New to Tinnitus — Woke Up with a Clogged Right Ear and Tinnitus

Hello Everyone,

Been lurking in this forums for quite some time. Hoping to get some feedback from you guys.

Doctor saying I got tinnitus...

8/26/19 -- woke up with a clogged right ear, loud ringing. Used Debrox kit to flush my ear. Huge Chunk of wax came out. Clogginess went away. Ringing persisted.

1-2 weeks -- ringing still there, barely able to sleep. Went to GP, says no impacting earwax, refer to audiology/ENT.

3-4 weeks -- ringing seems to lessen. Not as intense as before. Tone changes to a softer pitch/hissing noise. During daily activities, I do not notice it. But I do notice it when in a quiet environment/sleeping.

Current week -- same feel as week 3-4. Had a hearing test. All seemed normal, except right ear is performing a bit worse at higher frequency (7-8 kHz). ENT examined my ear, nothing out of the ordinary, helped remove a bit of wax.

So far it's been about 5 weeks now. I've been told to just monitor and see if it goes away. I am able to sleep a bit better, it still annoys to heck of out me

Stuff I'm doing (hoping it helps):

- More cardio in my workouts to help with blood flow
- Taking multivitamins (once a day men's)
- No more earbuds or headphones
- Avoiding loud noises

Appreciate any feedback or suggestions to help cope or hopefully cure this (I know there is no confirmed cure for tinnitus).

 

Whoever gave you that advice, do not listen to it. That's one of the worst thing you can do. Constant monitoring can possibly build up more fixation and obsession with the tinnitus and can possibly annoy your more.

Instead you should do as much as you can, to not think about the noise. Possibly use sound enrichment and give the brain a second noise to hear. Have it at low volume with nature sounds, that are relaxing....

 

Can you post your audiogram? (blank out any personal info)

 

Doctor didn't give me the audiogram. Just show me there was some discrepancy between my left (good) & right (bad) ear at these higher frequency. Overall, my hearing is good, no hearing loss.

And your right, monitoring and looking for the sound only makes it worse. But so hard to not to think about it. Especially when it's quite.

 

Do you have any other symptoms such as vertigo?
Were you under severe stress before the T started?
Also, is it possible that your neck muscles are stiff? The neck muscles and posture could be causing T.
In term of food supplements you can try gingko biloba which dialates the blood vessels. In case your T is caused by vasoconstriction gingko is supposed to help.

 

My newbie advice for you, is as follows.. Search the forum for different ear blood circulation improving methods, check which steroids could be used for people who have fresh Tinnitus and what treatments could you use to treat your certain kind of Tinnitus, please continue doing the things you do to preserve your health and hearing but do not overwork yourself for example by lifting too much weights. If you take pleasure in keeping things as they are now, and you don't listen music too much or don't go to concerts without hearing protection, you will fully habituate to Tinnitus, and the cure for Tinnitus will be invented, before you even know. Of course, I think too much, as, in the past few years I have greatly neglected the irreversible effects of my worsening Tinnitus, until the ringing volume rose significantly.

 

No vertigo. TBH I see no other symptoms, I feel the same as before this. I thought my tinnitus was caused by excessive ear wax, which was removed. Yet, I still hear the noise.

No changes with my lifestyle either. In the past, I did go to clubs and events, but that's a long time ago. Don't really listen to music, only at the gym, and I had stopped that completely now.

 

I'm not a doctor or an expert on this, just giving my two cents.

I think it's good news that your tinnitus doesn't seem to be related to hearing loss and that you don't have any symptoms that indicate fluid build up in the inner ear.
You could ask your doctor or a physiotherapist to check your neck posture and muscles, the cause could be found there.
You can also try to tackle it as a vasoconstriction issue.
As Pawel said you can search for ways that improve your blood circulation.

Ginkgo is supposed to help with that and it is worth trying.

You could ask your doc if s/he suggests that you take corticosteroids but I highly doubt it, they usually prescribe them for severe hearing loss as far as I know.
For sleeping you can try one of the apps that play relaxing music and nature sounds they help mask the tinnitus.

Since your tinnitus is already improving it might go away on its own!
I hope you get well soon!

 

Sounds like the ear fullness went away, and the tinnitus persists. Could either mean that it either needs more time to heal, or that the tinnitus is multifactorial, and not just from the earwax.

Any noise exposure?

 

Not that a recall. My work environment is not noisey at all. I didn't go to any concerts/events prior to experience the ringing. When I do listen to music with ear buds, it's at low volume 20-30% of max.

I do produce harder/solid ear wax. It is difficult to get out without softeners. Only this month was my first time getting it removed by a professional.

 

Can you think of any instances when you had temporary Tinnitus? Again, I have some newbie advice for you. From the information you have given, it looks like you used to go to concerts and listen to music, before you have gotten your Tinnitus. I am assuming that you have never had experience with ear problems due to infection or weather changes, therefore somehow find it unlikely that you have ear infection or ear-sinus infection problems.

The fact that your right is ringing, and it has some hearing loss, this is a big thing. I think that some people who lose high frequency hearing abilities, also gain Tinnitus at the same time. The ability to develop Tinnitus, is often passed by genes in your family. Was there any acoustic shock to your right ear, recently? Someone clapped hands next to your right ear or something? Have you been at the gym recently, where it's quite loud? Combining physical exercises (hard work) and loud sound exposure, might easily lead to Tinnitus on the next day. Maybe you used to lead a quite sedentary lifestyle, and you suddenly started doing work-outs, etc. ?

Exercising can be bad for you, if you don't eat well and if you do unhealthy things like smoking. Exercising can empty your body from essential vitamins and minerals, for example Magnesium. Magnesium seems to be very important in preventing Tinnitus from happening. Do you think there could have been some head trauma or temporary immunity system decline in your body, in the last months? For example, you could easily develop Tinnitus from sky-diving.

I am not trying to judge you or worry you. I would love to help you or at least guide you in the right direction.

 

Thought I'll update my progress..

Approaching 2 months now, and I'm not sure if my healing is progressing.

- The T is easily masked during the day, but in quite rooms or when I'm sleeping. I still hear it's faint tone + a hissing sound.

- When my cup or plug my ears, it's indeed there.

- Also, been noticing that whatever I shallow or yawn my ears click or pop. However, clicking/popping does relief some 'fullness' in the ear for a short time. I'm not sure if this is related.

I'm flying internationally next week, and I heard people with T should be cautious when flying.. is this true?

I use earplugs for plane rides anyways to help me sleep, but this was way before I got T. Anything I should worry about?