Getting a flu after you had tinnitus

Hi guys I got a bad flu when I already had tinnitus for 6 months. I went on antibiotics and when I had the flue I had pain in my ear as well main one side the doctor said ear drum was red and looked like there was liquid behind my ear drum. now my tinnitus is much louder I wanted to know if any one else has experienced this and if theirs the volume went back down after their flu eventually or just stays the same. I made sure the antibiotic I took is not ototoxic meaning does not damage the ear because some of them are.

 

i just recovered from a bout of flu. It was ringing louder and the ears were clogged. It went down to baseline again. Don't worry too much about it. Just take care not to blow your nose too hard that it hurts your ears.

 

@nima The biggest danger with T and flu (and ALSO colds), besides the chance the virus could attack inner ear, is precisely that mucus can cause otitis. Most of the time antibiotics are unnecesary, as this is caused by virus, and there is a bigger risk of ototoxicity than docs and pharmaceuticals tell you, do your own research and you'll see it.

I've had otitis two times in the last 3 years as a consecuence of common colds, at first it seemed that my T came to normal again, but with time I noticed it has gradually worsened.

Now I don't risk catching another one. The biggest risk for otitis is to have the mucus pass to the middle ear, specially while sleeping. My protective measures are: at the first sign of cold, before mucus even appear, I start to sleep sitting in bed (the head kept up with several big pillows), I take pure acetylcistein to dilute and throw faster the mucus, I make several vapor inhalations and clean my passages with salt water several times a day, and I use nasal steroids daily while the cold lasts.

Maybe this seems a lot to do, but since I do it, I haven't had nor even an ear pain while I have a cold, and much less another otitis.

Also, most of the colds can be avoided by being a bit "germ phobic" and washing hands several times a day with warm water and a proper soap whenever there is flu or cold surges, and better yet, avoiding touching door knobs in public places unnecesarily, keeping a distance with people whenever is possible, and avoid being near little kids, as they are the biggest transmitters of respiratory infections. I guess these things are not convenient for everyone, but I recommend them for everyone that want to be sure of not catching another otitis and worsen their T because of it.

 

Just recovering from a bad cold. Tinnitus stayed about the same. I think it felt worse due to poor sleep and feeling bad...

 

I will avoid antibiotics as much as I can after getting T. Most of them are otoxic as many know -> can cause T. Antibiotics also mess up your gut bacteria, which can last up until year or two + do all sorts of harm.

 

@Frederick86

I am also very cautious. I've developed an excellent regiment for colds. Though taking zinc lozenges formulated for colds, I also use a vaporizer steam inhaler four times a day at the first sign of sickness. I also take 1000 milligrams vitamin C in divided doses. Of the three, however, it's the steam that really prevents the cold from getting strong. Cold viruses are sensitive to heat and dousing them with steam at regular intervals prevents them from getting established. I've done with this five colds and four of them were very mild because of the steam. (When I say mild, I mean like day 1-2 of a cold, but it never gets much worse than that for 5 to 7 days total.) My last cold I first thought was from allergies so I waited two days before beginning the steam therapy and I got pretty sick. I don't know if the steam still help mitigate my symptoms--it might have--but with colds you don't want the virus to get established. That's key.

BTW, a severe cold began the series of events that led to my tinnitus. In 2010, I had a cold that was into its third week; I had never been so sick from a cold. One night while suffering, my one ear began popping. Then it felt full. Then blood began coming from it. The next day, the other ear drum ruptured, and I bled from both ears for several days. Of course, I went to the ENT and got oral steroids and antibiotics. He was actually very kind to me and felt badly my ears and sinuses were so messed up. But when I healed I was left with ETD in both ears. And that ETD developed into tinnitus two years later.

So, like you, my experience left me very cautious about getting colds. I take all precautions, but, hey, you still have to live a normal life. That's why I started developing my routine whenever I get sick. And I now no longer fear getting a cold.

Finally, I noticed you said you rinsed your nasal passages with salt several times a day. Be cautious! Don't use anything like a Neti Pot, which might spread your infection from you sinuses to your eustachian tubes.

Ahh...what we do for our tinnitus. But it's definitely worth it!

 

@jazz I borrow the idea of steam, I already did it but I guess not that often as you, and I usually started only when mucus make breathing difficult, I'll do it sooner from now on.

I don't use potis nor something like that, only regular droplets or those sterilised sea water sprays they sell on pharmacies, is that risky too?

 

No, you should be fine with those. I meant don't use Neti pots and other nasal rinses where you squirt water up one side of your noise and it comes out the other. (I know this sounds gross, but many people use it for allergies instead of drugs or nasal steroids. And it's safe--unless you have a cold or sinus infection.)

About using nasal steroids, I wouldn't use them while you have a cold. This is because nasal steroids weaken your immune system--that's what gets the inflammation down. When you have a cold, conversely, you want to strengthen your immune system. And so using the nasal steroids will probably make harder for your body to eliminate the cold. And if nasal congestion bothers you, try Sudafed. Afrin also works, but you can only use it for three or four days or else you'll create a nasty rebound effect since your sinuses get addicted to the spray quickly.

See the hyperlink for what I use for a steam inhaler. It gets very hot; but that's what you need to kill cold viruses. I never thought I would be ruined by a cold. But I was wrong. One cold permanently affected my eustachian tubes and gave me ETD, which directly caused my tinnitus by increasing the pressure in my middle ear.

And, like I mentioned above, you will still have a cold. But it will be a very mild cold. Just don't think after two or three days you can quit the steam. (I tried that once.) If you do, the cold will come right back. I always do it five to seven days. One last thing, the steam does increase my tinnitus, but it's temporary. Getting further damage from a bad cold, however, may permanently increase my tinnitus. As such, I don't mind the tinnitus being a little louder for a few days while doing the steam therapy.

 

Interesting, I'll get one of those. Nasal steroids use in my case is because I have a kind of rhinitis which is aggravated by all the usual OTC decongestants (except steroid sprays or oral acetylcistein) so I use that steroid spray instead. My rhinitis doesn't seem to affect my T, but with colds I produce too much mucus and that increases my otitis risk. But I'll ask the doctor about better options to take.