Hello, My Name's Jay and I Have Tinnitus... From Allergies?

Hello, my name's Jay and I have bilateral Tinnitus.

LOCATION: Charleston, SC
AGE: 40
WGHT: 185lbs
BP: Always good, no problems.
BLOOD: (Recent) Good overall except Cholesterol was a little high. (GP not concerned)
DENTAL: 3 upper silver fillings,
MEDS (Past 6-8 weeks): Ventolin (lifetime mild asthma), occasional Advil 200mg and as needed allergy meds. Have never relied on meds (OTC or Rx) unless necessary. Vitamins. Prednisone 40mg 10days. Antibiotics 7 days. Nasal spray (Dymista or Nasacort)

LIFESTYLE: Health, diet and fitness has always been a priority. Married with 2 young children, non-smoker, no drugs and a very low alcohol consumption for more than 10 years. Plus I quit coffee and sodas cold turkey the day this started. Yes, I'm boring but I operate a business too. And I'm currently selling (now sold) home and building and buying another. So it's been a moderately stressful year so far and now Tinnitus. Yippee!

For the past 6 weeks, I’ve been experiencing an increased but now steady medium to low ringing in my both ears with an every other day high frequency predominately in my left ear and a very low pulsation. It only changes once at night during sleep even though I wake up about every 2 or 3 hours. My levels also increase and stay louder as soon as my head hits the pillow. Also it changes when I bend over, turn my head, extend my jaw or press behind my ears. It all started after a 2 week upper respiratory congestion from allergies cleared up. A few days later, I woke up with loud ringing in both ears but since then it has slowly decreased in intensity ...or I’m just becoming used to it. On a scale of 1-10, I think I started out as a 6 and now I’m a 4 on a bad day and a 3 on a good day. I’ve NOT experienced any recent loud events (shooting guns, concerts, etc...) or head trauma. I was tested to be “VERY ALLERGIC” to tree pollen in 2010. In 2011, I blew my nose and barely ruptured my left ear drum but developed a slight sensitivity to sudden high pitched sounds. The following year in Feb, 2012, I used a power tool real quick with no ear protection (dumb!) and I believe that kicked started my low level T. The same year in March, during a very dry tree pollen season, I had some mild sinus congestion for a short period of time and afterwards experienced a slightly annoying sound for about 6 weeks that eventually resolved to very quiet ...but not forgotten. In 2013, it rained often during the tree pollen season and I never had any problems. In 2014, it’s been very dry with high tree pollen counts (only 7 days with brief rain showers in 41 days) and I’m experiencing 2012 during the same time of the year all over again but more intense. I'm sure this years stress levels has something to do with it as well. I’ve been trying to piece this puzzle together and have come to a conclusion of hope that my T may be aggravated by tree pollen allergies especially if I experience a sinus infection from allergies during a dry tree pollen season. My ears, chest and sinus’ have been clear and dry since after a recent sinus congestion/infection in mid March. I never felt as though my ears where full or clogged but maybe they were a little at the time. My GP, ENT and Allergist said they looked clear too. The ENT said I had some high frequency hearing loss but I debated bc I was experiencing higher levels of ringing at the time and said “...of course bc I can’t hear those whisper quiet tones over this high frequency ringing!”. Prescribed Prednisone and sent me home which I think suppressed my immune system even more. Prior to all this I could hear my wife’s cell phone ring in her purse from the other room when she could not and she has good hearing. I’ve had other health issues pop up during the past 6 weeks too so I think my immune system took a beating during the URI and then went into overtime bc tree pollen was still HIGH. My ears crack when I swallow and popping them takes a little careful pressure but is not instant. I’ve suspected a low grade OME w/o infection. A few medical sites claim that NO symptoms or evidence of OME does not mean it’s not there and can take up to a few months to clear all the while aggravating T the whole time. I’m not sure about ETD bc my ears never clogged up. My sinus’ have felt dry and my nose has not run once in 6 plus weeks and I’ve been off antihistamines for almost 3 weeks and other meds too. I realized they where drying me up too much, causing my T level to increase while irritating my throat and already dry sinus’. However, I continue to have what looks like post nasal (or Middle Ear Eustachian Tube!?) drainage inflamed irritation on the sides of the back of my throat. It's not strep. I really do think the middle ear tissue can become inflamed from allergies w/o ETD and run kind of like your nose but on a smaller scale down the back of your throat. I have noticed if my throat gets dry at night, it irritates my throat even more and causes my T to increase. Add a very allergic response to tree pollen to inflamed tissue and you might have a perfect storm for T? One thing that seems consistent among medical sites is that any inflammation in the ENT area can aggravate T. What I’ve come to realize is that no matter what extremes I do for myself or my home, I can’t escape pollen until it completely stops and it’s the only common denominator in this whole ordeal. For example, it’s like a friend who is allergic to your pets, takes allergy meds and necessary precautions, comes over and still gets allergy symptoms during or after their visit. Now I'm looking at Dental as a possible culprit especially silver mercury fillings and the few fillings I've needed to get taken care of. Who the heck knows!?

I was hoping some of you could share advice especially if you've have experienced T and allergies. Thanks for your input in advance!

 

I have allergies as well and of course T but I WA told by my ENT that my T was caused by loud noise and like you I had a audiometry test and I could not hear the high pitch low level noises due to my stupid T so therefore he concluded it was due to loud noise and like you I have very good hearing so I think I got my T due to allergies because this season everybody got allergies and I was a very bad allergic to spring and fall season and I have not got them so far this year, I wonder if my allergies are just attacking my ears now, im confused but as soon as I get off this turnaround work im going straight to a doctor in Mexico for allergies, cheaper and better, so I will keep you posted, and believe me, im going to every doctor chyropractor for my neck a different ENT,etc...im gonna fight this annoying noise, it pisses me off at times but when im having a cookout or have a good conversation I do not percieve the sound eventhough its loud, im starting to habituate little by little, but I will still fight this dam disorder!

 

I've been watching the pollen count daily. In 50 days, when pollen was VERY HIGH or LOW so was my T. A dry April and May plus a continuous onslaught of pollen is invading our ears and causing our immune systems to react and aggravate our T.

 

Has your T improved any?

 

Not at all, but im habituating alright...