Tinnitus After Chest and Inner Ear Infection — Would Love Your Opinion Dr. Nagler

Sooooo, in September 2019 I got a cold which lead to a chest infection and inner ear infection. My left ear went totally deaf for 2 weeks and then popped open. Since then I have had tinnitus, it’s not as bad as it could be but very annoying still.

I’ve been suffering from bad anxiety with it and panic about it a lot. So it’s been 4 months now and I’ve been to ENT 3 times. The first time he said I have slight hearing loss and the pressure was slightly off, a month later he said hearing and pressure was fine. My ears still crackle and pop when I blow my nose and I still have the urge to pop them open daily. I also still have a lot of drainage in my throat and a cough which has lasted the whole 4 months.

Basically what I want to know is, is there still a chance this is all going to go away (including tinnitus) and any tips to speed it up? I’ve tried decongestants, steroid sprays, antibiotics, Neti pots, steam inhalation, betahistine.

Just need a little hope that I’m going to be normal one day please, thank you in advance.

 

Hello @Katy2707. Sorry to hear that you are having a difficult time of it. Thank you for your questions. I hope I can be of some help.

The anxiety and panic you describe are not at all unusual at this stage. Much of it has to do with the type of "fight-or-flight" and emotional factors that I have described in previous posts, factors over which you have little or no conscious control. And much of it has to do with the natural inclination to try to "figure out" your tinnitus.

Yes, there is still a very good chance that your tinnitus will go away or fade into the background. Given that you have seen an ENT three times and that you have tried any number of pharmaceutical preparations, I honestly do not think that the answer for you lies in the medicine cabinet. Your tinnitus will do exactly what it wants to do and when it wants to do it. I tend to take a somewhat philosophical approach to this sort of thing. Sure, there is a good chance that your tinnitus will go away, but hoping it will go away will not in any way improve the odds in that regard. What hoping it will go away will do, however, is pretty-much guarantee that each morning when you wake up and discover that it has not gone away, you will start out that day being disappointed. So I suggest that you consider assuming that your tinnitus will never go away. Then each morning when you wake up and discover that it has not gone away, you will start out that day exactly as you had planned. And if one day you wake up to discover that your tinnitus has indeed disappeared (as well it might), then you can be totally thrilled to have been wrong in your initial assumption. Me? I prefer the latter approach because I see no reason to be any more disappointed than I absolutely have to.

It honestly sounds to me that you are quite normal as it stands. You are not perfect (who is?), but you are very normal. One of your challenges may be that right now you are viewing the world through the prism of your tinnitus instead of viewing the world with an eye towards the truly important things in life, none of which has anything to do with your tinnitus!

I am going to attach a couple of articles to the bottom of this post in the hopes that they will lend some perspective. And I am also going to add in the draft of an article called "Just a Sound" that I have playing around with. It may yet not be "ready for prime time," but the article does present one possible approach.

You are most welcome. All the best with it.

Stephen M. Nagler, M.D.