Hi everyone, I've been a lurker here for a few months, but I'm posting now. (Sorry, this is a long one.)
I'm a 31-year-old woman, and I first noticed around January or February that one of my in-ear headphones was slightly quieter than the other. I assumed it was just the headphones acting up since I hadn't exactly been gentle with them. Because I've always had sensitive hearing (actually hyperacusis), it was kind of nice to have a quieter side, so I often used only the left earbud. I've always tried to be careful about volume on headphones and speakers, though I do tend to favor my left side.
Around mid-February, I was working on something that involved music through my earphones, and even on the lowest setting my laptop had, it was loud. Stupidly, I didn't stop because I needed to finish the work and thought, "just one more pass." I didn't think it was dangerously loud based on the program's settings, but I later realized after much terrified Googling that it was using a different type of decibel measurement. I worked for several hours like that. I didn't notice tinnitus at the time, but around then, it felt like I had a sloshy pool in my head, roughly parallel to my left ear canal but slightly below it, especially when I rested it against a bus window.
I kept using earphones, mainly in the left ear so I could still hear what was going on around me, and I sometimes raised the volume to hear over light background noise, but never anywhere near the Bluetooth warning line on my phone.
In spring, my left ear began feeling clogged, and the whirring sound (like speaker static) that I'd only noticed with the earphone in became more intrusive. Then the ear started hurting, so before booking an ear cleaning, I went to the doctor. The doctor saw no obstruction, but the tuning fork test (Weber, I think) lateralized. Since then, my ear has felt clogged, and when I drink something hot, I feel a pool of warmth behind and slightly below my ear.
Further appointments showed a foggy tympanic membrane, and I was prescribed drops to clear it. The tinnitus has now subsided to its original soft whirr, but I can't kid myself anymore that it's the CD player. It's driving my anxiety through the roof, as you can probably tell. My ear still slams when I swallow sometimes, and it bangs when I open my jaw wide and close it sharply.
I've always tried to be so careful, so my anxiety has been beating me up for six months over what I see as my stupidity.
I finally have an ENT appointment this month, but I'm wondering what your collective wisdom suggests. Could it be noise-induced hearing loss, or a Eustachian tube issue (I'm really hoping for the latter)? The first doctor mentioned it might be Vestibular Schwannoma, which sent me into complete hysterics.
I'm a 31-year-old woman, and I first noticed around January or February that one of my in-ear headphones was slightly quieter than the other. I assumed it was just the headphones acting up since I hadn't exactly been gentle with them. Because I've always had sensitive hearing (actually hyperacusis), it was kind of nice to have a quieter side, so I often used only the left earbud. I've always tried to be careful about volume on headphones and speakers, though I do tend to favor my left side.
Around mid-February, I was working on something that involved music through my earphones, and even on the lowest setting my laptop had, it was loud. Stupidly, I didn't stop because I needed to finish the work and thought, "just one more pass." I didn't think it was dangerously loud based on the program's settings, but I later realized after much terrified Googling that it was using a different type of decibel measurement. I worked for several hours like that. I didn't notice tinnitus at the time, but around then, it felt like I had a sloshy pool in my head, roughly parallel to my left ear canal but slightly below it, especially when I rested it against a bus window.
I kept using earphones, mainly in the left ear so I could still hear what was going on around me, and I sometimes raised the volume to hear over light background noise, but never anywhere near the Bluetooth warning line on my phone.
In spring, my left ear began feeling clogged, and the whirring sound (like speaker static) that I'd only noticed with the earphone in became more intrusive. Then the ear started hurting, so before booking an ear cleaning, I went to the doctor. The doctor saw no obstruction, but the tuning fork test (Weber, I think) lateralized. Since then, my ear has felt clogged, and when I drink something hot, I feel a pool of warmth behind and slightly below my ear.
Further appointments showed a foggy tympanic membrane, and I was prescribed drops to clear it. The tinnitus has now subsided to its original soft whirr, but I can't kid myself anymore that it's the CD player. It's driving my anxiety through the roof, as you can probably tell. My ear still slams when I swallow sometimes, and it bangs when I open my jaw wide and close it sharply.
I've always tried to be so careful, so my anxiety has been beating me up for six months over what I see as my stupidity.
I finally have an ENT appointment this month, but I'm wondering what your collective wisdom suggests. Could it be noise-induced hearing loss, or a Eustachian tube issue (I'm really hoping for the latter)? The first doctor mentioned it might be Vestibular Schwannoma, which sent me into complete hysterics.
