Woke Up to Worse Tinnitus, Hearing Loss, and a Clogged Feeling in the Ears

Hello everyone,

I just had a very bad day. Tinnitus Talk is the only place where I can people who are able to relate. I initially had my tinnitus on my left ear since September 2018. Those first few months were the darkest time in my life. I tried many things that I can possibly find (ENT doctor, supplements, acupuncture, etc.). It wasn't until early 2019 that I finally accepted the fact that I had tinnitus and began getting used to it. I listened to white noise every night and during daytime I also used noise to help me focus on my study. I considered that as my new normal and talked myself into living with that.

Until yesterday when I woke up. My right ear also started to ring. And the ringing has been brought to a higher level. It is so loud that I can't even ignore it when I'm on the street. This time it comes with clogged feeling and some hearing loss. All of those bad memories flooded back like a nightmare. I'm in my mid 20s and graduated recently.

Just when I thought I can start a life with tinnitus that is acceptable, life just won't let you get away with that. I'm scared and helpless. What could I have possibly done wrong?

 

Well consider some damage control first.

Did you see an ENT?

Have you any old audiograms to compare to? Do you have any hearing test apps to compare to? If you can measure legit hearing loss then the ENT will care a bit more.

Getting on a short 2-week course of steroids (tapering SLOWLY on week 2 off) and taking anything that helps enhance circulation (Turmeric, beets, Magnesium) would be a safe bet.

For all you know this could be a temporary spike, but best to not take chances. It's still pretty recent.

If it hasn't gone down by day 3, consider the steroids?

I got worse off of steroids myself, but if I could do it again I still would've done "one" short course, as it did temporarily help.

There's also talk about doing Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, but that's pretty dicey and risky (I did that too).

 

Hey man. Hang in there. It's probably just a temporary spike.

Could be a whole host of things like stress, food, loud noise, TMJ, etc or nothing at all. Easier said then done but don't stress about it. It will make it more apparent.

If it gets to the unbearable point then go see a doctor, ENT, neurologist, psychologist etc. Maybe try Xanax, Gabapentin etc. It helps me at my worst times.

You will be fine and you will get through this. Stay strong.

 

I called the hospital today and they can only assign me with an audiologist first to do the hearing test, even though I'm pretty sure the hearing loss already happened.

Should I go to the emergency room directly?

 

Thanks man. I thought I had overcome this. But there was a second strike, this time even worse.

 

I feel you. I'm going through my second phase too. It's much worse. But we are alive and we will get through this together.

 

STOP typing on here. Get a hearing test app on your phone. Do a test.

If there's a drop (think like 30 dB), then yes go to the ER and say you suddenly lost hearing and have increased tinnitus. You can show them "that" audiogram. Very rarely do people fake that stuff.

If you really have lost hearing, it's not something you want to play with by waiting it out.

 

Actually I just came back from the audiologist. Turns out I have mild hearing loss on low frequencies, 30 dB at 250 Hz, and some on the edge of normal, 25 dB at 500 Hz, 1000 Hz and 4000 Hz. Those are through air conduction.

The hearing through bone conduction was okay. They couldn't find a cause either and had to send me home. I asked if I can take some medication like steroids. He said no, as the wellness on bone conduction indicates that the auditory nerve should be fine.

The doctor told me that the ringing was caused by the hearing loss and the hearing loss might improve in time, which I'm suspicious of.

 

An air bone gap like that developing from you doing nothing is very unlikely, so it's probably something to be followed up that's been there a long time or slowly developed, but obviously not as urgent. Could be contributing.

Yes, they're more or less right. You could still have nerve issues but an eardrum shot of steroids and HBO will likely do nothing then.

 

Right, but even the doctor is not sure about the cause. He only made a guess that there might be some fluids accumulated behind my eardrum. However, this vague assumption is based on that I had a cold or running nose recently. And he also told me there's probably nothing I can do to expedite the process of the fluid going away. I have to let it dissolve itself.

 

A "good" ENT or otologist could endoscope your sinuses and check out your middle ear cavity.

There's also special CT scans one can do to check out the middle ear bones to check on alignment, or if they are spongey.

Keep in mind it's totally possible this air bone gap is normal for your ears, has been around forever and is not actually progressive. There might be something underlying to fix it, but it may have been around for a very long time and tinnitus just "unmasked" what was already there.

Given it's an air bone gap, you have a fair amount of time to check it out, it's not an emergency.

 

Thanks, you sound professional. I did a little research and found that the fluid in the middle ear could lead to hearing loss (hence tinnitus). In this case, I have to open the Eustachian tube and the buildup of fluids can dissolve quicker. Since trying to open the Eustachian tube doesn't seem too hard, I'm going to give it a try and see if that works.

 

Audiograms can also fluctuate a lot. You could have one tomorrow and the hearing loss would appear a lot less.