Recent Tinnitus

Hi, very nice forum y'all have here. I'll jump right into it, and hope you'll bare with me for this long post. I'm looking for any input regarding what's going on in my head. I'm a 23-year-old male.

November 1-7 - flew coast-to-coast. ears popped, and remained popped for about a week. able to unpop them blowing my nose in the shower. no other problems all of November.

Dec 9 - landed from a coast-to-coast flight across the USA, no issues
Dec 13-15 - started getting sick, developed a sinus and ear infection, lots of pressure building up
Dec 16 - right ear drum ruptures, bloody discharge. Hard of hearing, and a faint tinnitus begins.
Dec 17 - went to regular doctor, she says my ear drum probably ruptured, refers me to an ENT. in the meantime she prescribes an Amoxicillin/Clavulanate antibiotic.
Dec 19 - see the ENT, who cleans out both ear drums, identifies the perforation, checked out something (not quite sure what) by putting something in my nose (had to switch breathing from mouth to breathing through nose), also takes a culture, and prescribes a prednisone pack to reduce swelling of my middle ear (he said the left eardrum looked like it might want to perforate as well) as well as an ear drop antibiotic (Ciprofloxacin/Dexamethasone). Stay on the Amox. ENT suggests that my eustachian tubes aren't draining properly.
Dec 20-23 - start feeling a lot better physically
Dec 24 - go back to ENT, who just got the cultures back. Pretty much feel fine besides my right ear. Still hard of hearing. The cultures indicate a resistance to Amox, he prescribes Levofloxacin (oral) and I stop taking the Amox. I continue with the ear drops, just in the right ear now, by now the prednisone is done. Also, the ENT said that my ear drum was covered with a scab, which I take to be a good sign.
Dec 25 (merry xmas....) - now -

The last few days the tinnitus in my right ear has gotten substantially worse. It is high-pitched (maybe an A8 on piano?), and possibly a couple of harmonics above that (as a musician it is actually kind of interesting to see what it sounds like when your hearing isn't working correctly.) Occasionally other pitches will come and go, but mostly it's just that one central one.

My next appointment with the ENT is on Jan 7 (Jan 5 if someone cancels.) At my last appointment he said if there were still problems by then he would do an XRAY (or maybe an MRI, can't remember.) I will be out of both the aural and oral antibiotics on about Jan 2. I don't think I have much of an infection anymore, so I'm not really too worried about that. I am sure there is a lot of gunk in my ear but I intend on having him check it out. I'm assuming that there is still something wrong with my eustachians.

I've been reading a lot of accounts of tinnitus online and it seems that people really do get life-altering tinnitus from something as simple as an ear infection. I intend to do everything in my ability to prevent this, as quickly as possible.

-Am I overly freaking out over something that has only been going on for two weeks?
-Do you think waiting until the 7th is too long to see my ENT again? (note: I have read that there is a risk if you wait to fix eustachian problems, the muscles atrophy and can't recover)
-I am not smoking or drinking and am trying to eat the healthiest possible foods. Proteins, fruits, vegetables. What are the best foods for ear health?
-As far as exercise I am still trying to take it easy in case my perforation is not fully healed. It's freezing cold outside and I'm trying to avoid that. Any ideas? I have read that yoga may be good.
-What are the best lifestyle choices I can make, if this IS the beginning of long-term tinnitus, to reduce its effect on my life? Are there things I can do at this stage which will minimize it?
-I am worried that the doctor will fix everything up but the tinnitus, which will just linger on.
-I know that all my anxieties will feed right back into it.

I know it's early on in my diagnosis and you guys aren't all a bunch of medical professionals, but thanks for reading.

-Bob

 

Sounds like you're well aware of prompt treatment at this stage. And you're aware of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Watch out for the loud music. I guess the rest is in the hands of the professionals.

 

Perhaps you should start taking supplements. Most people here take them to manage their t, but I have a couple of friends who fully recovered by taking them. I wish I would have taken them soon after my t started, but I waited quite a while.

 

Hi there,

Sorry you are going through this. I developed T a year ago following a cold. My T resulted from fluid in my ear. Lucky me.

I got it loud and bad and I needed Xanax to sleep initially. If you are having trouble sleeping, talk to your dr about that.

After a couple of months or so the noise quieted down. They say tinnitus is a symptom - if you can eliminate the cause then you can potentially eliminate the T. For me, the fluid situation has improved so the volume of T for me has gone down.

My advice is to still do all you can to deal with it medically, but to also accept the T. The more I fought it, the more it impacted my life and I was living my tinnitus and not my life. The more you accept it and learn to live with it the less power it has over you.

So, make sure you can sleep - either with Xanax if necessary or even with a sound machine for white noise. One in a while I will turn on the humidifier.

Good luck!