New and Annoyed

Hi everyone!

Recently, in the last 4 or so weeks, I've had quite loud, high pitched ringing in both my ears. I first noticed it one night when the power went out during the night and a loud ringing was there, this itself disappeared rather quickly and wasn't there the next day. Fast forward several weeks and I'm at where I am now.

After I noticed the noise wasn't going away I went to my GP and he had a look, couldn't see anything wrong with my ears and told me to get a hearing test, which I did, although the ringing itself made it harder to actually hear the beeps.. Apparently I have slight hearing loss in regards to lower frequencies. I noticed that the ringing was getting worse, mainly through anxiety, and I second appointment with another doctor. This one noticed a slight redness in my left ear, possibly from a virus, which would help explain the discomfort I've had for the weeks prior but there was nothing she could do (Her words). I suffer from wax buildup periodically, and I thought at first it was just this.

The following day, during work, my hearing started to decline, I found it harder and harder to hear conversations with people sat next to me to the point where it felt muffled. I went to A & E because of this, worried that I was about to lose my hearing completely and they called in an audiologist. He looked into both ears and noticed that they were both extremely dull and that I probably had fluid behind both of them and was told to wait 6-8 weeks and that both the T and the discomfort in my ears should go over time, although he did say the T potentially was there beforehand, mainly when I noticed it that night and that background noise was potentially the instigator for my hearing loss.

I still had my follow-up appointment with my GP to discuss my hearing test results, although both the audiologist and himself told me to disregard the results due to the blockage and that when it clears I should re-do the test for more accurate results. I was also asked to hold my nose and blow through it to see if it was crackling, which it was. I'm not sure if this is a good sign or not but the crackling itself is happening more and more as the days go by.

I'm generally coping by doing what I normally do: go to work, look after my dogs, play video games, go to the cinemas, hang out with friends etc. My TV and fan are helping me sleep on a night, as it masks the noise when it gets particularly loud. It has helped to know someone personally who has severe tinnitus in both ears, and has for many years, and just talking to him makes it seem more bearable. I have noticed though, when I can relax on the weekends that my T and the general ear pain I get lessens drastically to sometimes where I can't even hear / feel it. I believe work exacerbates it.

The main questions I would like answered are, which I never got a clear answer from my GP, was that with blocked eardrums is it normal for T to be here 100% of the time? My only concern is that once my ears unblock is that I'll be stuck with this annoying noise. As far the second, I've noticed that I'm getting tired much quicker than I normally do, apparently this is something to do with my ears straining to pick up sound? Wasn't too sure on that myself.

Thanks for any advice / help in advance.

 

Sorry for what you're going through, and I sincerely hope your condition improves completely. My tinnitus came from a cannon, and my ears felt muffled or blocked for several months. I noticed an increase in the crackling and popping sounds before the muffled sensation lifted, so I assume that had something to do with my ear's healing. The doc didn't verify that, so that's just my conjecture. I was also extremely fatigued at first, like you are. Again, I think that is your body trying to take time to heal, or as you said, you're tired because your ears are working harder. Be good to yourself. Most people agree that stress makes the whole thing worse.

 

Thanks for your reply, at the moment all I'm doing is taking it day by day, I'm not one to listen to extremely loud music via headphones or concerts so I'm optimistically on the view point that it's purely because of my blocked ears and should clear up once the issue goes, I've managed to get a pair of what I'm told is good quality earplugs and I'm using them whenever volume starts to get a little unbearable, they don't seem to muffle sound but take the dangerous edge off of whatever you hear, apparently.

The main worry I'm having isn't really to do with the tinnitus, this is something I'll just have to live with and I accept that, if it's permanent that is, but with the hearing loss. I've heard that you only realistically get 6 or so month before the damage is classed as permanent and I'm to use at least 2 of them to give the fluid time to clear. Is it normal for hearing loss to occur with fluid block-up?

 

I would call more lawyers, it's not about money, it's about getting justice.

 

What's a lawyer going to do?

 

Yes.

That said, I am surprised that the audiologist didn't tell you to go back to the doctor if you had fluid in your ears. That's typically a sign of an ear infection. Also surprised your GP didn't say something at the follow-up unless things had cleared up by then.

 

It's good to know the hearing loss is normal. They both seemed to end the conversations with if it doesn't clear in 6-8 weeks come back, I'm not too sure I've had a good run in with the doctors I've seen. I guess I'll just see how the next 5-6 weeks go and hopefully it all clears up by then.

*Edit*
In regards to the ear infection, I was told when I visited the second doctor that my ear was slightly red, most likely the sign of a viral infection that had started to clear up and that this itself probably caused the fluid.

 

• Hi, I have had very similar ringing started following a bad cold and loads of stress dealing with a dad with psychiatric illness.It came first in one ear and then after a few weeks it came in the other.Doctors gave me nothing and said it was slightly red in one ear.I'm going to ENT on Wed .It is 8weeks for me and have more spells of hissing noises in the day and ringing more at evening.It is a little unpredictable though ,when I think it is getting better it suddenly goes worse again.When I move my neck it sounds like crackling or popping candy and sometimes feels like insects crawling in my ear.At present its awful cause I have got another cold on top of it,joys of minding my 2 yr old grandson who is always full of a cold at present.I'm also hoping this will clear up,ill have to see what ENT say on Wednesday. lorritay

 

Hi Lorritay,

I hope you get some good results / answers on Wednesday. I think I'm quite lucky in regards to having a very good idea on what's causing my T, my hope is that once the blockage starts to go and my hearing starts to come back the T will fade away again. I'm in a similar situation to you right now, in that I have a cold as well, I'm guessing this itself isn't making the issue any better.

 

I'm sincerely sorry for what you're going through at the moment. My first year with Tinnitus was devastating to me. I'm a good 5 years past that now and life is much better although the Tinnitus has not changed. I've tried all sorts of sound masking devices but none really worked.

I don't know why I started with T, my hearing test showed very minor hearing loss at the highest ranges.

I posted (my first post here) about these new ear plugs I just read about this morning called HUSH. I am hopeful they will help me at night. Good luck to you and I hope you recover fully from your blockage. I really do.