Ringing in Ears After Whiplash Caused by Sneezing

Hey.

This is pretty important to me as I have no clue what's going on.

I was lying down in bed one night and I sneezed upwards towards the ceiling. Instead of getting that relief after you sneeze I ended up getting whiplash and my neck started to hurt but the pain disappeared shortly thereafter.

The next morning I woke up with ear pain and ringing in my right ear.

When I cover up my left ear, I don't hear anything at all which scares me, and if I listen solely through my right ear, I can only hear the sounds muffled.

I went to my physician today and she checked my ears and told me it's because of a build up of wax so I just got an ear wax removal kit from CVS. I used it but no wax came out.

I read online it takes a few days for the wax to soften but I still don't feel like this is caused by ear wax.

What do you guys think? I'm really out of options right now, please help!

 

Get a second opinion ASAP with an audiogram. If you have measurable hearing loss the earlier you can treat often the better (people can recover with early treatment). Wax can cause tinnitus but usually does not cause dramatic hearing loss like you describe.

Acute hearing loss is a medical emergency. Find someone to work you in ASAP or have your ENT refer you to an Otologist on emergency.

 

I think your next step is to try and get into an ENT. I have no idea what country you are in but here in the US I would call my doctor and get a referral, even if you have a PPO you might be able to get in sooner rather than later.

I'm sure you'll get better responses than mine, but I wouldn't play around with my hearing, regardless if my primary doctor says it's just wax.

 

To be safe as possible, go back to the doc (another one ?) as soon as possible. It may be prudent to get a Kenalog steroid shot or Prednisone round if no wax is found.

 

Update. So I just got back from Urgent Care because you guys above recommended getting a second opinion. I’m fairly new to this site but I am very thankful for your quick and informative responses! So they flushed my ears and checked there’s no infection or damage but my ear is still ringing and I can’t hear out of it. They told me to give it 1-2 days and if it hasn’t disappeared then I should check with an ENT.

 

Thank you for the quick response! I just went to Urgent Care. They flushed my ears and checked that there’s no infection or damage but the ringing and deafness is still there in my right ear. They told me to go to an ENT if it has not faded in 1-2 days.

 

If you truly can't hear out of it, do not wait 1-2 days. The first 72 hours can make the difference between recovering or not.

 

I had talked about this on many occasions because this happened to me with second occurrence of tinnitus. First tinnitus was received from ear syringing causing hearing loss. A few years later, I had an upwards whiplash from a lying position which immediately increased tinnitus and caused more hearing loss.

Place the words - lifting head - in the search box at top of page and read my posts, some with links. Very possible it's your neck. Just read my posts discussing neck and tinnitus. We can talk more.

 

Ok got it! Just woke up. It’s 7:55am right now. Going to schedule an ENT appointment as soon as they open.

 

Just scheduled an appt for today in about 2 hours. Wish me luck... again.

 

@FGG might have just saved your life. This is URGENT. You need steroids right now. Preferably intratympanic Dexamethasone injections.

If you had waited any longer, recovery might not be possible. It's still not guaranteed but at least you have a chance.

GOOD LUCK!

 

Please insist that they check your hearing and not just do an ear exam. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss can respond to immediate steroid therapy.

It's possible you may have increased your inner ear pressure during the sneeze (rare but possible) and could have damaged hair cells (which may respond to early treatment). It's also possible you may have given yourself a perilymph fistula which would be treated different. A vascular occlusion is also possible (the hypoxic cells may also respond to early treatment).

Anyway, insist they see you right away and do a work up including an audiogram to start. And while in the waiting room read up on sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNL) and the potential causes so you are informed when you go in for your appointment and they can't just brush you off.

Your hearing loss sounds pretty substantial and I don't think it's a matter of ear wax.

Keep us posted. Good luck.

 

Hi @Prestigeknows -- This sure sounds like it's structural to me (somatic tinnitus). It makes no sense to me that this would be a wax problem (or even infection) that only manifested in tinnitus after your sneeze/whiplash experience. I'd consider going to an upper cervical chiropractic office (NUCCA) and get an opinion from them. A physical therapist who specializes in TMJ may also be worthwhile. -- Good luck tracking this all down. I think you're in a good position to reverse what occurred to you.

 

Just got home from the ENT.

I have severe hearing loss in my right ear at age 20. The doctor said he’s going to treat this very aggressively and has me on 60 mg of oral steroids and I’m going back to check my hearing again next week.

I am so relieved that I took the advice from this forum rather then the doctors because they said the fact that I came in this early might have just given me a better chance at regaining some of my hearing.

I will keep this thread up to date.

 

Glad you saw the ENT immediately. Sudden sensorineural hearing loss can happen with forward motion or jerking head whiplash. With this, most of the time hearing will come back. It's hard to say that the wax removal kit use didn't have input as set up problem or just caused your problem.

With what I said in my post above, posts that I made, discusses all condition trauma that could have happened with your neck and ear. If you wish only to read specific article links, I will provide them, but they are within my lifting head posts. You can find them by placing lifting head into search at top of page. I also agree with Lane. I would get radiological testing done on your neck after steroid treatment and other hearing treatments that the ENT will do. In the meantime, I would be careful with posture.

 

I'm glad to hear you got into an ENT quickly before it was too late.

 

When you feel up to it, let your primary care doctors know what the ENT said and let them know sudden hearing loss is time sensitive. It could help future patients in that situation.

 

Hi everyone!

2 days ago I was put on a dosage of 60 mg of Prednisone daily for my severe hearing loss in my right ear. I noticed the ringing on 2/15 and got prescribed Prednisone by my ENT on 2/17.

I'm wondering when should I start to feel a difference in my ear?

I haven't missed any doses, I've been taking great care of myself. I even got Alpha-Lipoic Acid to go with my medicine, and quit any sort of nicotine products since yesterday.

 

Within a week. And at some point (in a month or so) you should have a new audiogram to see if your hearing has recovered.

 

Ok wonderful, thank you for the reply!

 

Just an update:

My hearing has returned 90%.

Thank you to everyone that helped me along this stressful week.

I’m soon to have it all back!

 

Fantastic! So nice to get good news. Please, remember to protect your ears from here on out.

 

Last update.

Hearing is 100% back to normal. Please get your hearing checked if something feels off, the window of opportunity to get it resolved is such a short amount of time!

 

If you haven't already, please follow up with all of your doctors who tried to delay your treatment and let them know. It could help many others.