Sudden Pressure and the VERY Loud Ring — Seen 3 ENTs! Any Information/Advice?

Hi,

I was an active member on Tinnitus Talk a while ago.

Preface: I am a musician and what is happening is serious, considering I have other conditions. If what I will discuss happens I will be very unwell for a large amount of time (days, sometimes more)

I managed to habituate to my normal tinnitus and it even went fully for a while. It has returned but I can deal with it.

I still have something that gives me more anxiety than anything else in life does.

I used to get every few months sudden deafness (the sensation of pressure but not the feeling) followed by a VERY loud tinnitus always at a different pitch and always selectively in one ear (mostly left).

Some VERY strange things happen in line with this and I have no idea what's going on.

1. I feel as though I have lost overtones in my ears after this happens. My ear is considerably more muffled than it was before this occurs.

2. My hearing seems to return after a unspecified amount of time, but not before a day or two has passed and I'm not sure it returns to its full frequency response. It almost like the body needs to "heal" some unknown cells. It went away for months and my hearing became much better.

3. It happens frequently when I am stressed and or holding my breath, such as concentrating or an immediate stress occurs.

4. I have no fluid in my ears and have had MRI scans that were apparently normal.


I recently picked up my guitar again after months of this not happening for it to happen three times this week. I can barely hear out of my ear.

The ENTs I have seen have been the most generic "just get it over with" doctors ever.
They didn't even seem concerned that I was getting serious depression from this happening.

My theory is that there is lower oxygen to the ears and the it sort of cuts supply to a certain frequency response?

I saw THIS article https://zidbits.com/2013/02/what-causes-spontaneous-ringing-in-our-ears/

Could it be this?

I literally can't escape from depression with this happening. Everytime I gain, I am set back flying into chaos thinking I'm losing my hearing. I need to be able to hear the guitar professionally (acoustic) for work.

 

Go to a different emergency ENT as steroidal treatment for sudden hearing loss isn't something that should be delayed:

https://www.dana.org/article/reversing-sudden-deafness/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/now-hear-this-dont-ignore-sudden-hearing-loss

I also get these pressure fluctuations and hearing drop outs in one ear a few times a day but they return to normal after about thirty seconds. The longest one I had was for about a few hours and it really scared me. It's suspected also that sedentary lifestyles and poor bloodflow can contribute to this stuff: https://www.helpingmehear.com/sedentary-life-cost-one-key-senses/

Move around a lot, and take standing breaks if you sit to work and play guitar a lot. I myself have been guilty of becoming more sedentary since my earlier twenties and it's starting to show lol.