Tinnitus Followed by Ear Barotrauma — I Need Opinions Please

Hello ! I am new here and i thought that maybe, someone, somewhere has experienced the same thing as me and could help me .. i literally tried everything else and i am at loss.

Okay, so since i was 16 years old, i started getting really bad allergies. Allergy to everything, dust, mites, dogs, cats, roaches, trees, grass etc. Literally everything. I always felts like my Eustachian tubes had a hard time pressurizing my ears because i always felts my eardrum really pop or vibrate a lot as pressure changed. And so 2 years ago, it all started for me. I got what i assumed ear baotrauma because i ruptured my eardrum and then my symptoms started. Muffled earring, 20% conductive hearing loss, ear pain, ticklish ear, Tinnitus, ear fullness. I went to 5 ENT. The first one told me it was a problem with my jaw... but my jaw weren't hurting me at all and that doesn't make any sense with the hearing loss or muffled hearing. Another ENT told me it was my ossicles which again, doesn't explain the ear pain, ear fullness, and why it happened all the sudden... so went to another ENT who told me it was my ossicles again...

I just can't believe this diagnosis... Anyway, i moved to another state a few month ago, and saw the 6th ENT. Had an hearing test done, and tympanometry. They told me i had fluid behind my ear..........

Went in to get the fluid taken care off but surprise... there was no fluid inside my ear ! So again, they diagnosed me with osteosclerosis...

That doesn't explain why it happened all of the sudden... the ear pain, ear fullness. They made a pin size hole in my eardrum but it didn't change much. The other day, i yawned.. and ruptured my eardrum again. So i am thinking it is my eustachian tubes having a hard time equalizing the pressure in my ear..

So what i think is that i might have a stuck shut Eustachian tube that's causing me all these symptoms. I never had the tympanometry test with the drinking glass test, they left it at it was osteosclerosis.

Anyone has ever experience something similar and it ended up being the eustachian tube ? This ENT i am seeing is really bent on the osteosclerosis thing and i personally think it is my tube but the tympanometry say otherwise although we haven't done the glass drinking thing. Any thoughts would be really appreciated .. thank you !

 

It's called otosclerosis. I have it, and it came on "overnight", even though it's supposed to take years to build up. At first mine showed up as sensorineural hearing loss, but after a few weeks the conductive part started being very prominent. One night I go to bed fine, and in the morning I have my ear plugged.

There's various tests to do to diagnose it: Webber/Rinne fork tests, hearing test (w/ bone conduction transducer), possible Schwartz sign, possible radiolucencies visible via CT Scan...

I suppose that if a couple of your ENT docs talked about otosclerosis and blamed your ossicles, it's because they've run a few of the tests above and they corroborate their hypothesis.

Are you comfortable sharing your audiogram?

 

I don't have the audiogram, i just know that i have a 20% conductive hearing loss. That would cause pain, muffled hearing, ear fullness ?

 

Pain is possible I guess. Muffled hearing and ear fullness would make sense. That's what I had/have. I also had hyperacusis.

 

Yeah im not convinced that's what my problem is. It's very very rare that this happen overnight and you are one of the few exception. My problem started after i ruptured my eardrum. Pain isn't one of osteosclerosis's symptoms. I don't have any vertigo or dizziness either. I asked my ENT and he told me osteosclerosis wouldn't be causing pain and he wasn't sure what was. Ear fullness isn't usually a symptoms of osteosclerosis either.. or clicking. Which i forgot to mention.