- Sep 4, 2016
- 12
- Tinnitus Since
- 07/2016
- Cause of Tinnitus
- treatment of a long term ear infection with antibiotics
Ok so my story is long and very specific so I'll run down the whole history, as briefly as possible in bullets points, and as we get into more recent territory ill give more detail.
-I've had ear problems since childhood. ear tubes multiple times
-I don't remember having any problem through high school and college (14-21) im now 26. My left ear may have lost some hearing but i never really noticed.
-when i was 22 travelling abroad I developed a smelly mucous on my left ear drum, no pain, slightly reduced hearing. I cleaned is once or twice a day with tissue or cotton swab and all was well, no problem.
-from then till now i've tried a few rounds of treatment for it but since it really didn't bother me when they didn't work (ciprodex) and others i just lived with it.
RECENT july 2016
-i decided to try again full treatment with ciprodex drops and cephuroxime oral i had my wisdom toop on the left side pulled around this time too but that could mean nothing.
- i finished the round of treatment but felt like my ear was full and still infected, i had reduced hearing and ringing (600hz) which i had not had before treatment. I went to my ENT who told me i had a 15DB loss in my left ear (which i may have always had but now its noticeable) He basically told me the ringing is permanent and that i might have otosclerosis or a tumor or cholestotoma or who knows... there was not fluid or signs of infection. didn't even book any imaging.
AND THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS
at this point I'm devastated, can't be in quiet rooms (hated going to my parents house for family dinners) needed to sleep with a fan on. needed to have white noise surrounding myself all day. I didnt handle it well emotionally at all.
Thankfully i live in toronto with access to multiple opinions, I managed to dig up my childhoom ENT DR. Alma Smitheringale (she's amazing) and thankfuly happy to see her now adult patients, i did feel silly bringing my mother to see her in a rom full of 5 year olds and their parents but she insisted.
she concluded the same, no signs of infection, no fluid in ear, hearing loss was sensorineural (other doc declared it mechanical)
booked a CT scan (nothing)
i booked a third opinion who noted he saw a "neo memberane" on my ear drum and booked an MRI which i had one week ago now, I'm seeing him today to discuss the results.
oddly enough for the past 3 months on and off i HAVE HAD DISCHARGE!!! Doctors haven't seen it for some reason but I have see it, pull it out, smell it touch it, and even taste it if so inclined. lately the discharge has been more consistent (very similar to how it was for the 5 years it didn't bother me). so now, a week after my MRI my hearing is back, the feeling of fulness gone, and the ringing pretty much non existent... i almost cried, I'ev never appreciated my health so much as I do now. I'm writing this tentatively because who knows if it's really better, or im just having a good week. It doesn't matter, improvement is always good.
After 5 months, my life is back to normal. I saw a lot of numbers like 3-6 months means its chronic tinnitus etc...
I guess the point of my story is for anyone in a similar position to have some hope. I really thought it was not going to get any better... and then all of a sudden it did after 5 months.
please message me or comment with any questions. Ive learned a lot in the past few months about ototoxic drugs and anatomy (all three ENT's are very sick of me at this point)
I'm sorry if your suffering and your situation is different. the only advice I have is take stock of what you have, and keep living life like everything will be fine, because one day soon it might well be.
-I've had ear problems since childhood. ear tubes multiple times
-I don't remember having any problem through high school and college (14-21) im now 26. My left ear may have lost some hearing but i never really noticed.
-when i was 22 travelling abroad I developed a smelly mucous on my left ear drum, no pain, slightly reduced hearing. I cleaned is once or twice a day with tissue or cotton swab and all was well, no problem.
-from then till now i've tried a few rounds of treatment for it but since it really didn't bother me when they didn't work (ciprodex) and others i just lived with it.
RECENT july 2016
-i decided to try again full treatment with ciprodex drops and cephuroxime oral i had my wisdom toop on the left side pulled around this time too but that could mean nothing.
- i finished the round of treatment but felt like my ear was full and still infected, i had reduced hearing and ringing (600hz) which i had not had before treatment. I went to my ENT who told me i had a 15DB loss in my left ear (which i may have always had but now its noticeable) He basically told me the ringing is permanent and that i might have otosclerosis or a tumor or cholestotoma or who knows... there was not fluid or signs of infection. didn't even book any imaging.
AND THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS
at this point I'm devastated, can't be in quiet rooms (hated going to my parents house for family dinners) needed to sleep with a fan on. needed to have white noise surrounding myself all day. I didnt handle it well emotionally at all.
Thankfully i live in toronto with access to multiple opinions, I managed to dig up my childhoom ENT DR. Alma Smitheringale (she's amazing) and thankfuly happy to see her now adult patients, i did feel silly bringing my mother to see her in a rom full of 5 year olds and their parents but she insisted.
she concluded the same, no signs of infection, no fluid in ear, hearing loss was sensorineural (other doc declared it mechanical)
booked a CT scan (nothing)
i booked a third opinion who noted he saw a "neo memberane" on my ear drum and booked an MRI which i had one week ago now, I'm seeing him today to discuss the results.
oddly enough for the past 3 months on and off i HAVE HAD DISCHARGE!!! Doctors haven't seen it for some reason but I have see it, pull it out, smell it touch it, and even taste it if so inclined. lately the discharge has been more consistent (very similar to how it was for the 5 years it didn't bother me). so now, a week after my MRI my hearing is back, the feeling of fulness gone, and the ringing pretty much non existent... i almost cried, I'ev never appreciated my health so much as I do now. I'm writing this tentatively because who knows if it's really better, or im just having a good week. It doesn't matter, improvement is always good.
After 5 months, my life is back to normal. I saw a lot of numbers like 3-6 months means its chronic tinnitus etc...
I guess the point of my story is for anyone in a similar position to have some hope. I really thought it was not going to get any better... and then all of a sudden it did after 5 months.
please message me or comment with any questions. Ive learned a lot in the past few months about ototoxic drugs and anatomy (all three ENT's are very sick of me at this point)
I'm sorry if your suffering and your situation is different. the only advice I have is take stock of what you have, and keep living life like everything will be fine, because one day soon it might well be.
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