Ear Pain and Pressure Distress

[MJC]

Hi All

I unfortunately damaged my ears thru a work event at a Club 8 weeks ago. As a result I now have tinnitus- the high pitched sound goes up and down during the day and I can handle that part Upto a point. It's the pain, pressure and fullness that is distressing me and making me panic.

The pain alternates between the left and right ears - like needle pricks. The fullness and pressure is constant and is worse during the evening and morning. As a result I have this pressure at the back of my skull and neck below ear area - it's difficult to function on a day to day basis.

My GP gave me beconase nose spray and said wait to see the ENT hospital doctor. It has not helped.

Has anyone experienced this? Is this really normal from loud music damage?
I'm so scared it won't go away soon.
I feel like I'm going crazy.

I am waiting for an appt with the ENT NHS UK Doctor .

I hope to God that my ears will heal quickly. I've had so much bad luck with my health

Thanks

 

[billie48]

Welcome MJC to TT. Don't panic. Your condition is quite normal for acoustic trauma victim. In fact the ear fullness, pain and T morphing from this to that are all reported all over the place from new T sufferers. These will settle down. If your ENT declares that there is no problem with the ears, the Eustachian Tube, or that there is inflamation but it will heal after a while, then don't worry about the different curve balls T will throw at you. It will settle down like most people reported. Right now, your anxiety and fear are caused by the body not knowing what and how to deal with these alien sensations. The body perceives that there is unknown danger which it can't run away from. So it naturally reacts in stress and fear, the so called fight or flight. Your nerves may be under the control of the limbic nervous system at this stage, which tends to amplify every irritating sensation and then zoom on it. It is trying to detect danger to alert you to be ready for fight or flight. The body is just doing its things to protect you.

Given time and if you stay positive and relax about it, the normal parasympathetic nervous system will return and you will be much better able to handle your emotions and the fears. So do whatever to reduce stress and anxiety. You can reduce stress by doing some relaxing exercises, such as stretching, abdominal breathing, leisure walking, outdoor, sports etc. You should also try to read up as many success stories as you can, to know that people do get better over time and the recovery will be faster if you find some effective strategies which work for you. This will in turn reduce your anxiety and fear for T and for the future. In the mean time, if masking can help you, do consider using it as much as possible. Knowing that something can block T will give you some sense of control over T and this will reduce your anxiety for it. If all else fail, use meds as a last resort for short term control of the acute anxiety. Here is TT's own thread for new sufferers and it comes with masking sounds:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/panic/

p.s. if you have question(s) about any response by posters, you can tag them by putting a @ in front of their poster name so they will be alerted about your questions.

 

[MJC]

@billie48
Thanks for your mssg! Really appreciate it.
I just got back from seeing a UK NHS doctor
at the ENT department - he dismissed my pain and pressure in my ears and said it is probably skeletal and Muscular pain. He said he couldnt see anything from the examinations.The hearing loss test showed nothing and the pressure test showed nothing - despite the lady doing the hearing/pressure tests said that there could be fluid behind the ears.

I explained to the doctor that from reading from other people's experiences on this forum that the pain and fullness was quite common. He dismissed me. He said I should not go into noisey places, or clean my ears with earbuds and that I need to learn relaxation techniques and seems to be a tense issue than ear damage.

He discharged me straightaway after 1 hour.

Really upset and don't know what to do.

 

[billie48]

Sorry to hear that you have a bad experience with your ENT. What else is new with ENT in regards to tinnitus. They usually don't have a clue. The best they can say is 'learn to live with it'. My ENT is worse. He added a 'death sentence' on top of the 'live with it' verdict. He said the only way he could stop my ringing was to shot me. Gosh! What kind of counselling training these ENTs received in medical school? The best thing we can do about ENTs is to make sure they check the ears to rule out medical problem, such as structural issue on ear drums, Eustachian Tube, fluids, inflammation, hearing loss etc. Perhaps ask them for a course of steroid if they are inclined to prescribe it. Looks like your ENT is not very inclined to help you on the tinnitus side of thing. Can you get another ENT referral for 2nd opinion, or ask him for referral to audiologists more specialized for tinnitus? If the ENTs can rule out you have medical issues with the ears, then perhaps rest your heart that things will settle down after a while like most people do. While you wait out, you can consider masking and doing something interesting such as hobbies or exercise to distract from T. All the best.

 

[truesilence]

@billie48
Thanks for your mssg! Really appreciate it.
I just got back from seeing a UK NHS doctor
at the ENT department - he dismissed my pain and pressure in my ears and said it is probably skeletal and Muscular pain. He said he couldnt see anything from the examinations.The hearing loss test showed nothing and the pressure test showed nothing - despite the lady doing the hearing/pressure tests said that there could be fluid behind the ears.

I explained to the doctor that from reading from other people's experiences on this forum that the pain and fullness was quite common. He dismissed me. He said I should not go into noisey places, or clean my ears with earbuds and that I need to learn relaxation techniques and seems to be a tense issue than ear damage.

He discharged me straightaway after 1 hour.

Really upset and don't know what to do.[/QUOTE

Try to a an appointment at the Royal National Ear Nose and Throat Hospital. I found the ENT very helpful. He really listened to me and put me at ease.