Hi. I'm here to introduce myself. This is my story of the past two months.
On August 29th I flew from SLC to DC. The next day my left ear was clogged and full of fluid. No pain. Just full. I tried to ignore it thinking it'd go away. Two weeks in I went to my GP who diagnosed me with ETD. Told me to take nasonex and it'll all go away. The nasonex made me dizzy and gave me tachycardia so I stopped it after a few days. I went back to my GP who again said to give it time. On 10/9 I decided to escalate and went to an ENT. She did a hearing test and confirmed normal hearing and again I was told to give it time. I left her office determined that the popping and full feeling that I had would eventually pass. Four days later I woke in the middle of the night to ringing in both ears.
For the first week I figured the T would just go away. But as I got more concerned I made another appt with the ENT. I saw the ENT again on 10/29 and she basically told me to relax and give it more time. She said this was normal and that it can take weeks to go away. So I left the ENT feeling much better and returned pretty much to normal life assuming the T would disappear any day now.
I flew again direct from DC to LAX for a biz trip and had no issues with my ETD. Through during this time I could generally sleep until about 5am before the T would wake me up but I could often go back to sleep as well.
When I returned from LA I started to feel anxious about the whole T thing. Stress started to build and anxiety started to ruin sleep and daily activities. My ETD is gone and there's very few, if any, remaining issues there except for the T. Stress and anxiety now seem to rule my life.
I had a really bad weekend last week and woke on Monday determined to do something about this problem. I made appts at the ENT and GP for later that day. The ENT was no help again but reassured me that it was still too soon to say the condition was permanent and sent me home no more than 3 mins after entering the ram room. My GP had some sympathy and gave me an Rx for Xanax to help with the anxiety that is now a moment to moment battle to keep it under control.
The Xanax helps me at night when I'm most anxious. By day I've found a few supplements that also help. I can't be idle otherwise I get anxious so I try and keep my mind busy somehow even if it's just games on my phone.
I'm living each day one at a time with focus on staying positive that the ENT is right and that this will soon pass. I still hang all hope that it will indeed pass.
In the meantime my wife has been super supportive and helps me get through each day. Having family support has been huge for me.
At any rate, sorry this got long but somehow telling my story was a bit therapeutic. I'll remain hopeful that this will pass but in the meantime I'm looking for support and willing to provide the same as much as I can.
With faith in quiet times ahead,
Rob
On August 29th I flew from SLC to DC. The next day my left ear was clogged and full of fluid. No pain. Just full. I tried to ignore it thinking it'd go away. Two weeks in I went to my GP who diagnosed me with ETD. Told me to take nasonex and it'll all go away. The nasonex made me dizzy and gave me tachycardia so I stopped it after a few days. I went back to my GP who again said to give it time. On 10/9 I decided to escalate and went to an ENT. She did a hearing test and confirmed normal hearing and again I was told to give it time. I left her office determined that the popping and full feeling that I had would eventually pass. Four days later I woke in the middle of the night to ringing in both ears.
For the first week I figured the T would just go away. But as I got more concerned I made another appt with the ENT. I saw the ENT again on 10/29 and she basically told me to relax and give it more time. She said this was normal and that it can take weeks to go away. So I left the ENT feeling much better and returned pretty much to normal life assuming the T would disappear any day now.
I flew again direct from DC to LAX for a biz trip and had no issues with my ETD. Through during this time I could generally sleep until about 5am before the T would wake me up but I could often go back to sleep as well.
When I returned from LA I started to feel anxious about the whole T thing. Stress started to build and anxiety started to ruin sleep and daily activities. My ETD is gone and there's very few, if any, remaining issues there except for the T. Stress and anxiety now seem to rule my life.
I had a really bad weekend last week and woke on Monday determined to do something about this problem. I made appts at the ENT and GP for later that day. The ENT was no help again but reassured me that it was still too soon to say the condition was permanent and sent me home no more than 3 mins after entering the ram room. My GP had some sympathy and gave me an Rx for Xanax to help with the anxiety that is now a moment to moment battle to keep it under control.
The Xanax helps me at night when I'm most anxious. By day I've found a few supplements that also help. I can't be idle otherwise I get anxious so I try and keep my mind busy somehow even if it's just games on my phone.
I'm living each day one at a time with focus on staying positive that the ENT is right and that this will soon pass. I still hang all hope that it will indeed pass.
In the meantime my wife has been super supportive and helps me get through each day. Having family support has been huge for me.
At any rate, sorry this got long but somehow telling my story was a bit therapeutic. I'll remain hopeful that this will pass but in the meantime I'm looking for support and willing to provide the same as much as I can.
With faith in quiet times ahead,
Rob
Member
