Glue Ear? Can a Doctor Always See If You Have Fluid in the Middle Ear?

A week and a half ago I started getting pressure behind my eyes, particularly my left eye. After a few days I also had mild dizziness when I turned my head or looked down. I also had mild soreness in the top of my mouth/throat near where my sinuses drain. The soreness went away after one day but the mild dizziness lasted about three days.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday last week I started noticing a super high pitched ringing in my left ear. It got louder and louder on Thursday, but on Friday was barely there till I went for a walk; then it came back.

Then I had the loud ringing on Saturday and Monday. The rest of the days have been a mix of quieter ringing and super loud ringing. Sometimes the ringing pulses along with my heartbeat. This usually happens in the morning after I get up and eat.

My tinnitus is almost gone first thing when I wake up and then it gets bad after I get up. It fluctuates during the day.

I swear I can feel fluid moving in my ears when I tilt my head down or to the side. I also have mild pressure in my right ear. Sometimes I get ringing in try right ear too. But the ENT said my ears look fine. If there was fluid in the middle ear, can a doctor always see it?

I have mild conductive hearing loss in my left ear (the same as the ringing) and the tympanometry apparently showed a slightly stiff eardrum on the left side, but nothing outside of the normal range.

Is it possible that I have fluid or something in my middle ear causing this ringing? Is that too much to hope for?

 

Very much possible. Some folks even getting COVID-19 vaccinations develop middle ear fluid and get tinnitus.

If your tinnitus is fluctuating, there is good chance it will reduce.