Eustachian Tube Dysfunction — When My Ears Are More Open and Painless, My Ringing Is MUCH Worse

[CrystalB]

My ENT diagnosed me with Eustachian Tube Dysfunction.

My ears will feel full and hurt most of the time.

What is weird is that when my ears feel more open and not hurt my ringing is SO much louder and unbearable than when my ears feel so full. I'm so confused?

I got to the point where I thought I was helping myself by using nose spray to open up my ears and Eustachian Tube exercises where I pop my ears by holding my nose or chewing gum.

But now I'm at the point where I would rather my ears feel extremely full and painful than to have to deal with louder tinnitus.

Has anyone ever heard of that? Has anyone ever experienced something like that?

 

[Red]

Yes. I've been having eustachian problems recently. Had a spike from a car horn and that same night my ear clogged. (It clogged because I rubbed my ear, not from the sound) It was clogged for a while. Maybe a week. When it temporarily unclogged it was louder! I was actually relieved when it clogged back up. Yesterday it unclogged to quiet T, thank god and it has remained there.

But my T is reactive and since my H increased, unstable. It does weird things.

 

[CrystalB]

Yes. I've been having eustachian problems recently. Had a spike from a car horn and that same night my ear clogged. (It clogged because I rubbed my ear, not from the sound) It was clogged for a while. Maybe a week. When it temporarily unclogged it was louder! I was actually relieved when it clogged back up. Yesterday it unclogged to quiet T, thank god and it has remained there.

But my T is reactive and since my H increased, unstable. It does weird things.

I would figure my ears feeling full and painful would make my tinnitus louder but it's the opposite, Very weird! Is your tinnitus from Eustachian tube or is it noise induced?

 

[JohnAdams]

Yes. I've been having eustachian problems recently. Had a spike from a car horn and that same night my ear clogged. (It clogged because I rubbed my ear, not from the sound) It was clogged for a while. Maybe a week. When it temporarily unclogged it was louder! I was actually relieved when it clogged back up. Yesterday it unclogged to quiet T, thank god and it has remained there.

But my T is reactive and since my H increased, unstable. It does weird things.

To me this seems like some sort of synaptic dysfunction or damage that is on the line between damage and health. Anyone else agree or disagree?

 

[Red]

I would figure my ears feeling full and painful would make my tinnitus louder but it's the opposite, Very weird! Is your tinnitus from Eustachian tube or is it noise induced?

Noise induced. My worsened H could be from it though? Unsure. I'm not having pain. Just the clog makes it harder to hear in the left. It came back after I posted because I rubbed my ear. I had my ears cleaned just two months ago so don't think it's ear wax but also can't say officially.

Anyway, maybe it's not actually louder unclogged? Could be that the tone becomes more unappealing.

 

[Denny]

Lot of times ENT's and Doctors will give a diagnosis and not really know what it really is??
Years ago one ENT send me to a neurologist. The Neurologist sent me to another ENT. In the
end none of them could help much. I had used flonase did not seem to make much of a difference
Is the nasal spray helping?? Did he give any steroids?? Any difference in the T??

 

[Zeneth]

Maybe your tinnitus is just really reactive?

 

[Samir]

What was that diagnosis based on exactly? What does your tympanogram look like for example?

It's very difficult to make any sense of these symptoms. I'm told that only medical doctors are able to make sense of this all... which... I highly doubt. If you want to come closer to the truth of nature you have to base your work on hard, evidence based science, not on hearsay or "experience" (experienced physician, i.e. one that has seen many such cases).

What is weird is that when my ears feel more open and not hurt my ringing is SO much louder and unbearable than when my ears feel so full.

Reactive tinnitus does come to mind... assuming that there is such a thing. I can see why you feel confused; it's counter-intuitive. Intuition is not always right...

 

[CrystalB]

Lot of times ENT's and Doctors will give a diagnosis and not really know what it really is??
Years ago one ENT send me to a neurologist. The Neurologist sent me to another ENT. In the
end none of them could help much. I had used flonase did not seem to make much of a difference
Is the nasal spray helping?? Did he give any steroids?? Any difference in the T??

I stopped the nasal spray after maybe 3 months using, and in the second month after my tinnitus started my ENT gave me prednisone. It didn't change much. I know about a couple of weeks into the nasal spray when I would spray a certain way and pop my ears as I was using the spray. There have been maybe two to three times after I used the spray when my tinnitus was almost completely gone for a little while.

I kept doing that but it didn't work every time and I just gave up.