Tinnitus Started 2 Weeks Ago with Earwax Removal

I've never had T before. Well, maybe occasionally for the odd day after clubbing, 20 years ago.

I'm 41 now, and my hearing's been getting worse slowly over time. Nothing too dramatic, missing the odd word here and there, turning my earphones up more than I used to. That kind of thing. I had a "Full" feeling in my right ear, and there was a noticable drop in hearing recently, so off to the doctor I go.

He said my right ear was completely impacted by wax, my left almost as bad. He prescribed some drops, with a view to softening the wax for syringing. "Good" I think. At least I know what's wrong, and it will get sorted soon.

But the chemist didn't have the drops he prescribed. Instead they suggested Otex. So I tried those for a few days. I was amazed at the wax coming out of my ears - I could dab my finger in, and lumps would come out.

Five days after starting the Otex, the T started in my right ear. It wasn't noticable with background noise, but was enough to keep me awake at night. I also noticed, strangely, that my hearing seemed a lot sharper than before. Much clearer.

I went back to the Doctors in panic. He took a look, and said he could now see part of my right eardrum. The wax in both my ears looked very soft, so he suggested earwax removal straight away (nurse had a free slot). After the syringing (using a pulse machine - no pain nor discomfort to speak of), he and the specialist nurse both took another look, and said everything looked fine. It eased my worries that I'd somehow messed things up by using Otex and sticking my fingers in my ears!

That evening, the T was worse (mainly in my right ear, but a little in my left too). Noticable even with background noise. In addition, listening to my children talk (squabble!) was painful! My ears were so sensitive, I noticed sounds I hadn't before. My fridge makes a very high-pitched sound occasionally. I never heard that before. But oh my God, the T!!!!

Now, I've seen posts on the web that claim Otex causes T. I've seen posts that claim syringing causes T. In my case, I think the tranistion from dulled hearing, to "normal" hearing caused the T. I'm only a couple of weeks in, so I know I'm only at the start of the journey. Maybe things will change and it will improve, but I know from threads I've seen on here that that often isn't the case. If anyone else got their T from earwax removal, any advice would be very gratefully received!

 

You have a really good chance of getting rid of the damned thing, which I also think you will. Hang in there.

 

Welcome to the forum. Here we have true empathy for what you are going through as most of us have been where you are. Regardless of the cause, the suffering of T is similar, with almost unbearable ringing, having very negative emotional response to all the trauma T can cause us. You description above also seem to suggest that you may also have some degree of hyperacusis. Yes, H is what I had soon after T. It turned all normal sounds so loud and piercingly hurtful. But don't panic nor despair. H is often the first one to fade out. Mine faded within the year it started and so are many members' H. Give it some time. Protect from loud noises but don't over-protect from normal ambient sounds. This is a gradual process of exposing your ears to normal sounds so that it can harden to sounds again. It can be done. Have patients. Also since your T is so new, you may want to get some prednisone treatment from your doctor. Many members here recommend this for new T especially from acoustic trauma. If my success story on the journey with both ultra high pitch T and severe H can help, as I listed many helpful strategies too, you can check my story out with below link. Take good care. God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

 

Many thanks for the encouraging words Raphael7713 & billie48. "Hyperacusis" - interesting to get a name for it. I think I have a degree of that (but not as bad as you describe in your link Billie). Work was bad today though. I work in a busy, noisy office where the noise is constant and (now) very uncomfortable. I'll take your advice and avoid trying to protect myself from this. I'll just have to wait for my ears to adapt.

I'll look into prednisone, but I doubt my own Doctor will have much of a clue about Tinnitus. I'll go and see a T specialist in a month or two and definitely discuss it with them.

 

If your work place is really too loud and unbearable to your present state of hyperacusis, perhaps try out the musician earplugs as they will allow the normal range but not the extremely loud noises. Prednisone is usually recommended for people within weeks of having their T.

 

Yep, just spotted that Prednisone can be useful in the first 2 weeks... I've made an appointment with a specialist tomorrow, so will ask about that.

 

Hi @JustinC

I got tinnitus, hyperacusis and hearing loss from a microsuction procedure 16 months ago. I would really recommend you ask for a course of Prednisone as it may help reduce inflammation and therefore limit the damage to your ear. You could also ask for a vasodilator to help increase blood flow to your inner ear. Magnesium and NAC (an antioxidant) may also help. It's important that you avoid loud noise in the next few months, give your ears time to recover.

 

Quick update from me. Last week, I went to see an ENT consultant privately. He did a full hearing test, in addition to checking my ears out. The hearing test showed normal hearing, so no hearing loss.

He basically said there was no problem with my ears, and didn't think there was anything wrong, nor anything he could treat. I asked about Prednisone, and he refused to consider it. He suggested my hearing had been made more sensitive to noise, and the T would just be part of that.

As for my T, it's still there, but not noticeble now with background noise. It isn't stopping me sleeping now, so I'm less stressed out about it than I was. My H seems to be slowly getting better. I can survive on a busy street or at work without cringing now, which is a definite improvement.

 

@JustinC Hi Justin - may I ask how you've progressed? My case is very similar. I syringed my ears, went to the gym and BAM, T started upon waking the next day. It's been two months on the dot. I think I have some H as I am sensitive to certain noises and my T goes up slightly. Funny, if I am in a quiet room, I hear silence. If I am running around the city (I live in NYC), it goes up to a hiss.

 

My situation was very similar to this. It’s a good theory... Worse tinnitus after wax removal, seems quite rare. I know syringing has been known to cause it sometimes but mine wasn’t.
I also had a case of hypercausis after removal (or maybe it was just the so called ‘reactive tinnitus’!). Some things just can’t be explained unfortunately.. I hope you got to the bottom of it.

 

Another update from me... T has improved a lot since my first post. I still have it, but it's dropped to a level where it doesn't bother me during normal activities. H has completely gone. With background noise, my T is not noticable.

I can hear it before I go to sleep, but I think I'm getting used to it now - it hasn't affected my sleep since the first couple of weeks that I had it.

So, feeling a lot less stressed than I was. The only issue I have now is headphones (over the ear ones). They make the T twice as loud for some reason, and I tend to sit at the PC with headphones on a lot of the time. Not the end of the world though.

 

If I were you I wouldn't use headphones even at low volume. Tinnitus and headphones don't mix well.

 

I got my T and H after ear cleaning, I had quite a bit of buildup but no issues from the wax, before removal.

On a positive note, the H is now about 75-85% better, and the T has been improving as well.

 

Personally, I think having an ear blocked for such a long period of time would not do it any good at all.. It’s my theory, well in my case anyway, that some sort has change has taken place in the brain during this period due to sound deprivation. Don’t know if the same thing.. but I wonder what would happen if you wore an earplug continuously for a few weeks. Would you expect to hear perfectly normally again straight after taking them out or would there be some repercussions due to sound deprivation, and would they be long term.. I guess we’ll never know and nobody would ever want to deliberately find out!

 

If you wore sunglasses all the time, I would imagine that there would be a period of adjustment when you stopped wearing them, as well.

I wore earplugs for sleeping, for five years, before I got T & H. I am sure that did not help, and probably made the wax buildup worse, as well.

 

This is exactly what I think as well.

 

How is your tinnitus now?, if you don’t mind me asking. It’s really good that yours seems to be improving and you’ve seemed to make good progress.

 

It's improving, very slowly, thanks. I'm not doing anything in particular, but since it dropped to a level where my sleep wasn't affected, my stress levels about it have dropped right down.

I can still notice it if I'm in a quiet room, but I have to concentrate on it to hear it.