Pain with Tinnitus & My Left Ear Is Worse... Worried It Might Be Getting Worse

[wagonwheel]

I developed pain in my ears about a year ago which hasn't gone away. I tried drops, syringing & pain killers but nothing made it go away. I am almost positive that the pain came from exposure to loud music. Earlier this year about January I developed tinnitus. One day I woke up with a sound like a high pitched static & it hasn't gone away since. It is like many people the most distressing when trying to sleep or waking up in the morning.

Last night my friend & I went to a bar for a drink. After about 10 minutes a DJ came on & started playing very loud music. After about 5 minutes I left. Today I have noticed that my left ear is very painful and blocked, like I have been on a plane & the tinnitus in my left ear seems louder.I have had an MRI scan earlier this week and I am going for a CT scan next week.

The ENT specialist I saw doesn't seem to know what is causing the pain. Do you have any idea what the cause is and will it go away? & can such a short amount of exposure to loud music like I had last night make my tinnitus permanently louder in my left ear?

Thanks in advance

 

[Dr. Nagler]

Hi @wagonwheel -

Wish I could be of help and provide some insight regarding your ear pain - but while I know a fair bit about tinnitus, I do not feel comfortable responding on-line to questions about ear pain.

In terms of your tinnitus, it is hard to say whether or not a short amount of exposure to loud music will permanently increase your tinnitus volume. Likely your tinnitus will settle back down in time - but auditory damage from loud noise is cumulative. It's not the five minutes alone that's potentially the problem; you have to also take into account all the damage from loud noise prior to the five minutes. But as I said, likely it will settle back down given a bit of time.

Dr. Stephen Nagler