone else, on finding my notes she skipped through them & proceeded to look up my nose & asked if the nasal spray was working. I have never had a nasal spray! I had to ask for my MRI results, which I was anxious about receiving. She said these were normal, thank goodness & when I then asked what could be causing my raging tinnitus & Hearing loss in my left ear, she said it was properly a virus & that was that. The appointment lasted 6 mins. She didn't ask me any questions or read my notes through. I now do not know where to turn, she said I didn't need to see them again. HELP!

 

Obviously your treatment by the doctor was sub-standard. Because if hearing loss is found, then as a minimum, your doctor should have asked to see you again at some point in the future (to see if the hearing loss is gone), or taken corrective measures already during the consultation (which would include the possibility of hearing aids).

I don't know where you are based, but it sounds as if you saw a doctor in the public sector. Find a private ENT and the consultation will be better - for sure. But also more expensive, of course.

If you cannot find a clinic, the following one will take good care of you (but would require travel in most cases):

www.acquaklinik.de

Lastly, it is sometimes also the "responsibility" of the patient to set standards during a consultation. Let the doctor know that you are not happy with the treatment offered. Did you do that?

The only thing that can possibility reverse hearing loss is steroids when given right after onset of incident. Low level laser therapy can also help reverse hearing loss - but this is not considered an official treatment in medicine.

 

Kittyl, that seems typical of ENT specialists, for the vast majority they can't help us but what is worse is they seem unwilling or unable to direct us to someone that can. Help may not be a cure as such but there are treatments for tinnitus which many people have found useful.

Is there a support group local to you? If so maybe go along, people may have some ideas, things they have done or treatments they have accessed.

 

Could you go back to your GP and ask to be referred to a different consultant for a second opinion?
It may be, though, that if your MRI is normal there may not be an identifiable cause for your tinnitus and hearing loss. Have you asked whether there is a hearing therapist in your area you could be referred to, to help you with them?

 

Thank you for your replies. I was so anxious in the appointment to hear the MRI results I wasn't operating properly to tell her all the things I wanted!! Yes it was an NHS appointment & to be fair the audiologist I saw two weeks ago was great, although the hearing aid given really doesn't help too much. I'm struggling to cope with the tinnitus at the moment, it's so loud & intrusive. I suppose I was upset as the consultant was so blasé. Anyway, Onwards & upwards. This site is my saviour at the moment as people who don't have it find it hard to understand how it feels.

 

Kittyl
I have hearing aids too; but mine have white noise generators (targeted to my specific T). Do you have an option like that? They really do help (a lot).

I remember my first ENT appointments too; you said it so well 'blase attitude'. I learned to not expect them to understand (at all). I hate to admit it, but at the time I was so frustrated that if I could have waved a wand and gave them T just so they would understand I would have done it (and then felt really guilty). Don't waste any emotional energy expecting them to get it (total energy drain); just appreciate those who do.

You are still very new to T and have a ways to go; it gets better and you get better. Good things in your future (after some bumps and bruises and set backs on the way)

Prayers!

Mark

 

Any ENT (at least in my area) wont help you. They just d0 their typical look over, and tell you to be on your way. I wish it wasn't like that.

 

I've pretty much learned that we should go to ENTs just to rule out any possibility that a treatable or serious condition could be causing the T. Other than that, they are pretty much useless at treating T. But on the bright side, at least you don't have any serious problem with your health. I know we all have wanted them to just find something... but considering the possibilities, finding nothing wrong isn't the worst case scenario.

 

Totally agree with some of the posters. My ENT besides telling me I have hearing loss in the high frequency, he did nothing for me. Worse, instead of saying you have to live with it, he went a bit further than that. He said the only way to stop my ringing is for him to shoot me. I was at the darkest time in my suffering. Hearing that from him was almost like a death sentence.

 

Bille48 that is awful, they really should think before they speak.
I can't not thank you enough for your replies. I've gone from thinking the ENT woman had missed something major, as surely the t couldn't be caused by a virus I wasn't aware I had, too realising maybe there is nothing they can do & I'm definitely not the only one to be treated that way!
I've started taking magnesium & a borroca daily. Has anyone had an success with diet change?

 

My audiologist's opinion is that ENTs should refrain from trying to treat tinnitus as much as possible. Since messing about with your ears may just make things worse.

 

You definitely "win" in the category of the "Lamest 'advice' ever from an ENT." Mine told me I had to just live with it, but at least he told me that there is a chance it could go away on his own... but he said there was no surgery or medication he could give me to make that happen.

 

Mine wasn't much help either. When I told him everything his response was " what's wrong with men these days" some are pretty good with it though I was able to find one who was great.

 

Haha. At least I win something. LOL. The common experience we have with ENT shows the tragic state of lack of understanding of the huge emotional impact T can do to a person. If even people in the business of hearing health have no such understanding or have never been trained on the proper way to counsel their highly distressed & depressed patients, how do we expect other people with no T experience and have never even heard of T themselves to do something for this community? At least in medical schools, the future ENTs should be taught how to counsel their T patients properly. It seems that they are the first health professionals we consult after getting T so shouldn't they be aware that many of their T patients are highly anxious, depressed, perhaps even suicidal.

 

My ENT told me his best advice was to keep my tv on really loud all the time to distract me. I told him I don't have a tv that I prefer to read. He said,"well, I guess you'll have to go to the movies a lot."

 

Was that his way of trying to say that it wasn't a big deal?

 

I suppose it was, he was super condescending the whole time. Thankfully i found TT and all of you though, dont know what i would have done otherwise.

 

Being blatantly honest, I didn't expect. He was the end of the line of doctors to see, finally I was there.
My ENT told me - there is no cure.

Looking back, they have to be honest.
There's no magic pill, from my understanding. No reason to lead people on.

 

Imagine we have to live in the theaters for our T. LOL. Quite a funny response by your ENT but at least he suggested masking, though a clumsy way to mask by going to movies. My colleague's wife has bad tinnitus for years too. He told me she didn't go to tinnitus forum for support. She just put on country music all the time including the bedroom. He told me it ended up they couldn't sleep in the same room most of their marriage life. LOL. But nevertheless he is a good man and their marriage lasts. She functions like that and bore him a few kids and manages to raise them up to adults now. So never quit on life because of T. One way or the other, people make adjustment & go on with their life even with bad T.

 

That really sucks man. I'm glad we both found this place. I think we all need each other for support on here. I know I still have bad moments (thankfully they're just moments, and not full days).

 

Kitty.. IM so sorry to hear of your bad experience with this uncaring person .. I had the same as you... this ENT was fobbing me off in typically uncaring manner.. So i stood up and said to him .. ' Your wasting my Fuc#### time .. His mouth dropped open and i walked out .. Of course he reported me to my own Doctor.. When i saw my own Doctor i told him the ENT was arrogant.. Pompous and uncaring.. And my Doc said most of them are.. shame really as they really should be caring and considerate .. Micky

 

For those who are willing to travel and spend the extra money, I can certainly recommend the following clinic (given that good ENTs are hard to find):

www.acquaklinik.de

It is a clinic that performs advanced ENT surgery. It is headed by a professor. The staff is competent. They speak English and will do pretty much anything to help you. You will be taken seriously. It is a clinic where "the patient decides" ie. if there is chance that the surgery or some other procedure could work, and the patient insists on the surgery/procedure, they will perform it (within reason, of course).

 

I had a feeling there would be bad stories on ENT Dr's in this thread, but no idea it would be bad as billie's, wow. Mine told me that "some patients end up committing suicide" At the height of my T in Nov it was at a 9 (10 is bridge jumping material) and I saw him in Dec when it was at an 8. (I developed mine after a craniotomy in Sept '13)

I saw a younger one who said to seek counseling and that was the best advice an ENT ever gave me. I also saw a Neurotologist in March who said "sounds like things are improving, come see me in a year". "Great" stuff from the mouths of experts.