ETD? Tinnitus and Ear Problems for 2 Months

Dear readers / fellow sufferers,

My name is Daniel, I’m 30 years old from the Netherlands. I’m sorry if my English isn’t perfect.

I have had problems with my ears for almost 2 months now. It started after a period in which I was physically completely exhausted, condition was gone, constantly dizzy and light in my head, cause of this I still don't know (I suspect a vitamin deficiency "B12 / iron", which I am currently investigating). After I finally got better, the misery started all over again. After a long walk I fell on the couch and I started not really feeling well (flu?) I was suddenly very sensitive to noise, could hear everything, the fridge etc, could not tolerate the sound, normal TV sound suddenly hurt and it un/loading the dishwasher was hell. Fortunately, this quickly passed after a few days and the sensitivity to sound was gone.

Shortly afterwards I noticed that when swallowing or yawning my ears were constantly cracking / crackling and the feeling that there was pressure in my ears and I constantly had to equalize to get rid of the feeling. I also developed a slight beep (tinnitus) in my left ear, fortunately (still) only noticeable in quiet rooms or when I go to sleep. Note that the ringing in the ears goes up and down, sometimes almost or even no longer audible and then again very clearly audible. As I'm typing this right now I can't hear my tinnitus and I'm in a quit room/office but this will change in a short time.

Now I have already been 3x to three different GPs and all three of them could see that my eardrums were convex / retracted on both the left and right, and all three showed fluid behind the eardrum. Eustachian tube would be blocked and I was given a nasal spray and it would pass on its own (had to be patient).
My patience ran out and I was referred to the ENT because my doctor no longer knew what he could do for me.

Yesterday (finally) I visited an ENT doctor and he had a very brief look in my ears and a pressure measurement and told that there was nothing wrong to see and that I had to take into account that the beeping (tinnitus) could be permanent. I had to continue spraying and hope it would pass. Within 5 minutes I was outside not knowing what the problem is. My hearing is excellent and I have no history of loud music / noise. My ears are still cracking and popping, not constantly, I also notice when there is no pressure on the ringing in my ear is almost no longer noticeable and as soon as there is pressure again and starts cracking and popping the buzzing gets louder.

What else could be the cause and could the ENT doctor be wrong and I still suffer from the Eustachian tube? The pressure measurement test was done when I experienced no pressure in my ears, as I mentioned earlier, this is not constant, but often during periods throughout the day.

I am also very curious about your findings on the points below.
1: When I lie / sleep on my (tinnitus) ear, the beep disappears completely, as soon as I get up again or lie on my other ear, the beep appears.
2: I also have a lot of problems with my neck muscles and a feeling of pressure in the back of my head when massaging the muscles, I hear cracking and popping in my ears.

I hope to get some advice / tips on diagnosis and any tips and follow-up steps I can take. I don't know where to start. Thanks for your answers, really appreciate!

Have a nice day!

 

Hi Red,

It’s possible that you have TMJ, which is putting pressure on your Eustachian Tube and the two factors are mixing together, resulting in tinnitus.

Or you have just ETD as a result of an ear infection (I.e the fluid you mentioned).

[I’ve been diagnosed with ETD, but instead of beeping, it’s a constant, stable static, for example.]

I don’t know anything about really about TMJ, but ETD is treated through decongestants, anti-inflammatory steroids, time (lots of it) or surgery.

Does the ear that pops experience pain or the feeling that it is clogged, like a pipe?

Read Donotringatme’s essays on ETD and TMJ - they are very detailed and can be found on this forum:-

TMJ Essay:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-theory-tmd-the-cause-of-tinnitus.42891/#post-555873

ETD Essay:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/theory-etd-the-root-cause-of-somatic-tinnitus.42770/.

 

Hi Gareth,

Thanks for your reply! I had 2 weeks a go a hearing test and everything was fine, so this gives me hope that when I find the cause I can resolve my tinnitus. Like I said before my tinnitus is mild (thank god), I still can hear it only in when I go to bed or put my fingers in my ear. The weird thing is my tinnitus goes up and down every minute and sometimes I got these short-lived heavy spikes which last 30 seconds, what does this mean?

I still think I suffer ETD but I think the cause of this has maybe something to do with TMJ or something related to the muscles in my jaw. The ear fullness and crackling when I swallow are gone, but my ears are still plopping/clicking. Sometimes It's possible to tighten the muscles at the entrance of the Eustachian tube so that the ears are noticeably" clicked, I can do this multiple times in a row.

I still also have still problems with my neck and the back of my head. The muscles feel very tied and have to massage them to get some relief. When I move my head to my left/right shoulder my ears plopping. I went multiple times to a chiropractor but without any results. Has this maybe something to do with TMJ?

In the mean time I'm still using the Nasal spray my ENT prescribed and thinking about my next step. I hope you can give some advice off what I can try next.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

 

Hi Red,

That does indeed sound like TMJ! It being mild is obviously a good thing!

Unfortunately I don’t know anything really about it...

However, I would recommend carrying out face, neck & shoulder exercises and massages.
Daily ideally.

Or try to find a good physiotherapist and follow his or her personalised regime.

Try to pin point which exercises make the noises worse or better and expand from there.
Narrow down which muscle is causing the problem.

Perhaps purchase a book on human anatomy, and study all of the associated muscles?

Maybe look at physiotherapists like Kelly Starrett - his YouTube channel might have some videos that help. It’s English speaking only, but yours seems very good, so you should be okay.

Otherwise check out the profiles of other users on Tinnitus Talk that have TMJ, and see if they have any useful information.

Sorry, I can’t be of more help.

Let me know how you get on!

- Gaz

 

Here’s one of his videos - see what you think:

TMJD Mwod Part 1 | Feat. Kelly Starrett |...