- Mar 17, 2018
- 16
- Tinnitus Since
- 02/2018
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Eustachian Tube Dysfunction/Excess fluid
Hello everyone. I'm new to the site, wanted to share my experience with what is possibly Tinnitus to date in hopes it can be used to some of you as a resource or to simply read.
Over this past Thanksgiving of 2017, I was in Spain for a few days. On my return flight back to the states, I noticed that something affected my left ear by the time I landed. It was perfectly fine before takeoff. It felt plugged up behind my eardrum and had a slight feeling of hearing loss. After about a week of hoping it would subside (it did not), I went to the doctor to take a look. Doctor noticed the ear drum had some inflammation and he advised to give it some time to settle back to its regular self. Although it wasn't bothering me, no improvements though.
December and January go by and the slightly plugged feeling is still there. Around beginning of February, ringing in the left ear gradually appeared over a few days (it was real faint the first few days to where it didn't bother me). After that, it finally became very apparent, annoying, agonizing, piercing, you name it. It was virtually impossible to sleep, even if I took sleeping pills such as Zzzquil. It affected me at my job as well. That's when I knew something had to be addressed.
I go to an ear/nose/throat specialist and they noticed a large amount of fluid plugging up the entire left ear. Due to inflammation, the fluid was trapped and kept accumulating. It also looks to be a possible case of ETD. I am prescribed Prednisone (to reduce the inflammation) over a 9 day period, and it was effective. By the time the inflammation subsided, I was able to begin removing fluid day after day by using the steam method, but this requires time and patience to do. Each day, the ringing (tinnitus) reduced little by little as fluid was removed. Taking a maximum power decongestant (like Mucinex D) has helped thin up the fluid and somewhat expedite the draining, as well as temporarily reduce the decibel level of the tinnitus.
I was also informed that during my check up, the doctors let me know that I also developed high blood pressure recently, which has never happened in my life to date. Come to find out, high blood pressure is also a correlation to tinnitus to a degree. It was caused due to excessive consumption of sodium, caffeine, stress, and alcohol.
All of the month of March, I have worked on remedying all of these triggers by changing my diet, staying relaxed, drain fluid daily, drink less coffee/booze, etc. and it has shown improvement as each day passes. Ringing is still there, but it is now manageable, does not affect me as much when I am out socializing, and can sleep longer. There are also a good amount of instances where essentially no ringing is there, but comes back. Sometimes, I forget it's even there. I do another check up with the ear specialist soon to review the progress and possibly look further to see if there is a deeper cause if necessary. Hoping that this doesn't turn into a long term issue. Not out of the woods yet but have found relief.
Thanks for reading.
Over this past Thanksgiving of 2017, I was in Spain for a few days. On my return flight back to the states, I noticed that something affected my left ear by the time I landed. It was perfectly fine before takeoff. It felt plugged up behind my eardrum and had a slight feeling of hearing loss. After about a week of hoping it would subside (it did not), I went to the doctor to take a look. Doctor noticed the ear drum had some inflammation and he advised to give it some time to settle back to its regular self. Although it wasn't bothering me, no improvements though.
December and January go by and the slightly plugged feeling is still there. Around beginning of February, ringing in the left ear gradually appeared over a few days (it was real faint the first few days to where it didn't bother me). After that, it finally became very apparent, annoying, agonizing, piercing, you name it. It was virtually impossible to sleep, even if I took sleeping pills such as Zzzquil. It affected me at my job as well. That's when I knew something had to be addressed.
I go to an ear/nose/throat specialist and they noticed a large amount of fluid plugging up the entire left ear. Due to inflammation, the fluid was trapped and kept accumulating. It also looks to be a possible case of ETD. I am prescribed Prednisone (to reduce the inflammation) over a 9 day period, and it was effective. By the time the inflammation subsided, I was able to begin removing fluid day after day by using the steam method, but this requires time and patience to do. Each day, the ringing (tinnitus) reduced little by little as fluid was removed. Taking a maximum power decongestant (like Mucinex D) has helped thin up the fluid and somewhat expedite the draining, as well as temporarily reduce the decibel level of the tinnitus.
I was also informed that during my check up, the doctors let me know that I also developed high blood pressure recently, which has never happened in my life to date. Come to find out, high blood pressure is also a correlation to tinnitus to a degree. It was caused due to excessive consumption of sodium, caffeine, stress, and alcohol.
All of the month of March, I have worked on remedying all of these triggers by changing my diet, staying relaxed, drain fluid daily, drink less coffee/booze, etc. and it has shown improvement as each day passes. Ringing is still there, but it is now manageable, does not affect me as much when I am out socializing, and can sleep longer. There are also a good amount of instances where essentially no ringing is there, but comes back. Sometimes, I forget it's even there. I do another check up with the ear specialist soon to review the progress and possibly look further to see if there is a deeper cause if necessary. Hoping that this doesn't turn into a long term issue. Not out of the woods yet but have found relief.
Thanks for reading.
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