I Think Prednisone and Intratympanic Steroid Injection Made My Tinnitus Worse

I'm still pretty depressed about this and I feel like maybe my choice to take Prednisone and an intratympanic steroid injection made my tinnitus worse.

About 2 weeks ago I woke up with an intense itch inside of my left eardrum that would not go away. A few days later, on top of the intense itch, I started noticing pain and a muffled feeling in my left ear. I also noticed a slight buzzing sound.

I went to the ENT and my doctor mentioned it wasn't a bacterial infection but a viral infection and that my left hearing was a little lower than my right.

To prevent the possibility of it getting worse, I was prescribed Prednisone.

After taking it for a few days, I noticed that my ear felt a little more muffled and wasn't getting better.

I took the Prednisone for a full week but it didn't do much so I went back to my ENT.

We decided on an intratympanic steroid injection as a last option and I think this actually made me even worse.

It's been a few days after and my ear feels even stuffier/muffled and the ringing has gotten louder.

I'm beating myself up right and I'm freaking out that the Prednisone and intratympanic steroid injection made it worse. I chose these options as I didn't want to regret and think later on "maybe I should have taken the Prednisone and intratympanic injection as those could have helped heal my ear drum".

But now I've possibly made the worst decisions and possibly paying for it now. Will these effects lessen over time or did I just make them worse?

 

Where are you based?

I do not know whether your worsening condition is connected with the treatments you had - it may have got worse anyway but more knowledgeable people will soon reply to your post I am sure. Don't despair though as it is quite early days and hopefully you will get some improvement.

 

I'm based in the NY/NJ area.

I'm just hoping that this is temporary and the muffled/ringing subsides.

 

No point beating yourself up. Your ENT people obviously offered you these treatments and told you they tend to be most effective in the early days. Naturally you did not want to miss out. I never had this option as here in the UK it takes months to get an ENT appointment. That being said - I would have probably rejected an injection in the ear drum - never found that very appealing. I did say no to an MRI when offered.

I would expect @Michael Leigh will reply to your thread as he has a lot of good advice for newcomers here. I seem to recall he advises those with fresh conditions not to jump in with treatments but wait and see a little. You have jumped in - but you have to proceed from where you are, not where you could have been.

Obviously don't do anything further to exacerbate the situation - leave your ears alone if you can as there is not much to be done and just try to get rest, proper sleep etc and focus on other things and keep busy. Avoid loud noises.

I have a continual high pitched screech and somehow habituated over several months so I tend not to notice it except going to sleep and waking up. The first weeks are the worst. Take it a day at a time - use masking apps - falling rain or white noise - to get you through the night if you need it. Read through the threads and advice on this forum.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I'm taking things slow now. I was scheduled for another injection but I will be cancelling that as the 1st injection didn't do anything but made it worse.

To your point, I think proper sleep is one of the most important things and I do feel like a lack of proper sleep contributed to my issues.

 

Diagnosing viral infections is most commonly done by virological tests that look for the virus's genetic makeup, or DNA, or for antigens, as with the flu, COVID-19, and others.

Another method for diagnosing a viral illness is by performing an antibody blood test. These are blood tests that look for an active or past infection of a virus. Detection of antibodies in the blood can indicate immunity against the virus.

If you haven't had these tests, I would consider them. If they are specific positive, then there's antiviral medications that may help. Left untreated, if there's detection of antibodies in the blood, then often, viral infections can lead to bacterial infection if symptoms persist or worsen.

If the tests come back negative, your doctor may say do nothing, as your immune system is fighting back - and the buzzing sound may just disappear.

 

Did you have hearing loss or tinnitus prior to the itch/muffled hearing?

I’ve had tinnitus for four years from an acoustic trauma and woke up three days ago with muffled hearing in my left ear and increased tinnitus in that ear. I have an appointment with an ENT tomorrow morning. We’ll see what they recommend. I am nervous about Prednisone and an injection, but I am also nervous about doing nothing and living with this new muffled hearing and louder ringing.