Hello, before I get started I'll tell you that I have had tinnitus for the past 9-10 years.
Approximately 4 days ago I was exposed to a very loud fire alarm in a small corridor. After the fire alarm went off, my ears were hurting a bit but everything went back to normal.
I came home a few hours later and fell asleep on the the couch. When I woke up I noticed my tinnitus was way louder than usual, I was dizzy, all sound has became sensitive to my ears, have nausea, diarrhea, hot and cold flashes, and my ears feel like I have an ache in them. (my ear felt like fluid was inside causing an ear ache)
I searched online for answers to see if I was coming down with something, as multiple people at work were getting sick. To no avail, I found nothing useful of what I was going through as all my symptoms carried over to too many multiple diagnoses.
4 days after all of this I went to an urgent care to get seen because nothing is changing and sometimes I feel like my symptoms are getting worse. The doctor told me that I have some liquid behind my ear and my throat is slightly swollen.
Prior to this I told him last week I had a sore throat, (which I assumed was strep throat), and like I always do I take over the counter medicine and wait it out. Unfortunately my throat has been swollen with no pain for the whole time leading up to the other incident and symptoms.
The doctor said that the tube that goes from my throat to my ears are filled with the liquid from a sinus infection and they will clear in time as my infection leaves my body. He said this is causing my middle ear to be muffled inside, even if it doesn't sound like it, and it's causing my ears to be sensitive to noise which is making my tinnitus sound like it's more potent then normal.
I was advised to take 3 ibuprofen every 6 hours until swelling in my throat dissipate's and if nothing changes within 3 days to come back for further evaluation. Also the nurse that took my vitals said my temperature and blood pressure are normal but she's seen more people this past week for sinus infection than usual due to the weather and allergies.
Where I'm getting at through my whole story is if there's anything I can do to help sooth my tinnitus sound until this all clears up. I'm used to my tinnitus and have lived with it for so long that it's part of my normal life, but with the sound becoming more distinguished and potent, it's driving me a little bit insane.
My hope is that the case of my tinnitus being so loud is due to the liquid and muffled ears, because when I muffle my ears with my hands the ringing sounds normal like it used to. However when I un-muffle my ears the sound isn't like it used to be prior to all of this.
It's very hard to even fall asleep right now even with a background white noise due to this situation. I used to be able to fall asleep by just focusing in on a fan or music but now the ringing is over masking all of this, which would make sense if my ears are being muffled.
Questions:
1. What will help clear a sinus infection? (viral bacterial infection as I believe the doctor called it)
2. Is there hope the tinnitus will dissipate?
3. What other helpful insight is there on background noise to help sooth the ringing while I sleep?
Approximately 4 days ago I was exposed to a very loud fire alarm in a small corridor. After the fire alarm went off, my ears were hurting a bit but everything went back to normal.
I came home a few hours later and fell asleep on the the couch. When I woke up I noticed my tinnitus was way louder than usual, I was dizzy, all sound has became sensitive to my ears, have nausea, diarrhea, hot and cold flashes, and my ears feel like I have an ache in them. (my ear felt like fluid was inside causing an ear ache)
I searched online for answers to see if I was coming down with something, as multiple people at work were getting sick. To no avail, I found nothing useful of what I was going through as all my symptoms carried over to too many multiple diagnoses.
4 days after all of this I went to an urgent care to get seen because nothing is changing and sometimes I feel like my symptoms are getting worse. The doctor told me that I have some liquid behind my ear and my throat is slightly swollen.
Prior to this I told him last week I had a sore throat, (which I assumed was strep throat), and like I always do I take over the counter medicine and wait it out. Unfortunately my throat has been swollen with no pain for the whole time leading up to the other incident and symptoms.
The doctor said that the tube that goes from my throat to my ears are filled with the liquid from a sinus infection and they will clear in time as my infection leaves my body. He said this is causing my middle ear to be muffled inside, even if it doesn't sound like it, and it's causing my ears to be sensitive to noise which is making my tinnitus sound like it's more potent then normal.
I was advised to take 3 ibuprofen every 6 hours until swelling in my throat dissipate's and if nothing changes within 3 days to come back for further evaluation. Also the nurse that took my vitals said my temperature and blood pressure are normal but she's seen more people this past week for sinus infection than usual due to the weather and allergies.
Where I'm getting at through my whole story is if there's anything I can do to help sooth my tinnitus sound until this all clears up. I'm used to my tinnitus and have lived with it for so long that it's part of my normal life, but with the sound becoming more distinguished and potent, it's driving me a little bit insane.
My hope is that the case of my tinnitus being so loud is due to the liquid and muffled ears, because when I muffle my ears with my hands the ringing sounds normal like it used to. However when I un-muffle my ears the sound isn't like it used to be prior to all of this.
It's very hard to even fall asleep right now even with a background white noise due to this situation. I used to be able to fall asleep by just focusing in on a fan or music but now the ringing is over masking all of this, which would make sense if my ears are being muffled.
Questions:
1. What will help clear a sinus infection? (viral bacterial infection as I believe the doctor called it)
2. Is there hope the tinnitus will dissipate?
3. What other helpful insight is there on background noise to help sooth the ringing while I sleep?
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