Possible ETD?

Hello! After spending months reading posts on this site, I decided to make my own account and post about my specific situation in hopes that some of you may have experienced something similar or may have advice about what you think may be going on. I’m sorry if this is rather long; I appreciate all who take the time to read my story.

All my issues started at the beginning of April. When I went to bed one night, I noticed a ringing in my left ear, and didn’t think much of it. I started to get anxious when I noticed it the next day. A few days later, my ears started feeling full and like there was pressure in them. This pressure feeling got worse each day until it felt like my ears were going to explode. So after about a week, I went to an urgent care clinic and was told that I had fluid behind both eardrums, but much more in my left which was the ear that was ringing. I was given a Medrol Dosepak (prednisone) that I took for 6 days. The whole time I was taking the steroids, it didn’t seem to help at all, but a few days after I had finished them, the intense pressure mostly went away, but my left ear still felt off. I made an appointment with my general practitioner and she said my ears looked fine and that there was no fluid that she could see. She suggested that the feeling still in my left ear might be due to negative pressure.

In a few days, the full feeling in my left ear eventually went away, but the ringing was still there. Over the next month or so, my ears felt pretty much normal, but at some point my right ear started ringing as well. I don’t know when exactly. I just noticed it when I was sleeping on that side in bed at night. At one point at the beginning of June, I thought I was finally getting better because when I’d wake up in the morning, the noise in my ears would be down to sounding like a weak hum instead of a high pitched ringing and then there was a night where I noticed the ringing was totally gone and I was actually able to go to bed without my fan on. I was so happy because I thought this was all over, but the next day it came back and I was driven into despair once again.

At the beginning of July, I started having trouble with my ears having a full sensation again and it gave me trouble all month long. Currently, the full feeling has been lessening again, but my ears still do not feel quite normal. Also, the ringing is back at its normal high pitch.

A couple months ago, I made an appointment to see an ENT, but because there’s only one around the area I live, I am not able to get in until August 16. I was hoping that by that time, this would no longer be a problem, but it seems that’s not going to happen.

I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to figure out what could be causing this. I first thought ETD because of the fluid behind my eardrums at the start of all this, but the whole fluid situation is quite a mystery as well. I was not sick at all; no cold or flu or anything like that. I felt completely healthy and normal. I also don’t seem to be having trouble with allergies. I sneeze every once in a while, but that’s about it. But if I had fluid in my ears, that would have to mean my eustachian tubes were acting up at least at that time, wouldn’t it? And I suppose it’s still possible that this could be because of ETD hanging around, but I just don’t really feel like my eustachian tubes aren’t functioning correctly. I’m able to pop my ears fine, it seems. And when I swallow or yawn, I hear the click that indicates my eustachian tubes are opening. My nose isn’t stuffed up and I don’t seem to have excess mucus or anything like that.

Before I started having my ear troubles, I was having a lot of trouble with my emotions. I felt like I was sort of losing it and crying all the time and whatnot. I was wondering if that could have something to do with all this. Perhaps I have a hormonal imbalance that could be behind this? I’m just so confused and upset. I’m so tired and just want this all to end, and I’m getting really scared that it won’t. Today, it’s been exactly 4 months. When I go to see the ENT, I’ll at least be able to either rule out or confirm if it’s ETD. I’m a little bit scared to go, because I’m afraid they won’t know what’s wrong, and if that’s the case, I’m afraid all my hope will disappear. I’m backing to crying everyday and feeling awful. If anyone would be able to offer some encouragement or positive stories, I would appreciate it with all my heart. Thank you for reading.

 

Your story sounds a lot like the early part of mine. I had ETD in my right ear, I believe that it was brought on from inflammation cause by an ear infection. Like yours, mine started with ringing, and then came a feeling of ear fullness, followed by some crazy intense pressure feelings from my ear.

Naturally, ETD can cause a fluid build-up. I think that once it starts, it takes a very long time to work its way back to normal (inner ear healing/recovery is slow). Even if you feel that your Eustachian tubes are opening properly (i.e. click when you swallow, etc.), there could be some mucus/gunk build-up that is preventing the fluid from draining out. For me, I tried lots of things to try to get them clear and what ended up working the best was just regular Sudafed (not "Sudafed PE") for a few days. I'd say I first noticed the ear fullness feeling around mid-August last year, it intensified into the crazy pressure feeling by late-August. Fortunately, that didn't last for too long (two or three weeks?) but it took a few months before my ear started to feel totally normal again.

As for the ringing, that started a bit earlier at late July. It was really bad for a couple of months but by October it settled into something more tolerable (less piercing) and that has decreased in intensity but has not gone away to this day. Maybe it will go away eventually. It took some work but I've learned to stop caring about it.

I also went to the ENT. I hope that your ENT is helpful but I would try to temper your expectations. In my case, I was given just a ten-minute appointment slot (after waiting for weeks). Bring notes and write down any questions that you can think of because you might not remember it all when you get there. I found my discussion with the ENT to be helpful but he wasn't able to do much to actually help with the problem, ETD is something that you pretty much just have to wait out.

 

@Aaron44126 Thank you for your reply! I'm trying to be optimistic , but also trying to not get my hopes up too high in case nothing much comes from the ENT visit. I'm mostly just hoping they will be able to identify a problem so I have a bit more hope that this could go away eventually. I've gotten prepared and have a bunch of notes written out. The ringing has been bothering me more recently because I've been so stressed about it; I think all my anxiety must be making it louder. If I can get myself calmed down, I'll hopefully be able to start coping with it better.

 

I thought I'd put an update on here after my visit with the ENT this morning. She said that the inside of my nose was inflamed and that my eustachian tubes were probably inflamed as well because of allergies which was why I still have a feeling of fullness in my ears even though I don't currently have fluid in them. She said that we needed to start treating the allergies in order to get the inflammation down. I had been taking Singulair, but she said to stop taking that because that is better for addressing symptoms related to the lungs, and to start taking Claritin everyday instead. She also told me to use a steroid nasal spray (fluticasone) in the morning and then a sinus rinse in the evening to wash out pollen and that sort of thing. I'm also going to be taking fish oil and liquid turmeric extract everyday to help fight inflammation. She told me to do all of this for 3 months and then we'll see how I'm doing.

If there's any changes or improvements with the feeling of fullness or ringing, I will add an update.

 

Dylana -- update?