Tinnitus Caused by Middle Ear Infection, Prompted by TRP Ear Drops

Hello everyone,

This is my first post and am new here. I'm somewhat saddened at how to go about this process with my tinnitus. Just a little into October of 2022, I went home and like any other time I've taken TRP ear drops to help my ear with a slight tinnitus was very soothing. Then sometime before the 10th of October, I put the TRP ear drops in my right ear and within a few minutes, I started to feel a burning sensation. As if it were switched out with a very severe rubbing alcohol or something.

Only problem is this must've happened the 12th of October. The ENT at the time didn't see an ear infection on the 10th. But on the 12th of October, I believe I put in the TRP ear drops and that's when the burning began. I was given on the 12th of October antibiotics, in pill form by my family doctor, and even after that, I wasn't feeling any better. I went to a few urgent care doctors to get prescribed ear infection antibiotics because they were closer, but they kept telling me they didn't see anything.

One urgent care doctor told me he didn't see anything and asked me if I was ready to get tinnitus. I left to find someone else. He could've prescribed me ear antibiotics but wouldn't. Fast forward and I couldn't get anyone to prescribe me ear antibiotics in time.

I was also told as a little kid that I was allergic to Penicillin. I don't know if I'm still allergic to it as an adult. So, Amoxicillin has Penicillin in it. I wouldn't know if taking the ear antibiotic would've helped or hurt at this point. I wasn't helped in time and I ended up breaking a fever, having burning in my right ear that night for the longest of time and had tonsil stones not long after. My right ear was sensitive for the longest time after the event, but doesn't hurt as much now when I hear something small.

I did visit another urgent care doctor who prescribed me Neomycin, which is an antibiotic for ear infections that doesn't have Penicillin in it. It also has a steroid in it to reduce inflammation. Another urgent care doctor was willing to give me an actual steroid injection in my hip, but I declined because I just was hoping for steroid ear drops, since I no longer have a middle ear infection. I just wanted a steroid to get rid of the inflammation to help the ear heal from having a burning sensation. The ear drops I took at the time, the sound went away, but I only took them for 6 days. Then within like 3 days, my tinnitus came back. But I guess that's to be expected when the ear drops have a steroid in them.

I'm doing my best to keep high hopes since it sounds like other people have bounced back from an ear infection induced tinnitus within a few months. I have had ear testing done and they say my hearing is normal. The urgent care doctor who gave me the ear drops said to give it time and because my hearing is fine, she said the tinnitus will go away.

I've been going to a tinnitus consultant and she told me the urgent care doctor doesn't know what she's talking about because she's not an ENT. But neither is the tinnitus consultant.

I visited my dad and his brother in November for Thanksgiving at their house just across another state and when I was there, I slept in a spare bedroom downstairs and a truck outside, diesel-sounding and all, made such a loud pass through and I didn't have my earplug in my right ear at the time, and the sound hurt. Around Veterans Day, at a church I go to, their speaker made a loud pop noise and again, the one time I didn't have my earplug in.

I visited the tinnitus consultant today, and I let my guard down and she slammed her door shut in her room...

Right now, there's ringing once in a while. There was popping noises in my right ear when I'd listen to someone talk in my left ear on a cell phone, but that's no longer there as much now. It's like the sound of a TV in the other room. Like when you change a channel on the TV and it's on mute, but you can still hear the TV itself or when you change a channel and it's grey and white, but no sound. That kind of old TV kind of sound.

If anyone has had a middle ear infection, and had tinnitus from said ear infection which went away, I would love to hear stories. Thank you all for your time and patience. <3

 

I don’t have tinnitus from an ear infection, but I would recommend taking NAC 1200 mg daily in two doses as that can help mitigate ear damage. Also take Magnesium.

Protect your ears from loud noises and wear hearing protection like earplugs outside for at least 5 - 6 months. But don't overdo hearing protection, don't wear it indoors.

Give your ears rest and don't follow any sound therapy as your ear injury seems fresh. Give ears silence and rest for at least a few months, then you can look into any sound therapy to promote habituation. Or you can use CBT to cope and promote habituation.

There’s also a fair chance that it might go away, but even if it doesn’t, soon you’ll be ok with it, habituation will kick in in 6-10 months where you won’t hear your tinnitus most of the time even if it is always present, our brain learns to filter it out.

Stay hopeful and avoid reading devastating stories here. Check out the success stories category if you want positivity.

 

Hi @May86, sorry to hear of your situation. I too got my tinnitus from an ear infection in September. Although I am not on the other side of it yet, what I can recommend to you is try to stay healthy and not catch any viruses or COVID-19. Limit your time in public places where you can get sick and always wash hands. When I had my initial tinnitus come with the right ear infection, I only had one high hiss/electric sound in the right ear, kind of like what you’re describing I think. However, when I got another virus or two within the weeks after, I got other tones in both ears and the tinnitus became more reactive. So just do your best to stay healthy, vitamin C and Zinc are good things to take along with magnesium.

Also, avoid very loud places. One of my biggest regrets is going to my best friend’s wedding about a month after I developed the tinnitus. Two ENTs told me I would be fine, and just take earplugs to make me feel better. Although I did not stay for the music/reception, it was loud during dinner and before during cocktail hour. It was way too much too soon, and to this day I wonder where I’d be if I had just gone to the outdoor ceremony and not anything else.

There is a good chance yours will continue to fade, get sleep as best as you can and stay hydrated!

 

Yes, I know the TV sound your are talking about - old style tube TV though I think you mean - not the latest flat screen which produce virtually neither hum nor high-pitched electrical whine. Mine is like that sometimes - or a hiss.

If ringing comes and goes - that's not bad - as most of us have tinnitus 24/7. Hopefully it will clear.

 

As for the NAC in 2 doses, do you mean 1200 mg in the morning and then 1200 mg in the evening? I've since bought NAC and bought 100 mg Magnesium to take at night along with Melatonin. I also, unfortunately, was taking at least 3 medicines that were ototoxic and didn't realize it until early January.

It's a shame, because it would've been nice if the tinnitus counselor would've mentioned this from the get-go asap. I got off as cold turkey as I could with a lot that were over the counter and one other that was a prescribed medication, I had to just slowly give myself smaller doses throughout each week. The tinnitus counselor is such a debbie downer. She said it may be too late since I've been on the medication so long.

But the thing is, I read recently a few days ago, that though there are ototoxic medications, there are some that can cause permanent damage and some that can cause temporary damage. I'm very much hoping I got off in a decent amount of time that my ear has time to immensely heal. That should be a requirement when going to a tinnitus consult, is that they should say if you're taking any medication, find out if it's ototoxic. Because at this rate, it's as if she wants me to get tinnitus.

It's become more bearable to be in bed with the tinnitus, but I'll be ordering a pillow speaker or something to keep by my head instead of a spare phone. It's all I have currently until I do enough research to see what speaker would be best under my pillow.

I wish I would've found this website in say November or even December. I just had a lot going on financial-wise at the time. I'm going to keep a positive mindset and hope over months of care, my hearing will be ok. I'll have to wear my earplugs in the house when making food at the moment and invest in wooden bowls and plates. For sure a slow shutting toilet seat. Though I'd like to go earplug free in the house at all times, those are the times I do need my earplugs in.

Thank you for your time and help sir.

 

For NAC I meant 600 mg in the morning and 600 mg in the evening. Total 1200 mg. I advise to take that for at least a month, then come down to 600 mg a day for two weeks, then quit. Don’t take NAC after 6pm because for some people it can be excitatory and thus it gets difficult to sleep.

100 mg of Magnesium is not adequate. You should be getting at least 300 mg-400 mg Magnesium a day divided into two or three doses, whatever suits you. I’d recommend Magnesium Glycinate or Magnesium Malate. Take that for a few months too.

 

Opps... I've been taking NAC 1200 mg in the morning and after supper. Maybe that's why I've not been sleeping well. :/ I'll try dropping down to the 600 mg today for in the day and evening.

As for the Magnesium, I'll have to see who sells that specific kind of Magnesium. I'm currently taking Magnesium Citrate. I only started taking the Magnesium this week, because there's a time in the month I have to be careful taking Magnesium due to my bowels messing up. I didn't want to make that timeframe worse.

Thank you for such a quick response. I appreciate your help very much!

EDIT:

I just looked up each specific Magnesium you recommended, and they come in very high dosages from what I've found online. With the Magnesium Malate, it comes in 1,000 mg each pill, so I would be taking well over what I need throughout the day you recommended. I see the benefits to both the Malate and the Glycinate Magnesium's but will try to look into those more thoroughly when I can to replace the current Magnesium I just bought.

Again, thank you for your time and patience.

 

Keyword is "elemental Magnesium" of which you should get up to 400 mg per day.

For example, 1,000 mg of Magnesium Malate usually contains 115 mg of elemental Magnesium. You can check the amount from the label of the supplement in question.

 

Magnesium Citrate can mess up your bowels, I advise you stop taking that. Glycinate and Malate are easier on the stomach and can be very relaxing. With Glycinate, it basically depends on how your body responds to Glycine. The majority of the people report soothing effect, but a minority does report lack of sleep from it, so if you get less sleep you can switch to Malate, but if it relaxes you, keep on taking it. Malate doesn’t affect sleep, but it isn’t soothing and mentally relaxing like Glycinate. Glycinate is more recommended for people with tinnitus though as it puts you in a better mental state.

You can check the bottle for the mentioned dosage.

Another version is Magnesium L-Threonate. It’s for the brain health and cognitive function, also called Neuro-Mag, but it is fairly expensive and doesn’t work any better than Glycinate or Malate in most cases.

In terms of dosage, I meant elemental Magnesium. If you look at the back side of the bottle, you can see how much Magnesium you are getting from the product. It’s listed in the ingredients section. It also mentions the number of pills that give you the mentioned amount of Magnesium. For example, it can mention something like “200 mg of Magnesium from 2000 mg of Glycinate”. That doesn’t mean you are getting 2000 mg, you are only getting 200 mg from the dosage. Magnesium is actually binded to other elements so that it can be easily absorbed in your gut. I recommend 300 mg-400 mg of elemental Magnesium a day.

Plus if you find it difficult to sleep, you can try 2 mg or 5 mg Melatonin, 1 pill, about an hour before your bed time.

Stay away from SSRIs or Benzos, some people advise to take them, even some doctors too, but personally i believe they have a very high possibility of making your tinnitus much worse or intolerable.

I wish you the best.