Tinnitus Spike from Ear Irrigation Making Me Stressed and Anxious

Greetings tinnitus sufferers. My first post on the forums but I need to tell my story and maybe get some closure for my spike.

Quick backstory about my tinnitus: I've had it for as long as I can remember. I started noticing a low pitch ring when I was around 12, but since then it's definitely changed.

Current Time: I'm currently writing this around 3am. Recently, my tinnitus, after two years of constant coping and no issues, is really, and I mean really noticeable. My tinnitus usually doesn't bother me, unless when I get spikes but they usually only last a few seconds to a few minutes. For the past three or four days, mainly in my right ear I've noticed the ringing has this high pitch whine I can hear over basically anything. I eventually narrowed down a possible culprit for the louder ringing, which was a wax blockage. So, being the person I am I visited my local doctor and requested they look into my ear. They said they'd flush it with something called "Ear Irrigation." Which I did last year and didn't get a spike in tinnitus or anything. But this time, I think it made the tinnitus worse. I've also been experiencing a hyper sensitivity to sound since.

Long story short, I'm scared this spike isn't going away. I've researched some stories about ear irrigation and whatnot and the side effects. This new and louder sound makes it troublesome to focus at times. And I hope it doesn't start to effect my school and personal health. I'm currently only 17...

Is it possible that my ears are just, I don't know... over worked from the ear irrigation and just needs a few days to recover? Or am I basically screwed?

 

It is impossible to say if it will go down or not. I had mild tinnitus on my right ear, and then I washed out wax with water three weeks ago and got bad tinnitus on that ear. It hasn't gone down in that time for me. The only thing you can do is wait and try not to panic since it will only worsen things.

 

Last time I had irrigation it was painful, so I doubt I’ll go back. I’ll just try waxsol for 5 days then use warm water.

 

Waxsol is made of docusate sodium, and it is what triggered my tinnitus.
I wouldn't be using it. Research has shown it is ototoxic in animal models.

 

Do you know if Debrox is safe?

Thx

 

Before having the earwax removed by irrigation, did you apply olive oil/eardrops to each ear 3x a day for 10 days before having it removed? If you didn't do this then problems may result, please read the post below.

Michael

The correct way for a earwax to be removed by irrigation is to apply ear drops 3x a day to each ear for ten days prior to having the wax removed. This thoroughly loosens the wax making removal easier and problems less likely. When the wax cannot be removed by irrigation, microsuction is recommended. Again, eardrops should be applied to each ear 3x a day for 10 days before having microsuction. Failure to do this may result in an increase in tinnitus. I have had ear irrigation 3 times and microsuction the same and never had a problem. Each time I applied ear drops using the method I have described.

Some people are not advised of the correct preparation prior to having wax removed. This is often the cause of problems afterwards. Some people believe manual removal of earwax using a curette is safe. This is not true, as problems can still result if ear oil is not applied in the way I have described above.

To help prevent wax build up apply eardrops/olive oil 2 to 3 times a week to keep wax soft enabling it to exit the ear naturally.

 

I haven’t checked into this.
Maybe could use olive oil instead

 

I don’t know but it doesn’t contain docusate sodium.

 

I just used waxsol and u got me worried with this statement!

I did some googling and came up with two totally contrasting studies!

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23092833/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22101097/
https://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/bilat/ototoxic_drops.htm

So waxsol yes or no?

btw waxsol seem's much more effective than cerumol or olive oil to me. 2 applications and my wax look's very melted and is moving out the ear canal. I put in cerumol and olive oil at different times and both seemed to have no effect whatsoever apart from softening it i presume.

Edit:
Another study comparing a few types of wax softeners
https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012171.pub2/full

 

All I know is that eardrops containing docusate sodium triggered my tinnitus.

 

Waxsol also triggered my tinnitus :’(