Tinnitus Since 4 Days Ago After Sneezing

Hi everyone,

My name is Ray and I'm 27 years old. I've been reading posts in this community and I'm encouraged by how supportive everyone is and sharing in each other's joys and pains. I developed tinnitus which sounds like a really low-pitch hum sound in my right ear 4 days ago.

Background:

This past November, my right ear felt full and a day or two later at night I noticed a low pitch humming sound in the ear. I spent a long time coming to terms that I might have to live with it for the rest of my life and eventually fell asleep. However, it was gone by the next morning. Fast forward to about a week ago when my right ear felt full again and I had moments of slight vertigo. A few days later which was this past Friday night, I got off a 14 hour international flight where I watched about 3 hours of movies at high volume. Everything was fine when I got off the plane and when I woke up the next morning. Nothing was out of the ordinary until I suddenly sneezed and then the low hum came back to my right ear and hasn't left since. Saw an ENT two days ago who thinks it could be barotrauma and prescribed prednisone and fluticasone (nasal spray) to clear up sinuses. He said ears and nose looked fine but the right eardrum does look slightly pushed in. Not sure if it's really helping so far. My left ear also feels like its being pushed in. In terms of general listening volume, I listen to music on my AirPods at a moderate volume. Going to see an audiologist in a few days as well. It seems like I can feel the vibrations in my ear at times. Also, if I plug my ear with my finger, the ringing is gone.

This morning, the humming was sporadic and pulsing and there were moments where it felt like I couldn't hear it at all. But the constant hum came back after a while. I found out that if I bend my neck forward it gets louder and leaning my head back makes it noticeably quieter. I'm still learning to cope with it, but would really appreciate it if you could share your thoughts on what other issues it might be and things I could try.

 

Welcome to the forum. The positive thing about your situation is that your tinnitus seems mild (as you have moments you can't hear it already) and that it may be somatic one (as your movement can affect the ringing). Usually for somatic tinnitus, if you can find out the culprit such as ETD (ear fullness) or TMJ, or neck issue, then once the culprit is fixed, then tinnitus will likely fade. Also, if your tinnitus already has moment you can't hear while it is so new, that is a good sign that it may be mild. You may want to try mask it if it bothers you. Hope your condition will improve slowly as your ears heal. Good luck. God bless.

 

I'm really confused. For the past few days, there have been periods where my low pitch vibrating-like tinnitus would sputter and then stop and I would hear silence for 1-2 hours unless I bend my neck forward which would make the vibrating continue until I stopped bending it forward. But the tinnitus always comes back. Some days it doesn't do it at all. Is it possible there is a compressed nerve or involuntary muscle movements that are causing this? Not sure how I should I go about finding the underlying cause.

Also I'm hearing a really high pitched noise in really quiet rooms I think around 14khz which is where my right ear's hearing stops. Would this be a sign of noise-induced tinnitus?

 

Since I am not a doctor, I can't make definitive assessment of your situation. I can only suggest and speculate that if your neck movement can affect your tinnitus, you may have somatic tinnitus from neck problem. If your regular doctors and ENTs can't help anymore, you may want to check out alternative medicine, such as chiropractors who specialize in neck-caused tinnitus. A simple google search below will yield much info about this, such as below site:
https://www.thejoint.com/california...op-the-ringing-tinnitus-and-chiropractic-care

 

Are your eustachian tubes blocked? Can you equalize the pressure in your ear?

What about ear wax build up?