Member- Apr 14, 2016
- 4,604
- Tinnitus Since
- 03/2016
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Otosclerosis
Hello fellow sufferers,
At the end of January, after taking a shower, I noticed that my right ear was plugged or full. I didn't think much of this and shook my head to remove the water from the ear, but that did not work.
Then I used some ear drops, because I thought it was ear wax that I needed to remove. After a treatment of a few days without any results, I made an appointment with my Primary Care Physician.
The Primary Care Physician sent me to an Ear Neck Throat doctor, and they performed a hearing test. The audiogram showed a significant loss in the low frequencies and I was diagnosed with Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss, which is a problem in the inner ear. I did not have any balance problems at all, and had no pain. No Air-Bone-Gap.
The doctors started a treatment with Prednisone (corticosteroids), as well as asking me to follow a diet without salt, caffeine, chocolate, alcohol.
After the 2 week treatment, a new hearing test was performed, and there was no improvement, then the doctor ordered an MRI to see if I had a tumor. The MRI came clean thankfully, so the doctor said that by process of elimination she thought I had "endolymphatic hydrops", and told me to "wait and see with the new diet" to find out if it was getting better or worse with time.
Because treatments of the inner ear lose effectiveness if they are done late, I did not want to "wait and see" and asked for a second opinion. I saw another doctor, and she didn't have any other idea, so she gave me a diuretic (Dyazide) to help with "endolymphatic hydrops".
As I started taking the diuretic, a new symptom appeared and I now has strong ringing in my ear that never goes away. Welcome T!
It could have been a coincidence, but I stopped taking the diuretic, and started panicking as it felt like it was there to stay.
I asked to see my doctor again urgently, and she prescribed Valium to take when I feel anxiety or to sleep, and told me to learn to cope with it.
Not happy with a set of doctors who were just treating symptoms rather than try to root cause, I went to a very well known ENT doctor/surgeon (people fly in from all over the world to do surgery with him). It wasn't covered by my medical insurance, but health has no price, so I went out of pocket on this.
He gave me an intratympanic shot of steroids, and asked me to get a CT Scan.
One week later, we checked my hearing. And now, surprise surprise, I have a massive Air Bone Gap, which was not present at all on the audiograms 4 weeks earlier. 40 dBs ABG in 4 weeks... kind of unheard of. None of the doctors can explain it.
Looking at the CT scan, this famous surgeon thinks he can see potential hints of otosclerosis (that nobody else could - but again, he's a well known expert in the field), and says I can undergo a stapedotomy to correct the ABG, but that it may not be worth it to me if my main bother is Tinnitus, as the chances of success are much lower (~50% he says).
From that point on, I did 3 more audiograms and all of them confirmed that I have a massive ABG in the low frequencies. And the 3 audiograms I did a month prior showed none of that.
I still have a hole in my eardrum from the steroid shot - I wonder if that can account for such a large ABG. It's not healing well (still there after 2 weeks).
So here I am, still in the "I'm freaking out" period, and wondering if I should undergo stapedotomy. There are risks associated with it that scare me a lot. I have no balance issues, and would hate to make my situation worse with surgery. The inner ear is very delicate.
Now to add more "fun" to the mix, I am now feeling hyperacusis in both ears (even in my left - the "perfect" one) which makes it difficult to try to mask T as I can't really listen to anything except very low volume. Typing this post on my keyboard hurts my ears. My doctor says H is normal with otosclerosis and that surgery should get rid of it.
Just like everyone else on this forum, my life has been turned upside down since this ear issues started. I feel the same hopelessness, helplessness and panic as everyone else. I am in my early 40s, married, and with the perfect 2 year old daughter.
For some reason I have the impression that the T is getting worse by the day. Maybe it's because of otosclerosis, which never stops making progress. Maybe it's a hint that I should pull the trigger on the surgery and take my chances.
My T is a mid-pitch tone with a lower pitch tone modulated by heart pulsations. The mid-pitch tone is so loud that it kind of masks the lower pitch tone. None of the hearing aids I've tried can mask my T (even when the technician cranked it up to the max).
And then something really weird happened today. I was at a mall where my daughter goes to Gymboree, and waiting for her in the main aisle where they have seats/sofas. Out of nowhere comes this little asian lady who leans on me and says "do you believe in Jesus Christ?". I ask her "Why are you asking me this now?". Then she leaves, but before doing so, she tells me "Believe and you will be saved!". That freaked me out a little!
Thanks for reading thus far. Good luck to all.
-- Greg
At the end of January, after taking a shower, I noticed that my right ear was plugged or full. I didn't think much of this and shook my head to remove the water from the ear, but that did not work.
Then I used some ear drops, because I thought it was ear wax that I needed to remove. After a treatment of a few days without any results, I made an appointment with my Primary Care Physician.
The Primary Care Physician sent me to an Ear Neck Throat doctor, and they performed a hearing test. The audiogram showed a significant loss in the low frequencies and I was diagnosed with Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss, which is a problem in the inner ear. I did not have any balance problems at all, and had no pain. No Air-Bone-Gap.
The doctors started a treatment with Prednisone (corticosteroids), as well as asking me to follow a diet without salt, caffeine, chocolate, alcohol.
After the 2 week treatment, a new hearing test was performed, and there was no improvement, then the doctor ordered an MRI to see if I had a tumor. The MRI came clean thankfully, so the doctor said that by process of elimination she thought I had "endolymphatic hydrops", and told me to "wait and see with the new diet" to find out if it was getting better or worse with time.
Because treatments of the inner ear lose effectiveness if they are done late, I did not want to "wait and see" and asked for a second opinion. I saw another doctor, and she didn't have any other idea, so she gave me a diuretic (Dyazide) to help with "endolymphatic hydrops".
As I started taking the diuretic, a new symptom appeared and I now has strong ringing in my ear that never goes away. Welcome T!
It could have been a coincidence, but I stopped taking the diuretic, and started panicking as it felt like it was there to stay.
I asked to see my doctor again urgently, and she prescribed Valium to take when I feel anxiety or to sleep, and told me to learn to cope with it.
Not happy with a set of doctors who were just treating symptoms rather than try to root cause, I went to a very well known ENT doctor/surgeon (people fly in from all over the world to do surgery with him). It wasn't covered by my medical insurance, but health has no price, so I went out of pocket on this.
He gave me an intratympanic shot of steroids, and asked me to get a CT Scan.
One week later, we checked my hearing. And now, surprise surprise, I have a massive Air Bone Gap, which was not present at all on the audiograms 4 weeks earlier. 40 dBs ABG in 4 weeks... kind of unheard of. None of the doctors can explain it.
Looking at the CT scan, this famous surgeon thinks he can see potential hints of otosclerosis (that nobody else could - but again, he's a well known expert in the field), and says I can undergo a stapedotomy to correct the ABG, but that it may not be worth it to me if my main bother is Tinnitus, as the chances of success are much lower (~50% he says).
From that point on, I did 3 more audiograms and all of them confirmed that I have a massive ABG in the low frequencies. And the 3 audiograms I did a month prior showed none of that.
I still have a hole in my eardrum from the steroid shot - I wonder if that can account for such a large ABG. It's not healing well (still there after 2 weeks).
So here I am, still in the "I'm freaking out" period, and wondering if I should undergo stapedotomy. There are risks associated with it that scare me a lot. I have no balance issues, and would hate to make my situation worse with surgery. The inner ear is very delicate.
Now to add more "fun" to the mix, I am now feeling hyperacusis in both ears (even in my left - the "perfect" one) which makes it difficult to try to mask T as I can't really listen to anything except very low volume. Typing this post on my keyboard hurts my ears. My doctor says H is normal with otosclerosis and that surgery should get rid of it.
Just like everyone else on this forum, my life has been turned upside down since this ear issues started. I feel the same hopelessness, helplessness and panic as everyone else. I am in my early 40s, married, and with the perfect 2 year old daughter.
For some reason I have the impression that the T is getting worse by the day. Maybe it's because of otosclerosis, which never stops making progress. Maybe it's a hint that I should pull the trigger on the surgery and take my chances.
My T is a mid-pitch tone with a lower pitch tone modulated by heart pulsations. The mid-pitch tone is so loud that it kind of masks the lower pitch tone. None of the hearing aids I've tried can mask my T (even when the technician cranked it up to the max).
And then something really weird happened today. I was at a mall where my daughter goes to Gymboree, and waiting for her in the main aisle where they have seats/sofas. Out of nowhere comes this little asian lady who leans on me and says "do you believe in Jesus Christ?". I ask her "Why are you asking me this now?". Then she leaves, but before doing so, she tells me "Believe and you will be saved!". That freaked me out a little!
Thanks for reading thus far. Good luck to all.
-- Greg
