I have ETD and run quite a bit. For an hour after I exercise I feel normal; my ears don't feel clogged etc.
Can I ask you two things please as a fellow ETD sufferer? What does your tinnitus sound like and have you flown since having ETD? Thank you in advance.
My tinnitus can sound different. When it's weak, it's like a rustling, when it's stronger, it's like a sharper hiss, or a combination of both. Some days and sometimes at night it's more like a "morse code" - a higher tone, that regularly changes to a deeper tone and then back. It's not very bad currently. I have not flown since having ETD.
In general my ears don't feel clogged. When my nose completely clogs for a longer period of time, for example at night when I don't notice it, the noise can get very loud afterwards but goes down after a while after unclogging the nose. Sometimes, when there is a imbalance between the opening of the left and right nostril, this can happen: I inhale, and exactly at the point when the inhaling stops and I begin to exhale, I hear a "click" in my left ear. For me, that's a sign, that there is still an imbalance of the pressure in the ear. My doctor said that it's ETD and that it's a cause of my tinnitus. A month ago my right ear felt clogged and strange, and in that ear I had a sharp spike, but it settled down after a few days - when the strange feeling in the right ear also vanished.
When doing sport, like riding the bike, I think it has two effects that muffle my tinnitus: 1. strong inhaling during the sport ventilates my tubes. 2. It raises my blood pressure and pulse.
The second thing is a something that I noticed recently: I have quite low blood pressure and low pulse in general. Low blood pressure over a long period of time is known to cause tinnitus, because the blood doesn't circulate too well. Therefore I currently work on raising my blood pressure.
Today I had a blood draw and beside the general readings I asked for my Vitamin D, Zinc and Potassium levels.
I'll see the result in a few days.