Hello! New Here, and I Have a Few Questions.

To keep this short, I've bolded the important bits.

My tinnitus came on just a few days ago, I'm 19 years of age. It happened after I used ear drops for wax ( brand name Major, it's got a yellow label with green lettering ). My experience can't speak for all but in the future, these may want to be avoided.

Here's what happened:

• I put like 6 drops into both of my ears.
• Used warm water to flush ( squeezed out a few drops from a towel since I didn't have a syringe or whatever ).
• Went to bed fine, slept for around 9 hours.
• Woke up in the morning with a quiet but noticeable EEEEEEE in one of my ears, I think. Right now it's raining and I can hear the rain, and me typing, but also the tinnitus. Rarely (VERY RARELY) it'll fade out and leave me with nothing but a full feeling in my left ear mostly.
• I feel the tinnitus is in my left ear only, not too sure.

I get that this isn't curable, but from what I've written above does anyone think my tinnitus could just be from displaced earwax?

I should note that I do use earbuds, and in the past ( like, my junior-late senior year of high-school ) I blasted my tunes. Never past that point that states 'listening to high volumes may damage your hearing' though, like a bit below that. Ever since mid July though I've been keeping my music a few notches under 50%.

I have experienced a slight, occasional ringing before this happened. But that barely lasted for 15 seconds. And according to google, that was natural.

Anyway is it possible for tinnitus to just randomly occur due to past noise damage? If my tinnitus were induced by noise damage, wouldn't it be instant rather than happen a few months later?

And how soon should I see an ENT? My PCP won't send me to one without a referral (and he wants me to come in for an appointment to get this referral, lame I know) so I probably won't be able to see an ENT until the 30th. If I'm lucky, I guess. Only asking this because lots of posts on this site say you should get in within the first week to prevent hearing damage? Should I push the receptionist to send me to an ENT quicker or what.

God bless anyone who took the time to read this. And a second blessing for anyone who can ( or even attempts ) to answer my questions.

 

Yes, ear wax build-up can cause tinnitus or cause already existing tinnitus to spike. The displaced ear wax might be causing your tinnitus.

Noise-induced hearing loss is cumulative. Some people's tinnitus appears right after a loud event and other people's tinnitus appears a bit later. Many people who have listened to loud music in the past said that their tinnitus began during a stressful period, so hearing loss in combination with stress can be a trigger.
But the fact that your tinnitus began after using ear drops makes me think it's probably more due to ear wax or an irritation within the ear canal.

Different people have different opinions on this. I've heard some ENTs say people should see someone if tinnitus persists for more than a whole day. A course of prednisolone could help with acute tinnitus, from what I've read it's best to start taking it 24-48 hours after onset.

 

I would see an ENT right away. If you cant get a referral fast enough then find a highly rated one on your own with Yelp and pay cash if you have to and have him clean you ears for ear wax, if the tinnitus doesn't subside after that then ask him to prescribe a course of steroids while you still can since you have a very narrow window of opportunity for it to work. Time is of the essence.

 

There is no cure, but T tends to fade, and some/many(?) people get to hear silence again. I remember several people posting here who got T in a similar way to you. I believe their T was eventually gone.

Yes. When T is due to a lifetime of abuse, the cause is said to be noise. When it is due to a one-time trauma, the cause is said to be an acoustic trauma.

You using those drops might have been the last straw...

If I were you, I would see an ENT as soon as possible.

They were talking about acoustic traumas, and the need to take steroids soon after. Your case is different. You might still want to try to convince the receptionist to help you get an appointment sooner. You would be doing it just in (the unlikely) case the ENT might be able to do something about damage caused by those drops.

I believe that you will find some of the information at the link below to be useful to you:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822