Tinnitus After Unblocking Wax

For the last month I have been feeling like my right ear has been blocked. I went to a clinic (not my normal doctor) and was told that it was just a build up of ear wax so I am using ear drops consisting of urea and hydrogen peroxide which seem to have unblocked the ear. The problem is that I am now having a ringing sound in my ear which is much worse than not being able to hear out of that ear.

About 8 months ago I was punched in that ear and couldn't hear anything out of it but when I went to the doctor I was told to take some ibupofen for that.

I have also had episodes of pulsatile tinnitus in that ear but they don't occur due to nerves

Just wondering

i) How long will this ringing last
ii) Is it worth me making another appointment with the doctor about it
iii) Do you think this has anthing to do with when I was punched in the ear?

Thanks

 

Did the hearing come back in the ear that was punched? I don't think that anybody here could tell you how long the ringing will last or if the punch has anything to do with your tinnitus. I think that you should visit an ENT, get a hearing test or whatever he/she recommends. My tinnitus started after cleaning my ears, last summer. It's improved somewhat since then, but it's not gone. I think that cleaning deeply embedded wax can sometimes trigger other things that cause tinnitus, but I'm not a doctor, so my opinion is simply a guess.

 

Hi @hi2u_uk

I wouldn’t know if it had anything to do with you being punched in the ear or not, but without me going completely over an old post (introductory), some of it I may need to, just to explain myself but I’ll try and simplify it if I can! I think I can relate to some of what you’re saying in regards to the ear wax..

I had an ear full of wax (just in my right ear). It wasn’t completely full at the time (I could still hear out of it). Unfortunately I took a flight with it like it and after the flight I then realised my ear was 100% completely blocked. I wore earplanes, this obviously compounded the problem in terms of the ear wax. I would also not have been helped by the fact that I suffer from ETD anyway when I fly. The left ear eventually unblocked, probably a couple of hours after the flight but the right ear never did (due to the wax). It was blocked with wax for 3 weeks. I’m not sure when this ‘high pitched ringing’ kicked in exactly, (it wasn’t there before the flight) but when the ear wax was removed, my tinnitus actually seemed worse (this wasn’t done by syringing just to clarify). The trouble is, I don’t know how relevant any of the above is, in regards to me getting tinnitus. All I know is the circumstances of how it came about, at the time I was really disturbed by this. The ENT referred to it (the wax) as just a coincidence and my tinnitus was put solely down to NIHL. I couldn’t deny to him that I had abused my ears with loud noise in the past. Just to point out.. I didn’t have tinnitus (or certainly wasn’t aware of) having tinnitus before the flight /or having my ear blocked. It wasn’t until having my ear blocked for 3 weeks and then unblocked that there seemed to be a problem. When people have ear wax removed I thought the problem was meant to go away not be made worse. I guess I’ll never know..


I hope you manage to get to the bottom of your situation.

All the best

Phil

 

i think it did come bacck as its only been in the last month or two that i have felt that the hearing went. I think i will visit my normal doctor to get them to look as im not 100% sure that the walk in clinic doctor was a doctor and he didnt pronounce ear irrigation correctly which worries me. the ear drips dont seem to be helping that much

 

thanks like i say it just seems to be a big conicindence that all of a sudden after so many years i now have a large build up of wax in an ear where i was punched in so much so that the wax is blocking my hearing.

 

This is really confusing, two individuals with pre-existing hearing loss who dont or only have mild tinnitus get tinnitus from wax removal. I don't know maybe hydrogen peroxide is the culprit. Maybe the brain's gain mechanism is effected by in a way that is completely not understood or maybe something is missing. I am genuinely confused.

There's many cases where people damage there hearing from syringing and say ear wax moval caused tinnitus ignorantly, but here is a weird case.

 

how did you get the wax removed?