Tinnitus Caused by Ear Infection

Hello everyone. I created an account here because I'm quite worried about my left ear that has been ringing for a week and three days now due to an ear infection - or rather an eustachian tube dysfunction caused by the infection (I think). I guess I should be as thorough as possible when explaining my situation so I'll start by telling a bit about me: I am a 19-year-old boy and my hearing has always been quite good even though I have attended many concerts/gigs and listened to loud music a lot (especially in the last few years). I have not worn earplugs to most concerts, but I don't think that has really caused any problems to be honest. Not sure if this information was relevant to my situation, but anyways. Without further ado...

On February 25th this year, on my nineteenth birthday, I was feeling a bit sick, like I was coming down with a cold or something. Despite feeling a bit under the weather I had already made plans for the evening with my friends and I was going to stick to those plans so I went to a bar with them that night anyways. I knew I was going to be sick when we left the bar and what do you know, next day I had lost my voice and I had a real bad flu. Anyways, what I had was laryngitis and the bastard lasted for a whole month, all the way till March 29th. I did not go see a doctor about it since I was 100% sure it was laryngitis and there really isn't an instant cure for that so I figured I'd just wait it out. My voice was very wheezy and almost entirely gone for around three weeks and it sucked really bad. Anyways, when that finally passed I was well for around a month and then on April 22nd or 23rd I realized that I was - once again - sick with something. Swallowing felt a bit strange and I was feeling a bit feverish, the following days my throat hurt even more, I had an on-and-off fever (this is where "T" comes in I guess) and my ear was hurting a bit. I was mostly concerned about my throat because it was pretty painful to drink and eat, especially when I had just woken up/hadn't drunk water in a while. I was pretty stuffy and I sneezed and tried to cough/spit up mucus(?) frequently but all this thankfully went away in a few days, the ear, however, was now hurting a bit.

So, finally onto the ear itself... I scheduled a (normal) doctor appointment for April 26th because my ear felt all locked up. Before the appointment, I took a shower and I think a bit of water went into my left ear and I noticed the ear started ringing (disclaimer: I'm not sure if the water actually caused all this, probably not honestly) but I think the water came out though, at least I recall something dripping out of my ear before I went to see the doctor. Anyways, when I went to see the doctor he said it was definitely an ear infection and quite a bad one at that - he was even a bit surprised when I said my ear wasn't really hurting, ha - and he prescribed me amoxicillin for a week (the antibiotic itself was called Amorion 500mg if that is important, probably not but anyways) as well as some medicine that helped with congestion (called Duact). The fever as well as the throat pain were completely gone after I had finished the antibiotics, but my ear was still blocked and the damn ringing was still present. I went to see the same doctor today, on May 9th, and he said my ear was looking a lot better and the infection was pretty much gone (great!), but the eustachian tube was still blocked up (or something like that) because of some liquid that's stuck behind the eardrum in the middle ear. I asked him about the possibility of the tinnitus being permanent and how long it could last and he said that it's common for this type of tinnitus (as in tinnitus caused by an ear infection) to last many weeks which wasn't exactly a relief to hear, but right now I'm just hoping this isn't permanent. He said that if the ringing is still there in early June I should go see an ENT doctor.

So, that's about it I think, I might have forgotten something but I think you can get the gist of my case from that. I've been feeling a bit down because of the constant ringing, but I can ignore it almost completely at times. I try not to think about it too much. It's hard to describe the noise, but it's kind of like a quiet, high-frequency "white noise" type of sound and, like I said, I can only hear it in my left ear, my right ear is all fine and dandy. Does anyone have any general tips and/or possible remedies for this situation? I read that yawning, chewing and swallowing can help with the ETD. Thank you for reading!

 

This kinda sounds like what happened to me (both 19, started very recently (April 27th for me), from an ear infection, always going to concerts and gigs). The only difference is that I've had hearing problems my whole life and my ENT told me that this was going to happen to me eventually. I'd say see an ENT asap. if there's still fluid behind your ears you may still have a middle ear infection so they'll prescribe you ear drops to help fight it off. I'm currently on them and there is a chance that it will go away once the infection is clear and your ears will heal, but try not to get your hopes up.

For general tips: don't fret over it. Stress makes it worse. Mine started out as a low pitched morse code beeping and now it's a high pitched solid ring in my right ear. I have anxiety in general so I had a lot of panic attacks last week when it changed, but surround yourself with noise and always have something to focus on. I fall asleep with Netflix on because it helps my brain focus on the sound. I always carry headphones with me so that if I'm ever in a quiet situation I can play some music and it'll give me something to focus on (just don't blast it, we can't do that anymore unfortunately :~(( ). I've found that I already can ignore it, but the minute I try searching for it it's back.

Also, buy yourself some headphones for concerts. I can link you to a pair that I bought that will protect your hearing from now on. I used to laugh at people with ear plugs on at shows but now that I know the damage it can do I don't really care what people think haha.

I hope it goes away for you though! The thought sucks but we'll pull through.

 

Welcome to Tinnitus Talk @Dynabyte ,
Sounds like you had a bad virus and the infection went in your ears.
After throat and ear infection it can take a few weeks for your ears to settle down from inflammation and mucus and fluid in the ear.
I would give it a good four weeks and hope then see some improvement.
Until then keep background sound on if the tinnitus is troublesome and at night if have trouble sleeping.....lots of love Glynis

 

I'm definitely thinking about seeing an ENT doctor sooner than the doctor recommended, it would be good to get an expert's opinion and they would be able to do more extensive inspection of the ear. I'll look into that tomorrow. Do you happen to know if any ear spray products such as Audispray help in any way? I was thinking of buying a bottle just to test it.

So far I've been quite succesful in ignoring the ringing, it really doesn't distract me that much if I focus on something else. I did have a bit of a 'nervous breakdown' one evening because I was really stressed and my mom kept bombarding me with questions while I was feeling really down because of the ringing in the ear, but other than that incident I have been able to control it so to speak. I haven't had much trouble falling asleep either (guess I just sort of automatically block the noise when I'm tired, ha) which is good I guess, I was thinking of leaving a fan on in my room for the night though.

Yeah, I'm definitely going to use earplugs at concerts from now on and hey, wearing hearing protection at concerts is definitely nothing to be ashamed of, in fact, I think that the people that wear earplugs etc. are most likely the ones who visit the most shows and therefore know of the risks of not wearing earplugs.

Thanks for the reply and I hope you pull through too, Maia. I'm definitely not giving up hope since this has only affected me for just over a week and neither should you!

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum, Glynis. Yeah, that definitely seems to be the case, I'm pretty sure the ear infection occurred because of the nasty laryngitis I had, can't think of another reason for how it started. Fortunately the ringing isn't too bad so I don't need really need background noise - at least not all the time. On the one hand, I think that waiting this out could be the solution, but on the other hand, like Maia recommended, I think visiting an ENT doctor could also be smart, at least it would possibly easy my mind a bit. Thank you for the reply!

 

I'm not sure about that, no. My ENT just prescribed me Ciprodex because I have a middle ear infection in both ears and so far it's helped clear up the infection a lot after only a few days. But yeah, ENTs are the experts, it's good to get that second opinion!

 

I definitely second going to an ENT sooner, both for the medical opinion and the peace of mind. The phrase "pretty much gone" from your general practitioner is worrisome to me. ENTs have better equipment (camera/microscopes), so they can better make sure the infection is really fully gone.

Nasal sprays and pretty much anything that you'd to do help with decongestion for a normal cold can help drain the fluid faster - tea, really hot showers, etc. Even so, it can take a number of weeks for the fluid to drain. And yes, chewing/yawning/etc.

Good news for you, since you're still fairly young, your ears will probably heal well.

 

Hi @Dynabyte, sorry to hear about your troubles. My tinnitus began with an ear infection with circumstances that sound a lot like yours (I first felt really sick with a bad cold and sinus infection right after a wedding) and my tinnitus started after a few days of my ears feeling "locked up" like you said. My tinnitus was pretty moderate to severe for a few months but has gradually reduced to where it is very mild now. I can't speak for others whose tinnitus began with an ear infection but it sounds like you are already well on the way to feeling better and more balanced about it. If you are having anxiety or depression or both with your tinnitus, I highly recommend finding people to talk to both here at Tinnitus Talk and with a therapist. And keep doing things you normally do, while protecting your hearing--I am very militant about protecting my hearing in loud noise situations and so my friends follow my advice (sometimes!) to do the same.

Best of luck and hope things get better for you soon!

 

Hello again, thanks V2016 and marqualler for the replies, very nice to see more people replying to this thread!

When I woke up this morning I felt something very strange for a brief moment: silence! I could not hear the ringing at all as I was making my way out of the bed. That being said, I was still quite drowsy as I had just woken up and now that I'm typing this, I can hear the ringing again BUT it is quite faint compared to yesterday. Anyone know if this is part of the healing process? Or is it normal to not hear the T in the morning when still waking up? None the less, I'm feeling very happy and hopeful right now, even though it isn't completely gone this must still mean something's happening, right? The ear doesn't feel as blocked up as it did before, for example doing the vasalva maneuvre seems to actually open the ear up a bit instead of just making a pop sound. I had the fan on for the night, I wonder if that helped somehow. I'm still going to schedule an appointment for an ENT doctor soon.

 

Update on the previous post.

So the ringing did come back later on in the day, but I feel like it is a bit quieter than it was previously. I haven't paid much attention to it today and that's probably mostly because I've had the fan on in my room for the whole day and it does create a nice background noise. I noticed that if I open my mouth wide open and inhale/exhale deeply the ear amplifies the sound of the air going through it by a whole lot, it feels weird. Overall I'm feeling a lot better about this whole situation - even though I would obviously rather not have to deal with any of this at all, hah... - but I think I'm still going to try and get an ENT doctor appointment scheduled as soon as possible, going to call the health center first thing next morning.

 

I ended up with tinnitus from cipro

 

Hello DebInAustralia, thanks for the reply. Did your tinnitus start from cipro antibiotics prescribed for an ear infection? The antibiotics that I had was amoxicillin, but that isn't ototoxic as far as I'm aware.

So, I went to another general practitioner yesterday to get a second opinion/status update on the ear infection and she did a bit more thorough testing on the ear than the first doctor I went to see and she said the infection has cleared up and my eardrum was vibrating as it should, but there was still some swelling and redness in the ear. She said there isn't any liquid remaining in the middle-ear which is good I guess, but that left me wondering what's causing the ringing then if not liquid stuck behind the eardrum? She wouldn't refer me to an ENT doctor yet because she said the ringing is a common side effect/symptom of an ear infection and that it is normal for it to last weeks or even months and she reassured that this isn't permanent, but I think that was honestly just to ease my mind, it's not like she can be absolutely 100% sure of it. Anyways, she said that I should take Duacts (decongestant medicine) three times a day for the next 10 days as those could help clear the eustachian tube as well as help with overall stuffiness. She said that I should go see an ENT in July if the ear still isn't completely healed by then. I think I'm going to go with the first doctor's recommendation though and see an ENT in late May/early June if the T is still present by then, too bad seeing an ENT doctor costs quite a lot...

The ringing has been a bit strange in the last couple of days, at times it is significantly quieter than usual - and I swear these are not just brief moments where I am able to ignore the T, it is actually quiter at times - and tonight, just a while ago actually, it suddenly changed to a much higher frequency and then dropped down to basically complete silence and I was really baffled at what just happened. That joy lasted for five to ten minutes, then it climbed its way back up to the normal ringing volume. It also sometimes feels like the ringing is a bit louder in certain positions for example when I'm lying on my bed and my head is tilted a bit whilst resting on a pillow the T can suddenly sound louder. I would like to know if these are normal things that can occur with tinnitus - caused by ear infection or not - or are they possibly good signs? I've been keeping the fan on in my room throughout the day and listened to a lot of music to distract myself from focusing on the ringing. Also, an artist I really like is coming to my city to play a gig next Wednesday and I'm thinking of going and I asked both doctors if this could possibly worsen the ringing and their conclusion was that as the ringing is caused by an ear infection it shouldn't amplify the ringing or anything. I picked up a pair of earplugs a few days ago and I'd love to go see him live, but what do you guys think, would it possibly be a risk?

I guess that's it for now, still hoping this ringing would go away in the coming days as the ear (hopefully) heals. Praying it isn't permanent at least.

 

Careful now, i recently had a monster spike after a dose of amoxillin due to a dental infection. I also read two anecdotal accounts of people getting T spikes on amoxillin on a Dutch forum, plus:

http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/is-augmentin-ototoxic/

Be careful with antibiotics, they mess up your system

 

Or you may have spiked bc of the actual infection or anxiety..

 

Hello, Sebastians. I looked at the link you posted. That's unfortunate that amoxicillin seems to be ototoxic too to some extent/in some instances. I don't think the antibiotics had anything to do with my T though because the ringing started before I was even given a prescription for them and when I took them I didn't notice any negative effects (other than occasionally being a bit more tired than usual). But like I said in the post you quoted, as far as I knew amoxicillin wasn't ototoxic, I might be in the wrong about it. But yes, should always be careful with antibiotics, I don't like taking antibiotics in the first place anyway.

I take it that this message was meant for Sebastians?

 

Correct

 

@Dynabyte can I ask if your T cleared up? I'm suffering basically the exact same as you and it all basically happened the same way

 

Hey, Deandush. Sadly it hasn't cleared yet, I went to see an ENT doctor and she said the infection has passed, but the ear is still quite red on the inside. She prescribed Betaserc 16mg, which helps the blood in the ears flow better (someone correct me if I'm wrong about this), for me for a month which can help with tinnitus so I'm taking those right now. She also said I should go test my hearing so I'm going to do that next week probably. I'm feeling okay about the situation though, I can almost completely ignore the ringing during the day, in the evening/at night it becomes a bit louder/clearer but even then it's nothing too distracting. Best advice I can give to you - and what the others in this thread and pretty much everywhere on the internet have said to me as well - is try not to think about it. I've been spending quite a lot of time outside and hanging out with friends and the ringing is practically non-existent at times as long as you don't give it any attention. Wishing you well and let's hope it will clear up for both of us, I remain hopeful.

 

I hope so to @Dynabyte, I went to see the doctor this morning and she said my ear has got a lot better but there is still inflammation, she said she couldn't be sure how long the T would last but I'm on the road to recovery, I've never ever had ear problems before until I got a bad viral infection over 2 weeks ago, of course after that my left ear got very infected although it didn't hurt, it just felt very full and muffled, I have faith it will pass I'm guessing these things just take time

 

Hey, back with a status update of sorts.

So I've had T for almost two months now. I guess I could say I'm doing fine and feel okay all things considered. The T is definitely a slight nuisance at times, but fortunately it is quite quiet and I'm able to ignore it throughout the day. I really should just try and stop checking "if it's still there" every now and then though, that's probably the worst thing you can do in this situation yet I keep doing it, lol... One thing that I find quite unfortunate is that I can't really use headphones for long periods of time anymore... :/ At least that's what it feels like. Using headphones seems to sort of agitate the ringing - or maybe it's the noise isolation that makes the ringing more apparent. I'm looking into buying a good pair of in ear headphones right now. I've kind of accepted the fact that it probably won't completely go away by now, but what I am slightly afraid of is it spreading to my right ear/the ringing getting louder. Is there anything that could decrease the chances of either of those things happening? Am I worrying for no reason?

I haven't gone to test my hearing yet, I'll try and schedule an appointment for this week though. Right now as I'm typing this I'm a bit ill though (I suspect a sinus infection or something along those lines), I'm seeing a general practitioner tomorrow. Anyways, overall I'm sort of okay with the situation right now, not letting it bother me and trying my best to stay positive and keep moving on in life (gosh, this sounds so cliché, lol!).

 

Hello again. I haven't managed to schedule a hearing test yet as I've been really busy, but I've noticed something lately which has me really worried: I can hear a faint ringing in my right ear from time to time now too. Started maybe a few days ago, I didn't really pay it much attention and I thought I must be imagining things, but I'm afraid that isn't the case anymore. I've already adjusted to the left ear's ringing and I can live with it, but I'm really worried that the T will spread to both ears now and that honestly would make things much worse for me, don't know if I can handle that. Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening? Anyone? I'm kind of desperate for advice by now, I really hope it won't spread to my right ear. Excuse my French, but honestly, fuck this stupid condition... Trying my hardest not to get anxious about this, but it's not so easy right now.

 

Hey Dynabyte, I'm no expert in preventing Tinnitus because well I have it in both ears. I hope everything goes well and you can find a way to isolate it or learn to cope with it in both ears. I can't imagine ringing in just one ear I'm so used to both of them going off that I think I would go crazy(er) if somehow one side went away and left me with one annoying ear.

My advice is to completely get rid of your headphones and anything else that could damage your ears or make them more susceptible to it spreading if that's how it does spread? I encourage you to find time in your day to schedule a hearing test, if just to get some peace of mind .

 

Dynabyte how's it going?