My Talk with an ENT

So i eventually got a letter about my appointment to see an ENT. I have been classed as "Routine" and will have to wait 9 months plus to see one on the public system. I wasnt bothered but did want to talk to someone whose job is EARS. But anyway.

My left ear is reacting to sounds with a little clearing/popping sensation as well as the t, so Wednesday i got the idea that i should talk to someone about it so went in early to the eye and ear hospital A&E drop in service and paid my 100Euro and got in line. It was packed as im told it always is. Waited about 2 hours and got in to a room with the DOC and two med students on work experience. The DOC ignored me and let the student talk over my symptoms while it looked to me he filled in the last patients form and didnt listen at all.

The students were very nice and when the DOC eventually paid some attention i had to tell my story all over again. He looked into my ears and told me i have a bit of wax and he wanted to remove it. He took out some device that had a loud hissing sound. I said HOLD ON, too loud for my ears and i just got me ears cleared last December. He looked mad and said this is safe, blah blah but i said no. He then said that the subwoofer may not be the cause of my t, even tho it appeared immediately after the blast from it and i didnt have problems before that!!

He then whipped out some scope with a camera to check my nose and the tube to the ears. I said hhhhmmm, he said dont worry this one is totally fine. Relax. I didnt but he did it anyways. I checked out ok. It didnt help his native language was not mine so he had to ask me to repeat myself a lot. Not that he was really listening anyway. He wasnt. Is this nose scope procedure totally safe, my nose is running a bit after it??

He then whipped out a tuning fork. Rang it and placed it near my Left ear. It was loud, he then touched the base to the skull over the ear and asked me which was louder. I heard it in both places but louder held close to the ear, not touching the skull. He did the same with my right ear and i heard it loud close to the ear, but this time touching the fork to my skull and i could hear nothing in that ear?? Can anyone interpret this? He then placed it top of skull, middle of it, and asked me where the sound was, i said middle of the head.

Anyway, he then said i need a hearing test asap blah blah. With the students there and him talking to them, the language problem and people coming in and out of the room (yes they did) i got very little out of the appointment. I left thinking what a waste of time. I should have realised this from the start and stayed away but i wanted a bit of advice. The only thing i got from it was that up to my eardrum in both ears is fine, but i suspected that anyway but that popping noise was confusing me, it sounds like its near my ear drum. Oh well, i guess its hearing test next sometime. Not sure if im looking forward to knowing if i have NIHL. In my head if i have a bad audiogram then my t is permanent. Not sure if this is true or not either though. Oh the joys of t. Wouldnt swap it for the world, well maybe i would.....

 

YIKES! What kind of a medical system do you have?

 

It seems to work well for most things, but obviously not too good with t

There are other private eye and ear places too but you would have to pay 150 euro just to talk to one of those guys but im thinking the service would be better, learned a bit of a lesson with the drop in service, its really for eye and ear emergencies, not conditions like t and the like. I should have realised and left as soon as I saw the setup, even though a lot of people say they are very good with eye and ears. I guess a lot depends on who you get to see as well.