Went to ENT Yesterday...

So I waited for my ENT appointment for a month. Had tests done by Audiologist, and after 2 hour wait met with ENT.

Audiologist found nothing wrong. No hearing loss, no issue with drums, no issue with cochlea cell response. ENT basically said that he see nothing wrong, but obviously loud noise exposure did some damage. Treat it as any other injury without visible causes - give it time to heal. Reduce or eliminate Coffee, Tobacco, Alcohol, and Stress. I have 1 cup of coffee in the morning, do not use tobacco, drink alcohol very occasionally, and have tons of stress from work right now.

At this point I am 5 weeks in. No visible improvements to my initial tonal tinnitus, but also got static tinnitus, back of the head pressure and pain, and some pulsatile tinnitus on occasion. If my tinnitus will heal this will be a multi-month process.

If you are interested, here are the results from test as written in my chart

AUDIOMETRY: Audiogram Standard Hearing Evaluation (Inserts) revealed, Right - normal hearing; Left - normal hearing; Excellent WR in both ears
Otoscopy / Immittance - Right - Type "A" normal, acoustic reflexes present; Left - Type "A" normal, acoustic reflexes present
Otoacoustic Emissions Diagnostic Evaluation - Right - present and robust across all frequencies; Left - present in the 560-6800 Hz range
Audiovestibular Review:
OAE: wnl on L, wnl on R
TYMPS/ARs: tymps wnl, ARs wnl
Audiogram: normal bilaterally with 100% word recognition score

If anyone is interested, I can attach the actual test graphs and results.

 

Hi @Dmitriy,

Thank you for posting, I have an ENT appointmcnt scheduled for Oct 3, so your post have given me insight into what to expect (which is nice to have a little of the uncertainty eliminated).

Have you considered seeing a neurologist? I have seen that suggested a number of times.

If you have not see this yet, @Bill Bauer wrote the following post discussing studies that show a fairly high recovery rate from tinnitus ( https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/ ). Your tinnitus is still fairly new (I know it does not seem like it, and that the past five weeks probably feel like an eternity), and the study Bill mentions shows that you probably have a good chance of recovery.

Thanks again for posting your experience, I wish you luck and please keep us updated on your progress.

 

@Dmitriy Im sorry that your are still dealing with your T. Hopefully you will start seeing improvements soon! I would be interested in seeing the graph results. I see that your T was the result of gunshot exposure. If I may ask...what kind of gun were you shooting and were you wearing hearing protection?

I'm in the middle of my 6th week since onset. I've seen some improvements. The biggest improvement I've noticed is that I'm reacting less emotionally to my T and I'm able to sleep better.

My T was also the result of shooting (12 gauge shotgun). I saw an ENT on Monday and was told my hearing was normal and that my ears looked fine. He too told me to give it time to heal. I'm going see an Audiologist this coming week.

 

Hi Kolisar,

I mentioned in another post - my friend is a neurologist. She said that unless there are vertigo and balance issues then neurologist will not treat T or possible inner ear issues. Also, forgot to mention that ENT ordered an MRI, just in case.

 

Hi Chris,

I went shooting regular handgun. It was an outdoor range, but it was raining and we moved under metal cover. This is the worst - that metal cover amplifies the gunshot worse then shooting indoors. I felt like it was very loud but not enough to feel physical pain. We shot 2 boxes of ammo and then did some shotgun, but I think by shotgun time the damage was done.

I react less emotionally to T as well. I am kind of studying it and keeping log of what I do, what I eat, etc. Just seeing if there is a pattern. So far, stress is definitely a factor. I've definitely slept better in the past 2 weeks, although sometimes the static noise is so loud at night I have to put some masking on. My bedroom is very quite at night. I hate getting new symptoms as it kind of brings my anxiety back.

I will post my charts later today, will need to scan them. Stay in touch, it seems like you and I have similar background with T.

 

As a young man we always shot without hearing or even eye protection but that was at a time before common sense practices were the norm. I shot for most of my life but since tinnitus have stopped out of concern for making it worse. The good news is any spike is usually a short duration but I still would rather void it all together. In NJ there's no place for outdoor shooting and the indoor ranges are too loud for me even with plugs and muffs.

 

I never expected the outdoor to be so loud, and the metal awning on top didn't help. I was actually wearing little foam plugs, but I guess I didn't insert them fully. I am not even a big fan of shooting, which makes this so much more sad.

 

Graphs are posted below

 

Thank you. I must have missed the other post. I will keep that in mind when I have my ENT in October.

 

@Dmitriy Your hearing looks good! I'm not sure how to read the last one. Your hearing tests look much more in depth than the one I received. I think the audiologist will run a more extensive test.

 

Yes, the audiologist at 1st ENT did only one test. The other ENT I went to supposedly specializes in T and balance issues. Their tests were a lot more comprehensive.