Tinnitus with Several Potential Causes (Ototoxicity, Headphones, Q-Tips)

Hi, I'm Canadian and starting dealing with tinnitus roughly a month ago.

There are several factors that likely contributed, and I have yet to hear back from an ENT after a clinic referral (likely because of the current outbreak).

I work in the trades and often use power tools, or work in loud environments. At work I'm pretty good at always try to wear ear plugs to protect my hearing, but sometimes the sound is either loud enough it's still uncomfortable or I don't have the chance to cover my ears. The ear currently effected is my left, and has always been more sensitive to sound, a loud bang would always leave a lingering ringing longer then my right ear.
Aside from that I wear ear buds a lot at home and listen to music, generally I avoid listening to music that's too loud but every now and then my wife tells me she can hear what I'm listening too.

Anyway, a month ago at work we were working with metal grinders at a decently loud job site, I preemptively put in ear plugs to be careful, and the one I put in my left ear went a bit too far and hurt quite a bit (though only for a moment).

After that, at some point after lunch I neglected to put my plugs back in, and was exposed to noise on site for a good 10 minutes when we were finishing the job. That night I did not notice anything, but the very next day I starting noticing the ringing when a co worker turned on the heater in our truck. I heard a high pitched ringing that seemed to fluctuate, and my ear had a feeling like it was either full, or itchy. For a while before this, I had issues with my tonsils, which have been swollen since a bad bought of strep throat in the winter, and occasionally have been producing tonsil stones. The tonsil that's particularly swollen, is on the same side of my head as the hear that was ringing (my left). I never considered sound damage initially, so I waited to get into a clinic and ended up being told to use Reactine, Flonase. To further add to this, I had been taking extra strength Advil semi daily to deal with the tonsil situation before this happened. At some point an ear plug I tossed at work had a brownish red discharged on the end of it, but I only ever encountered this once, and it very well may have just been wax.

I continued taking Reactine, Advil, and Flonase, till I was laid off because of all the shut downs. Being at home I started to notice a sort of tv static noise I couldn't hear before, and slowly my tinnitus began to ring with the wind outside, or the fridge starting up, or the shower. I got into a clinic appointment again, and they gave me a weeks worth of Amoxicillin to see if maybe this has been a chronic infection. I haven't had a fever at all, but before the Reactine and Flonase I did have a ton of phlegm being produced. Anyway I've only got a day and half left of the antibiotics, and it's hard to say if they did anything, my tonsil swelling has gone down a bit and the stones are not happening as much, but the ear irritation and ringing persists. The one big thing I did notice, was before if I used a Q tip in the effected ear, I could feel a part that was swollen and it would irritated my throat and immediately make me cough. I no longer get that sensation.

I started doing my own research and found myself here, and didn't realize how much I had happening that might be making things worse. Today I threw out the Advil, put away my headphones, and stopped using Q tips. I started trying to blow into my ear by plugging my nose, and found that my left ear takes longer to fill with ear the my right, and makes a noticeable squeak when I do this.

I apologize if this has been a tricky read, my writing skills have never been the best.

 

I'm sorry nobody has replied to you, I hope you're doing well and better. I did the same thing (metal grinder) and I too saw no responses. I genuinely hope you've recovered completely as I'm one month in and hoping for the best.