How Can I Rule Out Bacterial or Viral Infection Causing My Tinnitus?

One thing that bothers me currently is that I've been to 2 ENTs and neither did anything really to find out what's going on -- apart from a visual inspection of the ear canals.

I would be content with trying to learn to live with tinnitus, if really nothing more can be done. However I'm not convinced of that, and there's a nagging fear that an (otherwise asymptomatic) viral or bacterial infection is wreaking havoc in my ears, and that this could be stopped with appropriate medication.

Is there really no way to find out, or did "my" particular ENTs just not bother to look, although they could have? Is there any concrete testing procedure that I could ask for?

 

I don't think there is anything they can do besides check your ears and your sinuses (look inside your nose and mouth). There are some blood tests for inflammation (Sed Rate, etc.) but I'm not sure if blood tests will capture infection in the ears but they might for sinus related issues. Also, they would ask other questions indicative of infections, such as fever, fatigue, etc.

 

From what I understand, with bacterial infection, it's a middle ear problem and you can see fluid build up behind the ear drum.

The exception to this might something like Lyme.

Viral can be cochlear. You could ask your doctor for viral titers (blood work) just to rule this in or out.

Were you sick when your tinnitus started? If so make sure you emphasize that in your history.

 

Thanks. I guess I'll be seeing a third ENT in the new year .

 

Hi Rainer, my initial downward spiral began after dental work that caused an infectious or allergic type of reaction with the work at the epicenter. I sought both dental and medical help to no avail, but was dx'd with Celiac disease. When I didn't comply being 47 years old and previously tested negative to that, I went to another ER where apparently a phone call was made to the last ER that dx'd this. I was threatened with a psych eval if I didn't follow the first one's order and have an intestinal biopsy. My sinuses were raw, nose dripping, eyes watering, throat sore, mouth sore, gums sore and at work I kept bumping into things. I didn't get the biopsy because I was convinced to just try the diet by a co-worker. It did help and in a month when trying to find a doctor for the biopsy, I was told that I had to return to a regular diet for the test. In asking what the test would be used for, confirmation, I decided against. Not long after this ordeal, my vision started to fail, some days worse than others. Prescription lenses came in 3 times and were wrong. My eyes had gone from red to sort of orange pink and then I started not being able to understand what I was seeing. My eyes opened up in the night, dry. I developed gray rings and then the world went dim, like someone turned a dimmer switch down on daylight. Even the retina scans at 2 different eye doctors didn't come out right - dark rather than orange. Sometimes that happens, or the machine was down the other said. When my vision was the worst, my anxiety went through the roof because suddenly I had this hiss in my ears. At night, I saw sparks in my eyes closed or open. My hair fell out of one side of my body.

Over then next few years, it affected me greatly. I didn't look the same, my eyes seemed to have moved outward and I developed Bell's Palsy.

I tried everything. But what started to help was things that seem peculiar, and on that basis I KNOW that this is either viral or bacterial. Nothing has relieved it completely but I do have days of relief and my eyes are gradually getting better--with temporary site that I can predictably treat for several hours of vision. Sometimes the tinnitus goes away too.

That being said this is the list that you can tell your doctor about--all of them are old ancient antibiotic, antimicrobials.

1. Pine tea, pine baths.

2. Toothpaste as a face treatment - this has cured my Bell's Palsy and after using it on dark circles around my eyes, has imo killed bacteria that prevented the nerves from contracting the muscles around my eyes.

3. Iodine tablets with potassium. This was formerly used to kill everything under the sun. Only trouble is you have to be careful with this since it can harm the thyroid.

4. Usnea. My symptoms progressed to fungal like. Usnea is a lichen that was formerly used as an antibiotic before it was commercialized and sold as an antibiotic by snake oil salesmen. I use it in my coffee from time to time, dry in my socks overnight cures red burn that I couldn't get rid of. Chewed as gum got rid of days of not being able to breath and cured tongue issue that had been ongoing since '09.

5. Turmeric - the spice. Drink it in warm milk with honey and also as a skin treatment around eyes. After I started drinking pine tea regularly, I developed eye stye - as my eyes slowly moved back into my head- combined with toothpaste treatment. Turmeric applied around my eyes several times in less than 24 hours cleared up the whites of my eyes, and added to the continued tightening of the skin around my eyes. I've tried putting a paste in my ear canals because they finally drain in the night.


My case is over a decade old. It is difficult to kill it at this point since my entire body has been damaged. I finally have circulation in my hands and feet agai n- warmth after drinking pine needle and cone tea for a month, just that alone has been miraculous.

My tinnitus comes and goes with all of this. And, I think considering other ways that I am affected, there is a reason. Bacteria and fungus colonies incorporate a molecule of metal into each cell of it's covering, that will use heavy metal or even iron from your blood. Fungus loves keratin so each hair of the body harbors a colony. Then you live in a world that is bombarded with frequencies -- that leave a static charge on your body because the metal shield the fungal colonies build or bad bacteria-- or maybe viruses can, prevent the electrical frequency from passing through. So you build up electricity in the body. This radiation kills good bacteria and makes the problem worse, since some bacteria is capable of fighting minor fungus or bad bacteria. Over the course of a decade, I've had eyes, nose, ears, throat, skin, lung, heart, stomach, gut and joint problems. The pine tea has been helping- I just bring fresh green pine from blowdown white pines to a boil, simmer for 20 minutes and sometimes drink plain but other times throw home ground coffee in, and drink black. sometimes i put cones, sometimes a sprig of spruce, sometimes lichen. When I stop, my recovery deteriorates rapidly. The anxiety in the beginning is related to all this- it is loss of hydrochloric acid production in the gut, that not only aids digestion but regulates brain chemicals and infection fighting. If you get that take an allergy med with HCl in it - like Benadryl for a day or two. Repeated use does nothing good. Also watch out in your diet for High Corn Syrup Fructose. This kills your liver that is the bodies toxin filter. Taking baths, to soak toxins out of your skin- the body's back up toxin expeller works better than showers.

Rather than waste any money on an ENT, doctor or dentist who in many cases made me worse and even injured me, I would go straight to homeopathic solutions. Plus you save yourself exposure to MRSA and god only knows what else their equipment is infested with. Good luck.