Hello everyone, I am new to this forum, and I apologize, and appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my story/concern, as I am seeking to investigate anything/everything that I can do to fix my hearing as I feel that I am losing my life as I know it.
I am a 25-year-old male who has been an avid concert/festival goer, and also musician for over 8 years at this point. Due to COVID-19, I haven't been to a concert/festival since, and well I visited a friend in Pittsburgh this weekend and decided to hit a concert for the first time. I've always been adamant of using my 100 dollar ear protectors after one concert I had a ringing ear for one day, but needless to say, I was reckless that night, wore no earplugs as they were left back at my apartment 3 hours away, blacked out on IPA's beers and according to friends I hung out for awhile at the rail of the concert for maybe close to an hour or a bit over it but not over two hours.
I woke up the next morning, extremely hungover, and with a strange muffled/swimmers ear feeling in my left ear, but I chalked it up to being hungover since I really did not have any ringing associated with this. Throughout the day, I was nauseous, and with full-blown anxiety, but again, I thought I was very hungover, due to blacking out very bad to the point I could not walk or talk correctly according to friends.
I woke up on Monday and this issue was not going away, and I was getting extremely concerned because my nausea, dizziness and muffled ear felt like it was getting worse, so I made an appointment with my PCP for the next following day, this Wednesday, and had this looked at. I appeared to have no visible trauma, no eardrum perforation, no liquid, no infection, but it appeared that the inside of my ear was a bit numb to touch. I was not infected with COVID-19, and Zyrtec did not help whatsoever. I was set up with an ENT visit that same afternoon after this. The ENT found no visible trauma or liquid, and said my hearing test came back normal for the low and mid ranges for both ears, with a very slight decrease on my left. He believed I may have damaged the part of my ear that translates the high noises, given it feels a bit numb and the hair cells may be damaged. He started me on 60 mg of Prednisone per day, and this morning it is my second dose.
I find it that in quiet rooms my ear feels somewhat okay. I do not hear ringing, or feel the fullness all that much. For example, in the mornings in bed as I scroll on my phone, my ear feels somewhat normal, as soon as I get up and begin to head to the bathroom, turn the lights on and grab my toothbrush and paste, I can notice the fullness, meaning sound does this to me. If I do the dishes, or open a bag of chips, it hurts having to hear this with a slight ringing and ear pain such as hyperacusis. If I stay quiet, and read a book or something, I can ignore the fullness, once I talk, I notice the fullness.
I think the strangest thing is that pressing the lobe of my affected ear inside helps the fullness go away for a second and the low volume return to normal sound. The weirdest of it all is that when I do the head tapping recommended for tinnitus, it's almost like nothing is wrong with my ear for a couple of minutes. I know I'm only on my second day of my Prednisone dose, but I feel as if nothing is getting better, and everyday I'm losing more and more hope, and I cannot function at all anymore due to my own stupid mistake.
If you have made it this far, thank you for reading my situation. Does anything in my story resonate with another case or situation that can shed some light on what I could be experiencing? Is there anything I can try to alleviate this? I have heard of mullein oil and supplements that can help, but I'm not sure if taking these while on Prednisone may make my situation worse.
I am a 25-year-old male who has been an avid concert/festival goer, and also musician for over 8 years at this point. Due to COVID-19, I haven't been to a concert/festival since, and well I visited a friend in Pittsburgh this weekend and decided to hit a concert for the first time. I've always been adamant of using my 100 dollar ear protectors after one concert I had a ringing ear for one day, but needless to say, I was reckless that night, wore no earplugs as they were left back at my apartment 3 hours away, blacked out on IPA's beers and according to friends I hung out for awhile at the rail of the concert for maybe close to an hour or a bit over it but not over two hours.
I woke up the next morning, extremely hungover, and with a strange muffled/swimmers ear feeling in my left ear, but I chalked it up to being hungover since I really did not have any ringing associated with this. Throughout the day, I was nauseous, and with full-blown anxiety, but again, I thought I was very hungover, due to blacking out very bad to the point I could not walk or talk correctly according to friends.
I woke up on Monday and this issue was not going away, and I was getting extremely concerned because my nausea, dizziness and muffled ear felt like it was getting worse, so I made an appointment with my PCP for the next following day, this Wednesday, and had this looked at. I appeared to have no visible trauma, no eardrum perforation, no liquid, no infection, but it appeared that the inside of my ear was a bit numb to touch. I was not infected with COVID-19, and Zyrtec did not help whatsoever. I was set up with an ENT visit that same afternoon after this. The ENT found no visible trauma or liquid, and said my hearing test came back normal for the low and mid ranges for both ears, with a very slight decrease on my left. He believed I may have damaged the part of my ear that translates the high noises, given it feels a bit numb and the hair cells may be damaged. He started me on 60 mg of Prednisone per day, and this morning it is my second dose.
I find it that in quiet rooms my ear feels somewhat okay. I do not hear ringing, or feel the fullness all that much. For example, in the mornings in bed as I scroll on my phone, my ear feels somewhat normal, as soon as I get up and begin to head to the bathroom, turn the lights on and grab my toothbrush and paste, I can notice the fullness, meaning sound does this to me. If I do the dishes, or open a bag of chips, it hurts having to hear this with a slight ringing and ear pain such as hyperacusis. If I stay quiet, and read a book or something, I can ignore the fullness, once I talk, I notice the fullness.
I think the strangest thing is that pressing the lobe of my affected ear inside helps the fullness go away for a second and the low volume return to normal sound. The weirdest of it all is that when I do the head tapping recommended for tinnitus, it's almost like nothing is wrong with my ear for a couple of minutes. I know I'm only on my second day of my Prednisone dose, but I feel as if nothing is getting better, and everyday I'm losing more and more hope, and I cannot function at all anymore due to my own stupid mistake.
If you have made it this far, thank you for reading my situation. Does anything in my story resonate with another case or situation that can shed some light on what I could be experiencing? Is there anything I can try to alleviate this? I have heard of mullein oil and supplements that can help, but I'm not sure if taking these while on Prednisone may make my situation worse.