Clogged Ears, Muffled Hearing, Static Noise

[Hman]

Hello,

I have had Eustachian tube dysfunction in my left ear for some years.

Over the past couple of months, I have been under a lot of stress and have experienced panic attacks.

They prescribed Duloxetine, but after a week, I stopped taking it because I needed to go to work and could not function on it.

I stayed off medication for a couple of weeks, but then I developed bad headaches and brain fog, which really scared me.

They then put me on Sertraline. Two weeks in, I woke up in the night with my ears feeling clogged and experienced intense sweating.

During the day, I felt my right ear pop and ring, but the ringing went away. I also noticed that I was becoming sensitive to loud sounds.

Two days later, when I went to bed, my right ear felt extremely sensitive. The next morning, I woke up with ringing in both ears.

A day or two later, I started hearing strange beeping sounds in my ear. My hearing became very muddled, and I was told I have conductive hearing loss in my right ear.

Since then, I have had a ringing in my right ear that fades in and out, along with a whirring sound in my left ear. At its worst, I can hear it in a silent room, but sometimes the sound in my left ear is nonexistent.

However, this is also accompanied by a strange static-like noise that I can only describe as being in my head. Sometimes, it is very loud, though it seems to be getting less frequent. At its worst, I can hear it over the television.

I do feel like there has been some improvement. My ears are no longer muffled, though they still feel slightly clogged. The ringing seems quieter.

I am new to all of this, and it has really frightened me. I love music, and I have to wear hearing protection at work, so I am not sure what the future holds.

Regards

 

[Hman]

10 weeks in:

My left ear is barely noticeable—only sometimes when I focus on it.

The right ear is noticeable in silent rooms. It sounds more like a hiss and sometimes like a dying radio.

The brain buzzing is still there, but I attribute that to stress.

Although it fluctuates, I take the fading as progress. Hopefully, I can get back to cardio exercise, as it seemed to cause flare-ups in the past, but exercise has always been important for my mental health.

 

[momus]

The tinnitus journey is long and doesn't always make sense. But the good news is that tinnitus is variable. It will go up, down, and sideways all on its own. Sometimes it's very loud and bothersome; other times, I can barely hear it. One day, it's easy to drown out with a fan; other times, that doesn't work at all.

I had panic attacks when I first got tinnitus too. Just walking down the street felt unsettling because I might suddenly start crying or get a panicky feeling that was very, very uncomfortable.

 

[Hman]

I feel that, mate. Struggling with it all today…

I just saw the ENT, and he said it sounds like sudden sensorineural hearing loss. He told me I should have been prescribed steroids, but I was not—and now I am 11 weeks in.

That said, I have already seen massive improvements, aside from the spikes and the head tinnitus. At best, it has reduced to a low hiss in a quiet room.

Is there hope that this will continue to fade?

I have read that improvement can happen over six months.

As mentioned, my hearing loss is only minor.