Tinnitus Flare Up from Hydrops, Fluid in Ears, Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, Marijuana?

Hi all,

I've been having a bad spike in my tinnitus the last 7 weeks, I don’t know what to think and my doctor visits have mostly failed me on this. At this point I’m starting think this isn’t a ‘spike’ and my new normal which is extremely depressing. I’m hoping someone has some experience or perspective to help me understand what’s going on. I'm sorry for the long post but I tried to include all the information I thought was relevant...

For some context and history;

May 2017 - I initially developed tinnitus after a loud concert. After this, it was at say a 1 or 2 out of 10. It was annoying, my fault, but not a big deal. I only really heard it in quiet rooms.

May 2018 – almost overnight, it got much louder. My ENT ran an MRI and ECoG and determined I have endolymphatic hydrops. After about a month of this, it finally quiets down to the 'normal' of 1 or 2 out of 10. For the next three years, I have two or three occasional spikes that were mild and go away after 2-4 weeks.

January 2019 – My ears start popping/crunching every time I swallow. I’m sure this is something related to Eustachian tubes, but it has never seemed to have any effect on tinnitus, my ENT doesn’t seem worried, so I ignore it. This issue is still happening.

March 2021 - My ears started ringing worse again. I experience bad ear pain/pressure. I initially just think it's another spike. Over the next 7 weeks, I have a few visits to a walk-in clinic around the ENT appointment I made with mixed results:

-My first visit is a walk-in clinic on vacation. I'm told there is no infection or anything visible, it is Eustachian tube dysfunction, and I’m given a short course of Prednisone and discharged. Makes pretty much no difference.

-About a week later, the pain gets so bad I go to the walk-in clinic back home. They say I have an ear infection, and it looks so severe the doctor says I should be prepared for a ruptured ear drum (never happens thankfully). They give me a course of Augmentin and discharge me, and ask I return back after the course.

-I see my ENT three days later. He inspects my ears and sees nothing. He takes a pressure reading and it comes back completely normal. He chalks my trouble up to allergies. I have a bit of a hard time believing I had a severe ear infection and Augmentin of all things cleared it up totally in 3 days, but not sure what else to think.

ENT prescribes me Fluticasone spray, Olopatadine spray, Pseudoephedrine, and a course of Cefuroxime just in case.

-After going through all these medicines, I feel absolutely zero difference. I make my return visit to the local walk-in, and I really like the doctor this time. He takes a long, deliberate look in my ears and says I have fluid buildup. He gives me another course of Prednisone, Claritin-D and an injection of Dexamethasone. Dexametshasone DOES HELP. For about 2 days after the injection, I'm feeling much closer to my normal self, the tinnitus drops down and the ear pain goes away.

It's now about 16 days since my Dexamethasone injection. I don't really have any ear pain. But the new, worse tinnitus is still there. I feel no lasting improvement at this point.

TL;DR for folks – 7 weeks of a flare up/spike I’m worried about and can’t seem to get better. Only a Dexamethasone injection has helped.

I’ve been prescribed:

-Fluticasone spray
-Olopatadine Spray
-Pseudoephedrine Pills
-Augmentin, Cefuroxime
-Prednisone oral tablets
-Claritin-D

Supplements I’ve taken:

-5-HTP
-NAC

I cannot think of any medication or diet changes I have made recently. The only thing that’s seemed off is my circulation has been a little bad compared to normal. I smoke marijuana somewhat regularly, aside from it getting a little louder while I am high I've never noticed any connection or pattern with it related to tinnitus.

So here I am, I’m lost why I’m having SO much trouble this time with my ears and hoping for dear life this is just a long flare up or some reaction to something.

I assume this is some combination of the hydrops, fluid on my ears, and Eustachian Tube Dysfunction causing this but no idea how to get past this and improve. I’d love some help or ideas from all the knowledgeable people here.

 

What diet changes have you made? I recently got tinnitus and stopped all sugar, salt, and processed food... I hope it helps.

You mentioned weed. My tinnitus started the night after I had a gummy bear but my doctor swears weed-induced tinnitus do not last more then 6 hours. He didn't seem to care.

 

Hey there. I'll admit, as it pertains to sugar/salt/caffeine and things that can affect tinnitus, my diet is pretty poor. With that said, I've had times where there's plenty of those things in excess and my tinnitus is fine, and months where I had a marked improvement/reduction in those things and tinnitus was bad. Just never found any real pattern between the two, but I am working on it now just because nothing else is getting it right...

Weed makes me tinnitus louder while I'm actively high, but makes me care about it less if that makes sense. Just on my basic understand of the interaction of it doesn't seem like something that could permanently alter/damage your hearing from one use.

Perhaps there were other ingredients with the gummy that aggravated something? Quality control and safe ingredients are pretty much all over the place for a lot of weed/gummies/CBD stuff....

Thank you for your reply and suggestions!

 

Nobody else has any ideas, huh?

After doing some reading I am beginning to wonder if a change in circulation could have made this worse as well

 

How are you doing now?

 

Hey there, thanks for following up. I'm not feeling any better, unfortunately.

I'll get an hour here or there occasionally, where it's closer to how my tinnitus used to be. So, at least I feel like maybe it's something not totally permanent or something that can improve.

But, the large majority of the time it's just awful. The only thing that's really helped was the Dexamethasone steroid shot, I felt normal for a good 3-4 days after that. I wish I knew what was going on or what mechanism w/ the steroid made it better. The 2 ENTs I've seen have been totally useless!

 

Some kind of inflammation issue? Maybe somatic? COVID-19 side effect? I dunno. I'm reaching lol.

 

Thanks for the ideas. The walk-in clinic doctor I saw I liked the best by far, and seemed the most concerned to get it fixed. He suggested inflammation, too, which could make sense I just don't know what would be causing that all of a sudden.

What do you have in mind when you describe it as somatic?

 

Everyone has suggested inflammation and that I should recover over time, yet I’m getting worse.

 

Any idea what your tinnitus sounds like "hydrops wise"? Have you tried the Reddit head tapping trick at all? There's a poll I have going on with it to try to get data:

Poll: Residual Inhibition from Head Tapping / "The Reddit Tinnitus Cure"

 

I'm sorry to hear that man. Hopefully we both get an uptick and get some improvement. Mine is definitely still fluctuating some.

 

What exactly do you mean hydrops wise?

I have tried that trick, I seemed to get a little relief when I did so, but it was pretty short lived. I'll have to try some more to get it fresh in mind so I can answer your poll.

 

I’m up and down now. Brain is trying to push it out.

 

Well, for what it's worth, a couple of weekends ago I had two days where my tinnitus was back to 'normal' - there, but low and not something I really noticed and definitely not the big problem it is now.

I get a few hours here and there now where I get relief, and lots of hours where it's crazy loud. The fact that it's had moments where it's good makes me think and hope that perhaps I haven't had some further damage, and there is something aggravating it and making it fluctuate, and that maybe there is room for further improvement.

 

An update:

I've been having issues with my tinnitus getting a LOT worse for about 5-6 weeks now. There's a lot that has happened recently, and I'm at a loss trying to decipher what is going on. I am extremely panicked this is going to be permanent.

Just in December, I was making plans for the new year. Thinking of what I was going to achieve. My tinnitus was manageable and not a monster. Now everything has crumbled and I'm totally hopeless about the future. I'm hoping some helpful people on here might have some experience or knowledge to share about what's going on.

I have a few things I'm curious about and I just don't understand:

I had an extremely stressful event in January (before the tinnitus flared). Can someone speak to flare ups from stress? How long do they last - or are they permanent? Can stress further damage your hearing? I've never considered stress a culprit but I also haven't had an event this stressful...

Two times now that my tinnitus has gotten worse ('21, '22), shortly before, I stopped smoking Marijuana cold turkey. I know Marijuana will make it sound louder for ~30 minutes after smoking, but it usually subsides and makes me feel more relaxed about the tinnitus generally speaking. Am I doing some harm or change with stopping cold turkey that is making the tinnitus worse?

Could Marijuana be making the Hydrops better? My logic on this, Marijuana is a known anti-inflammatory, could it be reducing the inflammation around the auditory nerve/ear that would normally be present in Hydrops? Perhaps the sudden stop in smoking marijuana makes the inflammation ramp up?

The doctor says I have Hydrops which looks very closely tied to Meniere's... But I never have any vertigo, and my tinnitus is high pitched, not low, both which seem to be the usual. Does that make sense to anyone? Does anyone else have Hydrops with just the tinnitus?

I have not taken a Prednisone course this time, only a single shot of Dexamethasone. Have I missed my chance to heal whatever is wrong?

 

If anyone has any ideas, or shared experience, I would really really appreciate the help.

Between a very stressful/depressed January, to stopping smoking cold turkey, I am not sure what's making it worse but I could really use advice. And there are days where it's not any worse than it was say around last fall, but I'm handling it worse.

I'm at a loss, I feel like I de-habituated and don't know what to do...