First time posting
. I've only had mine a short while, but here's what I've noticed:
This morning I woke up at around 4:30AM for no reason whatsoever. What I did notice was that my T was completely GONE. Usually I wake up and it's there. I stayed awake for a solid hour trying to listen for it and it wasn't there. I went back to sleep and it came back in the morning
. I've only noticed this one other time... when I caught a cold the T wasn't there.
I don't think I have the same T as you, but I do suspect that it's "physical" (not in the sense that the body is physical but in the sense that there seems to be a "mechanical" issue).
Since this is my first post I'll share about how I got T. Now I have kept a detailed record with dates, doctor visits, tests, medicines and supplements taken, etc. but I'll try to keep it simple here:
Preliminary:
I got a cold in late January and it passed like any normal cold. However, the week after I went out in a snowstorm to go sledding. In hindsight this was a big mistake as I still had a lingering cough (really bad cough). I suspect I was coughing so hard that I may have pushed the virus into my Eustachian tube in the right ear. I had a feeling of ear "fullness" for the next week or so.
Big Event #1:
Then, one day while driving I just couldn't pop my ear by opening my jaw and exhaling (which is my usual method) so I decided to Valsalva. As soon as my right ear pressurized, my field of vision started slowly rotating clockwise. It continued for about 45 degrees until my vision came back to normal. Suffice it to say this freaked me out and my heart started racing. It was a good thing I was coming to a stop! Anyway, I felt woozy for about 3 hours but I felt good afterwords.
Big Event #2
A couple of weeks later, I drove through the mountains to visit someone. The day after, on the drive home, the ear fullness in my right ear was killing me and the jaw-clearing method wasn't working. I was too afraid to do the Valsalva after what had happened before so I kept straining my jaw trying to clear my ear. I took a pit stop at a local grocery store for a bathroom break and I immediately felt "off" in the grocery store. Perhaps it was the intense visual stimulus combined with the ear blockage that made me feel "dizzy." However, it wasn't a spinning or boat sensation dizzy. I can't describe it. I had to get a passenger to drive shortly afterward because I couldn't take it. While I was sitting in the back of the car, I had an intense tingling sensation in my head and some ringing.
That night I had my father (a physician) check my ear. He said it was "red" and told me to take some Claritin.
Big Event #3
I took Claritin (10mg/day) for about 4 days. I continued life as normal. One day, while driving about an hour, I noticed a "tingling" sensation emanating from my chest and then spreading radially throughout my body. Additionally, my mouth immediately went dry and I couldn't spit any saliva. I had never had this feeling before and it happened a couple more times before I decided to check myself into the ER (I was away from home and a physician I trusted so). Mind you, I've never gone to the ER for anything. Usually when I'm feeling unwell I just wait it out. However, this was so novel and different that I was freaking out a little. At the ER I couldn't really describe what was happening so I told them I was feeling "dizzy" or "faint." They did an EKG and it turned out fine. I mentioned that I was taking Claritin and the doc said that Claritin can have a dehydrating effect and told me to stop taking it. So I did and it took about 2-3 days to get out of my system.
Big Event #4 - This is the most crucial
Two weeks went on and I continued life as normal. The ear fullness did return after the Claritin wore off but I just assumed it would go away. However, one day I had to wake up early for work (6AM). Usually I don't wake up until 7:30 or 8ish. Everything was fine until about 3 or so when I had to drive for about an hour. After about an hour of driving, I immediately started to feel clogged up and it seemed like my brain was "dimming down." Hard to describe but it was terrible. The next day I felt somewhat better but I haven't felt the same since.
Since this day I have had mild headaches everyday (just above my right temple), ear pressure/fullness, and a weird "brain fog" feeling (I just feel "off"). My right ear (and now my left one too) are extremely sensitive to pressure changes and pop when I swallow following an elevation change. For instance, if I drive up a small hill and swallow, my ears will pop.
I saw an ENT the next day and he checked my ear, did a benign vertigo test, and everything came out fine. I also had a hearing test done and it came out "normal."
Onset
The headaches weren't going away so I saw a GP (not my father) to get an independent opinion. He suspected that it might be leftover inflammation from my recent upper respiratory infection in January. He told me to take 400mg of ibuprofen 3x/day for 10 days.
This may have been the trigger for T, I'm not sure... Anyway, the ibuprofen was sort of helping, but not really. I never felt that the headaches really went away like they normally do when you take a tylenol or a motrin.
I also saw a neurologist. He did the basic neurological exam and determined that there was nothing to worry about on the brain front.
After the 10 day of taking ibuprofen I woke up the next morning with a high-frequency ringing in my right ear and it has not gone away since (with a few exceptions).
Aftermath
I saw the ENT again and he wanted to wait it out. I mentioned the ringing but he gave me the usual "well 10% of people have it" line. I also saw the neurologist again and he suspected that my Eustachian tube was causing my headache. My ENT said my Eustachian tube was fine (although I still think it's not fully recovered). I did catch another cold and I noticed that the T was gone during the cold, which leads me to suspect ETD instead of ototoxicity...
Tests
I have had the following tests:
blood = everything normal, with a slightly elevated liver enzyme (ALT was ever so slightly higher than normal range)
ANA = to test for Sjogren's and other autoimmune diseases (came out normal)
Lyme = negative
Epstein Barr = no recent infection, although I have been exposed at some point in my life
MRI = normal
multiple tympanograms = all normal (hovering around "zero" with usually +5 or -5)
examination by ENT = fine
neurological examination = fine
dental examination = didn't suspect TMJ, but did say there was "some" clenching signs (I don't suspect this)
Present
I decided to tackle the issue as if it were ETD. I've been using a steroid nasal spray (generic flonase) for almost two weeks now and I started taking Claritin again for about a week now. Instead of taking the full 10mg, I've been splitting it into 5mg in the morning and 5mg later in the day to avoid the "jittery" feeling that can come with Claritin. I don't know whether it's been the nasal spray (which I've been aiming directly at the back of the nose to target the Eustachian tube) or the Claritin, but my headaches have pretty much gone away. So has the "brain fog" feeling as well as a reduction in the need to pop my ears.
This is what leads me to believe that my Eustachian tube may not have fully recovered and this may be causing my T. Of course it may have been the high doses of ibuprofen, but my T went away when I caught a cold after onset. Additionally it disappeared this morning.
One more thing... I haven't been able to produce thick mucus or boogers since the end of February. I used to be able to pick my nose (whether wet or dry) and I would always get some sort of "green" stuff. Now, if I'm lucky, I'll get clearish wet mucus. I can no longer hock a loogie for the life of me. Not sure how this connects but I'm sure that it's connected. Whatever happened to me, it has decreased my mucus production and it feels weird.
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