ETD or Stress?

Hi all,

My name is Daphne, I’m 25 years old from the Netherlands. I’m sorry if my English isn’t perfect, as I am not a native speaker.

My ears started ringing about 7 weeks ago. As a lot of you did, I started to panic. I lived for 2 weeks in a constant fight of flight mode, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat and felt absolutely horrible. I found this forum, read a lot on it, which calmed me down. Such kind and positive people around here! Some tips I found were not only good for tinnitus, they are also good for anxiety in general which I have for almost 7 years now.

Besides the ringing there are a few other symptoms. I’ve got this popping and crackling sounds in my ears. It feels as if there is fluid, especially when I lay down, I can feel it running in my ears. When I lay on my left ear, I can feel it drowning towards that side. Also, my ears feel wet? Sometimes I’ve got the feeling like mucus is running down my throat. Also my throat hurts at times and my nose and throat feel very dry. My hearing seems to be normal, sometimes a bit sensitive.

So, after 1 week of ringing and other symptoms, I went to see my GP. He thought it might be due to ear wax buildup. Let my ears clean, but the symptoms remained. My GP took a look in my ear, but couldn’t find anything. Eardrum looked fine, no fluid there. After seeing him for the 5th time, he decided it was time for me to see an ENT.

Well, yesterday was the big day. Went to see the ENT. What a big a-hole. He talked for about 15 minutes about his own personal life and problems and all the things that were wrong about society and the world. Oh, and he also put a camera down my nose, throat and ears. He couldn’t find anything. Everything looked absolutely fine. Again, no fluid, eardrum looked fine, throat didn’t look irritated, nor did my nose. It was all probably due to stress. His advice: go home, take a vacation and live with the ringing in you ears. As soon as I walked out the hospital, I broke down. Started to cry and didn’t stop for the next 3 hours.

Most of the days I feel fine. Sometimes I can’t even hear the ringing, it’s not always there. Even when I am looking for it. But I find it hard to get up in the morning, I'm getting very depressed by the other symptoms. At times I still experience negative emotions towards the ringing, but most of the time I’m okay. Most of my negative emotions are towards the crackling and the popping and the feeling of wet and running ears. I really hate it!

After all the hours I’ve spent on the internet, I found my symptoms look a lot like ETD. My question: Can an ENT miss the diagnose ETD? Or should he have seen it when he put the camera in my nose and ears? I've asked the ENT about the possibility of having ETD, but he seemed to be more caring about his own personal issues and hate towards the world then about my problem. I’m asking this because I’m thinking about getting an second opinion and see another ENT. I found it to be very strange that I have this feeling of fluid running in my ears, but nor the GP, nor the ENT saw any fluid. Is it possible I have ETD without having any fluid visible in my ear? Or is he right and it might be ‘just’ stress?

To be honest, I have been going trough a lot of stress lately. I also got other stress symptoms like neck and shoulder tension and pain. Working on that as I’m currently seeing a psychologist and a physiotherapist.

Thanks for your answers, really appreciate!

Have a nice day!

 

Hello Daphne,

Waves from across the border (Belgium)

First of all, I'm sorry you have to go through this and that the health care providers haven't been very helpful or understanding. Especially your ENT, bluntly said, has been worthless when it comes to tinnitus. If you want clarity with regard to the additional symptoms you experience, I would insist you visit another ENT to get a second opinion (maybe search around in your area for one that is known as a tinnitus specialist?). It can also help visiting an audiologist that is specialized in TRT (Tinnitus Retraining Therapy) to demystify the ringing and give you some perspective. I found initial counselling to be a tremendous help in the way I deal with it.

I have had a similar onset of tinnitus as you are experiencing right now. My ears have been crackling when I swallow or yawn for many years now though. I also laid the blame with ETD in the beginning, but as my symptoms persist I have started doubting that initial self-diagnosis. The crackling and clogged feeling is still there though. It is my hope that once I solve this issue, the tinnitus is out of the door and my life as well. The fact that we experience this crackling noise is in my opinion proof of some form of inflammation (or at least obstruction) of the Eustachian tubes.

ETD is a very complicated matter though and often as mysterious as tinnitus itself. It is perfectly possible that this ENT wasn't very well versed in either and completely failed to see the connection and the possible treatment options. That is another reason why I would go with a second opinion. ETD can according to some (I have read around some but cannot find any links right now) also be caused by stress in neck/jaw, putting pressure on the tubes that way. It is hard to tell. I sometimes have fluid behind my drums and sometimes I don't. It's hard to be sure with just one doctor's visit. Also, there is a standard procedure to check whether there is any negative pressure on the ear, a tympanometry. Did he do that? Since that could be an indication of poorly functioning tubes.

I can tell you that I've tried nasal sprays (Nasonex), Prednisolone (corticosteroids administered against inflammation of the tubes) and steam inhalation and only the latter has worked so far with bringing down the crackling in the ears when swallowing. This is sadly only temporary though. If another ENT were to prescribe the same to you and it ends up having a positive effect, you might check out other options. If you want an in-depth overview of treatment options, I would take a look at the thread by @engineerLA: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/here-is-how-i-solved-my-tinnitus-—-new-protocols-and-supplements-to-try.6514/

Good luck and take care!

 

I was wondering exactly the same thing.

Can ETD be missed by the ENT and can it be triggered by stress? Like even the stress of a bad dream?

 

Mine has toned down. Fingers crossed.