Introduction After 3 Months (Ear Infection, Otitis Media)

Hi all,

After reading 3 months this very helpful website, I decided to share my positive story with you as it might help some of you battling with identical symptoms.

I started to have a severe sinusitis 3 months ago: there was a lot of mucus in my sinuses. It was followed by an otitis media for 2 days during which I had minor pain in the left ear and a small high pitch tinnitus appearing.
My GP gave me antibiotics (amoxycilin) for a week and said everything should be fine in a week or so. She suggested I use a neti pot to clear my sinuses every night which made the tinnitus a lot louder after a while. Two weeks later my infection seems to be gone but tinnitus is still there and much louder (unbearable).
Worst, I have now tension headaches and my left ear makes "popping" sounds or clicks if you want like there is an air bubble or something. I don't feel like I have a blocked ear but I do feel like my left Eustachian tube is not properly clicking when I swallow saliva. The right tube is clicking though. I also have ear pain in left side from time to time.

After 3 weeks from onset, enough is enough I go for an ENT who gives me oral Prednisone and serc. He said I have a 30dB hearing loss in my left ear for high frequencies above 8kHz. According to him, this is an inner ear problem and the infection is gone. Two weeks later I come back and tinnitus is still loud, he makes a trans-tympanic steroid injection in my left eardrum. 10 days later I come back and he says my hearing improved a little bit, 15dB in these high frequencies above 8kHz. I didn't really believe it as I felt the audiogram was rushed and inaccurate. Anyway I haven't noticed any hearing loss and was never bothered by it, the only thing worrying for me was tinnitus and these tension headaches. He says it is a good outcome, my MRI is clear and there is nothing he can do anymore, just "come back in 3 month time"... I was in total panic mode, impossible to sleep and have a normal life where I can concentrate 1 minute straight.

Following that, I went to see a 2nd ENT that told me a totally different story: In the MRI he showed me my left sinus conduit is very narrow compared to the left sinus. This means pressure is greater when blowing nose (especially if you use neti pots like I did). He noticed some scar tissue and brown blood as well on my eardrum coming from the inside of the ear. Following that I completely stopped blowing nose or using neti pots to clear my sinuses. The doc now tells me I have a middle ear problem: "give your ear a month to heal and don't touch your nose!"
One month later (2 months from onset), gradually the headaches and tinnitus disappear in intensity although there were some spikes here and there... but clearly the trend was down. I go to see this ENT and we can still see blood in my left ear. he says "come back in 6 weeks"...

Just to have peace of mind, I went to see a 3rd ENT (also neurologist specialized in balance problems as well) just to see what he thinks: he checked with otoscopic instrument and says "this is likely not blood but ear wax you know" and goes on to tell me it is very common to have an inner ear problem following an ear infection "this might be permanent etc...". Thing is I saw the red blood with my own eyes as the 2nd ENT I saw had top of the art otoscopic video instrument (video zooming of the eardrum), this ENT had only a normal tiny otoscope. But at least she could explain the tension headaches, one auditory nerve if damaged can be responsible for that. She advised I take an AD (Amytryptiline) not to treat depression but "only" for the tension headaches...
Nevertheless, given the time frames, I started to think every one of them might be a bit right since I tried so many things haha. Finally I decided I should try and habituate to the sound and I must conclude:
-the 1st month was ok as tinnitus was mild and psychologically I thought it was temporary,
-the 2nd month was total hell as I was in total panic and not sleeping, I would close my room and cry until there is no more tears...
-the 3rd month I was back to ok as I completely stopped panicking and it did not worry me that much anymore. I even started sleeping without any masking noise as I didn't fear it that much.

Also the intensity was a roller-coaster which helps on the way down but smashes you hard psychologically on the way up... I went on with my life.
At first I didn't believe one could habituate to it, now I start to understand! I realise being tired or stressed makes it worst. I must say the headaches stopped 9 days out 10 and are far worst than just the sound, in fact it is the combination that is dramatic especially if there is a bit of hyperacusis. Thank god I only had a few days with a bit of hyperacusis at month 2.
For sure, the human auditory system is very weak compared to other parts of the body and healing times are very long... but the human brain is fantastic and can adapt to it.

So now I decided I don't really care if it stays or goes really as I have no control over it. Actually I now realise most tinnitus are temporary and nothing to worry about: they can be extremely difficult to handle psychologically the first or second month for sure. I am a bit worried of future cold/flu infections though as winter is coming (I live in Australia) and I don't know how I will react.
I thank god I have a job/hobbies I love that keep me busy.

Jamie

 

Welcome to the forum. That quoted sentence above is probably one of the most effective strategies out there short of a magic pill to eliminate T. Such attitude will help the brain to stay away from caving in negative emotions from T and will allow you to live a more normal life. This also will keep the fight or flight response of the limbic nerves away, and that will help to moderate our reaction to T. Keep that up and habituation will slowly happen. Good luck. Take care. God bless.