First Post, Any Advice Appreciated! :-)

[David Z]

Hi! I found this forum and I thought perhaps somebody might have a suggestion that might help me.

About a year ago I started noticing a ringing in my left ear, that got worse after being in noisy places. There were three things that happened just prior that might have been the cause:

- I was riding a motorcycle for a couple of weeks long distance, and the wind was very strong. I wore earplugs, but at night I noticed my ears ring and was concerned about it. I try to take care of my ears.

- A week after this, I got a very nasty infection in my eyes that appeared suddenly. I had yellow discharge (pus, goo) from my eyes, and felt feverish. I went straight to a pharmacist, bought a course of antibiotics and some antibiotic eyedrops, and went to bed. A couple of days later I felt better.

- I don't remember what antibiotics the girl gave me. But I read some can damage hearing. I don't think she was very knowledgeable.

The noise in my left ear has been a fairly constant high-pitched ring. Sometimes when I was in a quiet environment for some time it almost went, but came back if I drove a car, for example.

Two weeks ago I thought it might be possible that there could be some matter left over from the infection last year, so I devised a home treatment. I took a couple of sudafed, waited a couple of hours, warmed my ear with warm water, then in turn: inhaled the vapors from a mix of 'vicks vaporub', chewed vigorously on a cork, manipulated the outer ear, and 'cleared' by ears' repeatedly. I did this 'treatment' a few times over the course of a week. It seems to have changed something: the ringing has mostly gone, but now I notice a low rising/falling rumble (like a truck idling outside). And more very high pitched hissing/whining white-noise.

A week ago I saw an ear doctor here in the UK. A hearing test showing my hearing is ok in both ears, some slight loss at higher frequencies, but probably within norms for my age (30). He said he couldn't see anything wrong, but would need an MRI to make sure there's nothing abnormal going on in the ear. There's a long waiting list (three months) to have this done though.

And lastly, and the reason I'm finally sitting down to write this post, is that about one hour ago I felt a deep and somewhat painful pressure in my left hear, and suddenly felt nauseous and experienced vertigo. I took a couple of painkillers and an hour on it's better. Hope that doesn't happen again.

The noises make it harder for me relax. I'd be pretty happy about any responses or advice. The doctor I saw, at least until I have an MRI scan, hasn't much to say.

Take care and enjoy life.

David

 

[GregCA]

And lastly, and the reason I'm finally sitting down to write this post, is that about one hour ago I felt a deep and somewhat painful pressure in my left hear, and suddenly felt nauseous and experienced vertigo. I took a couple of painkillers and an hour on it's better. Hope that doesn't happen again.

This plus the "truck idling" symptom you mentioned before makes me think about hydrops/meniere's. It's worth mentioning it to your doc I think.
If I were you I would download an app to do your own hearing tests and monitor your hearing every few days (or every week) so you can see any trend: your low frequencies may be impacted.

Good luck.

 

[billie48]

And lastly, and the reason I'm finally sitting down to write this post, is that about one hour ago I felt a deep and somewhat painful pressure in my left hear, and suddenly felt nauseous and experienced vertigo

Welcome to the forum. You may want to have the ENT check again why you have a painful pressure. If the vertigo happens again, you may want to have the ENT check if you have meniere's which often have both tinnitus and vertigo. In the mean time, if T bothers you quite a bit, then consider masking it. Here are some suggestions if you haven't started masking. Take care. God bless.

1) Mask at bed time so you can sleep better. Find whatever sounds/music that are soothing to you. You can use a sound machine or sound pillow for this, or a computer with speakers.

2) If you need masking on the go, try load an ipod with nature sounds or music using itune. If you have a smart phone, you can download free APPs for soothing or T-masking sounds.

3) If you have computer and speakers, you can try these excellent masking sounds too:

TT's audio player: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

or this online sound library, particularly the self-mix nature sounds: http://mynoise.net/

or download free sound generator 'aire freshener': http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

or search youtube with words like 'tinnitus masking sounds', 'white noise', 'rain sound' etc.

 

[David Z]

Thanks for the helpful reply!

I visited the local doctor today, in fact he seems more knowledgeable about ears than the specialist. He said it's probably a viral infection, and should pass in a few days. Meniere's is possible but unlikely. So.. fingers crossed. :-P

Actually today I feel better and ears and surprisingly calm.

 

[David Z]

Going to dentist now to have a filling replaced. A dentist in Georgia put in a filling about the time my ear problems started, on the side with the ringing ear. I don't know what went wrong with the filling, possibly the tooth has a minor fracture, but it's been sore ever since, when I chew on it. Ear doc says it's unlikely to linked but I'm not so sure. Just tried putting pressure on the tooth now and ringing got worse.. hmm.

I'll post what happens.

 

[David Z]

Dentist didn't think a link between the chronically sore tooth and the ear ringing is likely. But I'm not sure what else would cause ringing only in one ear. The motorcycle noise would have affected both ears, I imagine. As would the antibiotics. And I didn't notice any issues with either ear when I had the bacterial infection.

I will see how it is over the next few days. I'm somewhat hopeful. If the tooth stops being sore (50/50), perhaps my ear stops ringing.

 

[David Z]

The tooth still gets sore after changing the filling, so the next step is to crown it. I've just pressed hard on the tooth, it got sore, and within a few seconds I hear a tone (ringing) in my left ear.

My theory is that the tooth pain is creating 'static' in my nervous system that is interfering with my hearing. Dentist and Ear doc both say it's unlikely, but I'm guessing both nerves come into brain stem near each other. Also in support of this theory, when I had the local anesthetic for the filling, all ringing stopped. It even felt strangely 'more silent than silent'.