Tinnitus Is Really Starting to Take a Toll on My Life

Hello everyone,

I’ve always had a bit of tinnitus from the days I was in the military 30 years ago. I have high frequency hearing loss. Basically always hard for me to hold a conversation in large loud crowds. The tinnitus was barely noticeable. I actually never really noticed it unless I really tried.

Well a few weeks ago in March I was sitting there and out of the blue my ears started ringing. Both of them. I noticed when I would yawn there was crackling. And it also felt like there was fluid dripping out of my ear but there was never any evidence of it. I get some slight pain off and on but not much.

This has been going on everyday for 5+ weeks. Some times it’s really bad, sometimes it’s manageable. I went to an ENT. They did a hearing test and it showed the high frequency loss and seemed to want to blame it on that. Even though I had the feeling of fluid, crackling, and pain. Also seems when I stand up fast, I get a little dizzy.

The doctor said I didn’t have any fluid in my ears even though I can clearly feel it in there. She said that I could have eustachian tube dysfunction. She gave me FLONASE and an Antibiotic. Neither did any good.

I have started paying attention to when the ringing is worse and it definitely is worse when the Barometric Pressure drops and when it’s raining out.

This is starting to make me depressed. The worry that it’s going to get louder and stay at that level for life.

Could this just be ETD?

Please, I don’t want to hear about how this can get worse for me. It’s already as bad as I can take it.

Thank you!!!

 

Do you feel comfortable posting your audiogram? (feel free to blank out personal info)

Did your ENT doc do any fork test?

 

Did this coincide with any medicine usage?

 

Hey guys, I don’t have the audio report. They showed it to me and it was a lot of the high frequency’s. They did some type of pressure test and it normal. Honestly she put the thing in my ears for about a second and I didn’t notice any change in pressure so not sure if she even did it correctly.


Thanks!

 

One more question. Did your increase seem to coincide with a loud noise exposure?

 

I have ETD, and until recently, BPPV. Balance Thereapist checked me yesterday on the BPPV, and all is normal now. I'm on Budesonide as my left eustachian tube is infected. I too can have periodic fluid on that side in the ear, but my concussion doc, and Balance Therapist are not concerned about it. I too find it's worse, and in particular, the tinnitus, when there is a rapid barometric change, either up or down. Have you heard about, or looked into the Eustachi or Ear Popper. I have a Eustachi on the way and hoping it will help.

 

There are people on this forum who think they have ETD, when the ear fullness actually has to do with noise damage.

How the middle and inner ear respond to acoustic shock is not researched enough, that's because hearing aid salesmen run the field instead of scientist who study the inner ear. I hope this post motivates someone to realize research is needed and audiologist and ENT's don't have a clue.

 

No John, I was just sitting there and started to notice it. Some days are bad and some days good. Thanks John!

Dellwas, Thank You! I’m hoping I have a chance of this going away due to it being from ETD. I don’t have the ear popper. As I write this it just felt like there was fluid dripping in my ear. Doctor said no fluid seen in ears.

I know exactly when this all started and I’m going to look at the barometric Pressure from that day and see if there is any significance.

 

Let me ask this; does anyone think with self certainty that in the next 10 years they will have cure for this whether it be mechanical, through surgery, or other means?

 

It is possible that the ringing will go away once the ETD does. I know that when I steam, or clear the Eustachian Tubes with the Valsala movement that the ringing goes away. I'm not saying this will be the same for you as it could be caused by something else. Also my concussion doc had a look in my ear and saw the fluid, BUT he says it can only be seen in the outer ear. He also said it was nothing to worry about and would clear up on it's own. Your's could be in the middle ear, which can't be seen. Good news is that it should clear up at some point. This article may help: https://familydoctor.org/condition/eustachian-tube-dysfunction/

 

My Tinnitus started right around a year and a half ago suddenly like you did. I also have had very mild tinnitus for most of my life that gotten much worse after that day a year and a half ago. The good news is after a year and a half, it has gotten a lot better.

 

Thank you so much Dell!!! This has been such a mental thing for me. I would rather be in a combat zone than have this.

I know it might not be from the ETD but I pray it is!

Thanks again!

 

I wonder if it’s possible that you had ETD? They say it can last a long time. Thanks for posting!

 

I have had an MRI done, one would think that should be able to detect it? So I guess I didn't have ETD?

 

It can, my concussion doc prescirbed a year's worth of Budesonide...

 

That’s a good question. I actually just had an MRI done of my brain because I hurt my back and they did an mri of my back and found a spot. So they wanted to rule out MS. There weren’t any spots on my Brain but there was the following:

“Retention cyst seen within the maxillary sinuses. Moderate mucosal thickening within the anterior ethmoid sinus and sphenoid sinus. Mild to moderate mucosal thickening within the maxillary sinuses. The expected major intracranial flow voids are
present.”

I wonder if this has anything to do with this ringing, maybe causing the ETD. This mri was taken the day after my ringing started. Actually on the day of the MRI I didn’t have any ringing.

I showed the report to the ENT and she blew it off and didn’t even ask to get the MRI to look at it.

Not sure if they could see the Tube Disfunction or not.

 

Not with any kind of certainty. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4877436/

"With high-resolution images, the soft and bony anatomy of the Eustachian tube can be assessed in detail. CT and MRI are best suited to identifying features associated with obstructive or patulous Eustachian tube dysfunction, though true assessments of function have only been achieved with contrast enhanced radiographs and scintigraphy. A single modality has yet to provide a complete assessment. No test has entered routine clinical use, but further development and research is underway."

So MRI is not the best tool for EDT, radiograph and scintigraphy are more suited.

 

Damn. Now have a head cold, hope it doesn't make my ETD worse...