Newbie to These Imaginary Sounds!

[NadiaMayl]

Hi everyone!
As most of us, I'm here thanks to my friend, the funny brain who has decided to tap into his new career of imaginary sound machine creator! Talented bugger!

I think it all started in April or May, with a VERY soft sound coming from my ear, I only noticed when in silence ... oh how I wish it'd go back to those days. I didn't think much of it. Around the same time, my allergies started acting up and I started getting the feeling of fullness in my ears, muffled hearing, slimy gooey soft tissue in my nasal areas (not really a runny nose), worth mentioning I've been getting allergy shots since December.

Around that time also, I got a hard hit on the face with a soccer ball at my kid's practice. It was a hard one, saw birds and stars, but didn't lose consciousness or anything, and I recovered from the shock of getting hit after a few minutes.

In August, I was on the couch watching tele and I noticed I couldn't hear well if I laid on my left ear, and I discovered my right ear wasn't picking up sounds as well as the left. Again, I chucked it up to allergies.

Come September, Harvey hit Houston, and the week after, the ringing turned manic, loud, crickets, cicadas, horrid.
ENT saga commences... audiology shows 40 decibels loss in right ear. Scope shows swelling of tissue, Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. Ear tube inserted. Steroids and antibiotics, decongestants, nasal sprays plus Allegra.... nothing... CT scan of nasal was clean. Autoimmune Disease tests negative. MRI clean. ENT had said maybe surgery of middle ear to fix middle ear bones, in case they're fused or so. Tinnitus rings change over time, like everyone's. Chirps, squeaks, whirls, swooshes, etc. Some days it's 'maskable', others not so much... loud.

Two days ago, last ENT visit, and he has backtracked from idea of surgery, threw his hands up in the air, said I'd be better off with hearing aids for loss and T. Scope showed swelling went down, Eustachian Tube looked fine, he took ear tube out. Ringing has gotten super loud since... I HOPE ringing will go back down after eardrum heals.

I've been relatively good with all the coping, hope, masking with nature sounds, etc... but this new increase in sound has got me a bit beat up!
Has anyone experienced an increase in ringing after ear tube removal or ruptured eardrum?

Anyway, I'm also looking for recommendations for audiologist, specialists in TRT, neurotolgy, or second opinion in the Houston area.

Thanks everyone, if you've managed to read the entire story!

 

[GregCA]

audiology shows 40 decibels loss in right ear

ENT had said maybe surgery of middle ear to fix middle ear bones, in case they're fused or so.

If your middle ear bones were fused, then the losses would show a prevalent conductive component. Is that the case?

 

[NadiaMayl]

If your middle ear bones were fused, then the losses would show a prevalent conductive component. Is that the case?

He summarized as persistent conductive hearing loss... this is the summary of last visit:
"previously said she had immediate benefit subjectively after PET placement, however this benefit was not present within several hours of the PET. Audiogram shows a similar CHL after PET. The tuning forks supported a conductive hearing loss. We reviewed the audiogram. The story is quite confounding as she had a relatively sudden (or at least what she perceived as sudden) R ear hearing loss. She was hit in the face with a soccer ball around this time but can't correlate the trauma with the hearing loss. She had a type A tympanogram prior to the PET and the TM was not hypermobile, so there isn't a clear history to support ossicular discontinuity. No FH of early hearing loss. She received all her vaccines as a child. Given the persistent CHL after PET, this is most likely an ossicular issue. She has no symptoms to suggest a third window effect. ANA was the only + on autoimmune workup. She does not have autoimmune symptoms and the nasopharyngitis has resolved. CT temporal bone is completely normal, without any signs of otosclerosis. I explained that I think she either has otosclerosis or tympanosclerosis that has been chronic/progressive. She likely did not notice an issue with the right ear until the tinnitus started. She is most bothered by the tinnitus at present. We discussed the options of middle ear exploration, likely ossiculoplasty, and tympanoplasty vs hearing aid fitting (with a masker). I've reviewed the likelihood of resolving the hearing problems with the surgery vs the hearing aid. I've emphasized that I doubt surgery will correct the tinnitus. Given that the tinnitus is the most bothersome symptom, she would like to proceed with a hearing aid. PET removed in office. She will return in 1 month for audiogram and ear exam. If there is no perforation, she can proceed to hearing aid consultation
Allergy testing with TENTS with multiple positives. She has obtained records from ENT and Allergy, where she is receiving SCIT. There are 10+ positive allergens on the TENTS testing that are not present on the ENT and Allergy testing. Given the normal sinus on CT scan, I think that she has missed allergens causing the symptoms. Flexible nasopharyngoscopy today did finally show resolution of the nasopharyngeal edema. She has tried multiple medical management strategies 2 doses or oral steroids, INS, azelastine, afrin, oral decongestants. Prior CT sinus was pristine"...

 

[GregCA]

He summarized as persistent conductive hearing loss... this is the summary of last visit

Makes sense. You should know that signs of otosclerosis are not always obvious on CT: it took half a dozen ENT doctors to review my CT scan to finally find one who said "I see some subtle radiolucencies in your CT" (and he was right).
Generally radiologists give their reports after the CT scan happens and doctors just blindly follow it: they read the prose and don't look at the images. Find a doctor who will actually look at the images and make up his own mind about it.
If you do have Otosclerosis you may benefit from fluoride treatments to try to arrest its progression, so it would be nice to have more confidence on whether it's O or not.
If you do have O, surgery (stapedotomy) resolves T in about half of the cases, so it's something else to consider if T is bothering you. I did the surgery more for the T than for the hearing, but I was not fortunate on the T front. I did regain a good chunk of hearing though, so I am happy about that.

Good luck.

 

[NadiaMayl]

Thanks for your response. I am convinced I need a second opinion. I'm 41 years old, the hearing loss came suddenly only a few months ago. I feel there needs to be more investigation into what caused my HL and if it's going to continue deteriorating or if there is a way to fix some of it, without yet considering hearing aids.
The journey, I guess has just begun.

 

[Ritchie]

Ive had T for over 8 years, and it comes and goes in Phases. When I focus on it, it becomes overbearing and hard to forget,, but when I do forget about it then I dont hear it. It's really weird, but you have to try and not make it a 'thing'. I know we all have it to different degrees, but as a professional drummer for 20 years, I think I have a pretty bad case of it.
When it does become loud and upfront,, the best thing to do is to stay calm, not over worry about it and try to forget about it..

I too love nature sounds especially for going to sleep, and have started recording my own as a theraputic excersise/escape.
Ive shared on other Tinnitus forums and quite a few people have been very grateful. So If you find releif in sounds of nature and water etc,, feel free to check out my youtube channel





Good luck!