Playing Basketball Seemed to Cause Further Damage — Ear Fullness and Increased Tinnitus

For the past 2 years, I have been trying to find the cause of my tinnitus/hearing loss in my left ear. It happened randomly during a game of basketball. Along with the severe tinnitus and moderate high frequency hearing loss, I had a fullness feeling and a fluid dripping inside the ear sensation. After going to an ENT, MRI, and even a upper cervical chiropractor, I still have no answers to the cause.

Up until today, I was able to live life normally with tinnitus and it seemed like it wasn't getting worse. I was able to play sports again and be physically active without worrying about my ear. However, during a game today I noticed the fullness feeling and a change in the tinnitus. It's the first time in 2 years this has happened. Along with this, it seems as if my hearing is now a little worse in that ear. Also, my ear made a reactive sound to any high pitch noise like snapping my fingers. Initially, my tinnitus was actually very quiet, but I believe this is just the initial reaction and I fear it will come back louder than ever. I believe my issue has to due with jumping causing damage to some nerves around the ear but I'm not sure. When my head bounces up and down, there is a strange sound/sensation in the ear.

If anyone has any ideas of what could be going on, I would greatly appreciate the insight.

 

It sounds like it could possible be a Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) leak, which I just posted on another thread. -- BTW, I'm a big basketball fan. I'm originally from Wisconsin, and a big Bucks fan. Sure is fun watching them play these days. -- Good luck tracking down what's going on...

 

@kfog -- You'll also want to check out Cranial Instability. The link will take you to an excellent 13-minute video...

Diagnosing Cranial Instability

@Greg Sacramento

 

Thanks for your reply, I'll definitely look into Cranial instability and CSF since this is something I haven't really considered

 

Did this improve at all for you?

 

Thanks for your reply. The conditions of ear fullness and reactivity seem to have gone away. Ive also been more careful and have not played basketball since then in fear of worsening the condition. My tinnitus is pretty much the same, no real improvements in over 2 years. One weird thing is the sound of the vacuum actually silences my tinnitus completely for a minute or so after I turn it off. It seems to have the opposite effect of most of the people on here where loud noise causes a temporary spike.