Does This Sound Like ETD Tinnitus?

[Melina]

Hello everyone!

I've had tinnitus for years, almost 24/7, of varying pitches. It has always been louder in my right ear, and the same ear sometimes has what my ENT called pulsatile tinnitus, but it actually *feels* like thudding/rumbling. The PT started after a plane flight with a cold.

Anyway, I was wondering whether my tinnitus sounds like it could be related to Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. I'll try to describe it best I can.

My tinnitus:

Constant variable high-pitched ringing (both ears, much worse in right) and intermittent PT (right only)
Louder when I pop my ears/open eustachian tube (sometimes I cannot do this)
Louder when my nose is blocked (often, due to allergies)
Able to change pitch when stretching jaw or pressing on bone around ear

I want to mention that my eustachian tubes are weird, or else I've developed a weird habit. Ever since I was a kid, I had to keep them closed/forcefully sucking them in, because everything is just too uncomfortably loud when they are open/popped.

Thanks for any insight

 

[Melina]

Anyone?

 

[Mad maggot]

Wish I could help. Sorry. But I have no experience with this. My tinnitus comes in bursts of around twenty seconds or sometimes up to two minutes. With it I have a vibrating fuzzy feeling in my head and my eyes shake so I cannot focus and see properly. Sometimes I lose my balance and fall. Then it stops and I feel perfectly well again for a minute or five minutes until it starts again. So I go about my day doing what I have to do in the breaks between the noise. So I do t think it's tinnitus in the true sense of the word but no one knows what it is and so I'm here. Sorry I can't comment on your questions. Try again as I'm sure someone here will have some similar experiences as yours.

 

[Melina]

Hi Mad maggot, thanks for replying. I'm sorry to hear about your condition, it sounds tough Have you had your neck muscles assessed by a myotherapist? Issues (i.e. trigger points) with your neck muscles, particularly the sternocleidomastoid muscle, can cause symptoms like tinnitus, dizziness, and balance issues.

 

[Fungus]

Melina, I have ETD (bilateral). It started with a very mild virus infection a year ago. I noticed that I couldn't 'pop' my ears without doing the Valsalva quite hard (sometimes several times) associated with a feeling of intense pressure which eased on popping the ears and intermittent ear pain. When I managed to pop them,sounds immediately became much louder. I developed tinnitus in both ears at the outset, initially quiet and intermittent, developing into a loud and relentless high pitched hiss. Moving my neck and stretching the jaw made /makes it much louder.I always have had trouble with my ears on plane descent and one time I perforated an ear drum on plane descent when I had had a cold.

In January I had grommets with easing of pressure symptoms, tinnitus unchanged and I developed intermittent PT in both ears which sounds like 'whoosh' in time with my heartbeat.I still get that intermittently and notice it most at night.

Maybe you have had ETD for many years.....

Here's hoping things improve.

Fungus.