Greetings to You All, 24-Year-Old with Strange Tinnitus Story

[martinberryhorse]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking here since I first got tinnitus two and a half months ago.

My tinnitus story is strange to me because I can't find a single story anywhere online where someone got tinnitus and clogged, irritated feeling ears from coughing too hard. (If anybody knows of one I'd love to read it)

On Aug. 5 early morning I was smoking cannabis to help me sleep as I have done for 7 years, I had been overdoing it a little since I finally finished my classes and it caused me to cough very hard, which then resulted it what felt like pushing mucus up into my ears, immediately causing pain, tinnitus, and a feeling of pressure and burning sensation inside my ears. I also noticed my ears are more sensitive to loud noises, and seem to have a muscular reflex to any sharp sounds that wasn't prominent before this.

I quit smoking after this happened.

I went to a GP the next day and she told me I had eustachian tube dysfunction, gave me a 6 day course of prednisolone and told me to see an ENT if it was there in two weeks.

Within a couple days the pain was gone, but ever since there is a sound like little bubbles popping everytime I swallow/yawn/chew, and the tinnitus is still there although it is about 70% quieter since the first couple days, but hasn't changed since the first initial drop in volume. My ears feel stuffy and itchy inside, I've never experienced this feeling before so I'm not sure how best to describe it.

If I hold a yawn the right ear sounds like its unsticking and then finally opens while the left makes a couple sticky sounds but won't open like the right.

My inner ears feel irritated and itchy, kind of like poison oak but milder. I've seen three ENT's, all have said they saw irritation in my nose and throat, one diagnosed me with hay fever so I'm seeing an allergist in a couple days.
I did an audiogram and it showed no hearing loss at all, and then they started telling me it was due to stress, which makes no sense to me because I was happier than I had been in a long time, I had no ear symptoms at all before that one hard cough, besides excess mucus and post nasal drip.

I'll stop there, thanks for reading especially if you got to here. If anyone has any ideas about whats going on I'd love to hear your opinions or experiences. Don't have anyone IRL to talk to about this and every ENT in my area has basically black balled me as a lunatic.

 

[Julien87]

Hello and welcome to this forum.
Those ENTs did not even try to make the connection with the coughing incident? Weird. Anyway, good luck to you friend. I won't be of much help unfortunately, my case is really different.

 

[Backpacker]

It showed no hearing loss at all, and then they started telling me it was due to stress
every ENT in my area has basically black balled me as a lunatic.

Sure they did. It's always easier to say "it's probably due to stress" than "We do not know what happened".
Try to not get any kind of cold for some time to avoid coughing, blowing nose and similar pressure on your ears. Drink some tea, eat some oranges, you know. I would avoid any valsava maneuver kind of pressure for some time.
I don't know what happened. Rare things like oval window or round window fistula that sometimes happen due to excessive straining (like scuba diving or flight barotrauma, weightlifting or childbirth) usually cause some dizziness and/or some hearing loss. But you are not dizzy.
I don't know how to help you either, I can only tell you that there are more of us who got tinnitus in a weird way.

 

[martinberryhorse]

Thank you Julien and Backpacker for your replies, it helps to know someone out there is listening and is willing to respond.

Couldn't believe how dismissive the ENTs were. The first told me it was "age-related hearing loss" and to come back every six months for hearing tests, second one scoffed at that and said it might be caused by the pressure of the coughing, like what you mentioned in your reply Backpacker, and basically agreed with the eustachian tube dysfunction diagnosis after the hearing tests showed no loss, but he seemed like he didn't really know and wasn't interested in finding out.

Third ENT was upset with me from the get go that I had come back for a third opinion, argued with me when I said my ears felt plugged up, snapped at me and said "they're not!" and insisted it was stress that did it. He also told me the first doctor lied to me, and that half of his colleagues would lie to me as well, was really strange like he was the guy they send in to scare patients they don't want away.

BTW a word of warning, he said he had given many of his patients permanent tinnitus from using a vacuum to suck out earwax, so NEVER ever let anyone do that procedure. Of course he still does it to people knowing the damage it causes which worries me.

If they had told me it could take years to go away I could live with that, but being told to go away, don't ask questions and stop coming back really pissed me off, made me feel hopeless.

It's interesting you say don't blow my nose, because sure enough I did very gently a couple days ago and it sent mucus right back up into my left ear, immediately causing pain all over again and a loud squelching sort of sound. Luckily the pain went away within an hour. So you are right on the money with that suggestion.

Also I was mildly dizzy in the first week, got vertigo while running and nearly threw up, but I think that was from the prednisolone because I don't remember anything like that on the first day when I wasn't taking it, and went away after I stopped taking it.

Anyways, thank you both again, you guys lifted my spirits and I actually got a little workout in today.

 

[Andy9214]

I'm having the same issue with clogged ears it's been a few months and the ent keeps saying my ears are clear and look good. It's so frustrating

 

[martinberryhorse]

Hey Andy, that's exactly what happened with me as well.

I had read in some medical journal online that Eustachian tube dysfunction can still be happening when they are not completely blocked but rather just inflamed and/or clogged with mucus. They don't just go from being blocked to completely clear overnight, and the tests they do can't tell them if they are partially blocked.

Do you have a crackling or popping sounds in your ears when you swallow/yawn/chew?

Also do you have nasal congestion? I know I have for the past 5 months and maybe longer, along with allergic rhinitis so it could be allergies keeping the tubes inflamed.

 

[Andy9214]

Another thing that I find super weird - when I drink water, or anything it makes my ears feel really full. Do you have that?

 

[martinberryhorse]

Another thing that I find super weird - when I drink water, or anything it makes my ears feel really full. Do you have that?

It makes the plugged up feeling more noticeable, brings my attention to it, but it doesn't feel like more fluid is going into them. They do make a crackling noise every time I swallow though.

 

[martinberryhorse]

17 months ago I coughed hard and pushed mucus into my eustachian tubes. All my symptoms immediately started then and there.

Pain, burning sensation, stuffed up ears, sensation of water in my ears and of course tinnitus.

No balance issues, headaches, or anything else.

2 months after, the pressure went down a lot along with the tinnitus, tubes began to open enough to equalize pressure though very poorly and with great effort on my part to open them with my jaw. Pain and burning gone, and only returned maybe three times and for no longer than a day.

Now 17 months into this, I still have congested ears, tinnitus, and pressure issues when going up or down hills, though it is much less than before. Very noticeable crackling/bubbles popping sound when I yawn or swallow.

Is it possible that the tubes just need a ton of time to get back to normal? I was a smoker at the onset and I wonder if I coughed ash up into them as well.

For context I am 25, male, two separate hearing tests with no hearing loss at all, and no reason to believe I would have any. I don't use headphones, I don't listen to anything loud, I don't go to concerts, I have never had an ear infection.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Dirtworks]

I'm 58, but suspect of ETD as well perhaps contributing to sudden increase in tinnitus.

My hearing test is tomorrow but I already know from 2 years ago that I have 25-40 dB loss above 2.5 kHz.

Similar to you when it spiked, my ears and actually the whole front of my head felt under pressure. Unlike you though I have had very mild headaches around forehead. I've tried Sudafed and Neti Pot a few times but hadn't suffered from any colds or infections that I'm aware of. The spike was shortly after I quite smoking, drinking coffee and taking 10 mg of Escitalopram daily.

Anyway I have read that a CT scan can be used to detect ETD as well and I hope to find out more tomorrow.

Might a CT be a viable option for you? I'm sure others in this forum would know.