Today's Newbie...

Hi everyone, new to the forum as of about five mins ago! Please be kind

I'm Andrew, 28 from Glasgow. Feeling really frustrated at the moment, I've had Tinnitus with a pretty hefty pressure build up in my right ear for a year and a half and kind of accepted now that it's not going anywhere...

I woke up one morning in April 2017 feeling quite unwell, loud ringing in my right ear, pressure in the ear, pretty feverish feeling and generally unwell. This continued for a few days, the ringing never went away, neither did the pressure and on and off for about two weeks I just felt 'off', there were a couple of instances where I felt light headed and dizzy but nothing extreme. I noticed in these two weeks that the hearing in my right ear wasn't what it was and decided to go to my GP.

The GP said that my ear canal was irritated and prescribed me Otomize which was useless, it did nothing. About a month later I went back to another GP and was told that I had a fluid build up behind my ear drum; she explained that this would be causing me to feel feverish and the fluid build up would prevent sound getting through to my brain as it should. She prescribed me with Otovent (a balloon that is inflated by the nostril to pop the ear, it's used commonly for Glue Ear) and Amoxicillin. I was skeptical about the combo treatment, but it worked (although I'm convinced it was the Amoxicillin!). I was relieved, and back I went to my normal life for a couple of months, but it came back!

Again back to the GP I go, by this time it's nearing the end of 2017 (another GP this time - you take who you get in my practice) I explained that the Otovent and Amoxicillin seemed to do the trick, but she said everything inside my ear was healthy and thought a decongestant nasal spray was what was needed to sort me out. So I used that for about a month, didn't work. Christmas came and went, I just let the problems go on for months until April 2018 when I went back to the GP (yeh, another new one!) who said he couldn't find anything wrong with my ear and again prescribed me with another nasal decongestant to drain fluid behind my ear drum, he mentioned that Grommet's might be a possibility.

Anyhow, the nasal decongestant DIDN'T WORK again.

I was put on the ENT waiting list to see a consultant at hospital, two weeks ago I finally got my appointment, had the hearing test, the little camera up my nose and the consultant couldn't find anything wrong. The diagnosis was that one of the tiny bones in my middle ear isn't working as it should, and is unfortunately allowing for the exchange of gas and liquid that shouldn't be mixed. It was found that the hearing in my right ear is moderately worse than that of my left 'good' ear, but I didn't need an ENT to tell me that.

I'm going back in six months for a follow up to discuss getting a hearing aid or going down the surgical route which I do not want as he informed me there would be a chance of losing my hearing in the right ear altogether. Just feel so deflated, I'm convinced another dose of antibiotics would have sorted me but each and every doctor has told me otherwise despite it clearing up all the symptoms last year! Don't like to doubt the experts but I feel unsure when each Dr has said something different to be honest.

Apologies for the length of my post - I had to rant and nobody really understands. I'm so over not being able to hear anyone properly, the ringing and the pressure.

 

Welcome and so sorry to hear that all this unfolded right when you have settled into habituation, please be aware that going permanently deaf does not make your tinnitus go away

 

Thank you I know, seems like nothing will make it go away!

 

Welcome! You kind of glossed over the most important part... You have a bone in your middle ear that may not be working right?! And you are developing loss?

I will page @GregCA because he is extremely knowledgeable about that area of the ear.

 

Thank you Kelpiemsp. Yes, I notice my hearing loss more when I'm in groups of people, it's awful if people are to the right of me so I'm always trying to sit with my left ear leaning in! Yes, a bone in my middle ear, the Consultant mentioned otosclerosis but I felt like he was kind of guessing. Maybe I should have more faith in my doctors!

 

Thanks @kelpiemsp !

You mentioned you had a hearing test done. Would you be comfortable sharing it in here (you can blank out your personal info if you are concerned)?

There's a few tests that can hint at otosclerosis, but as far as I know nothing short of exploratory surgery can give a final diagnosis.

What's a bit surprising to me is the history you are describing, where you had relief from amoxicillin + otovent. I'm not sure how an ossicle problem would be resolved with that.

Did you do any Weber/Rinne fork test? Info here: https://www.healthline.com/health/rinne-and-weber-tests

If ossicle issues are suspected, you may want to talk to your doctor about doing a high resolution CT scan to get a better look at them. If there are otosclerotic foci, they may be visible on the CT images.

Good luck

 

Hi Greg

Thanks for your response! I don’t have a copy of the results of my hearing test, I will enquire at my medical practice to find out if this is something they can print off for me and I will gladly share.
That’s exactly why I’m sceptical of the assumed diagnosis, I’m convinced it’s some sort of middle ear infection and that the medics are missing something, it’s the only reason I can think that the Amoxicillin completely sorted me out last year!
Thanks a lot for the links to the tests, I’ve never heard of those so going to have a good read of that now. And also thanks for the info on CT scans!
Andrew

 

There can also be coincidences, so having multiple data points can help. For example, it would be useful to have a couple of hearing tests done when you do not have any ear infection in order to determine if you have any conductive hearing loss that isn't due to the pus/goo in the middle ear from the infection.

Good luck!