Sudden Louder Tinnitus in Right Ear and Hearing Diminished a Lot

[Rina]

Hello... I'm so scared at the moment.. Around 8 pm tonight I got something similar to fleeting tinnitus on top of my 3 tinnitus I already have... Started to get louder and louder until it did not go away ... My hearing has diminished a lot ... Sounds are distorted.. Ear feels full and stretches.. I'm so I'm a panic mode ... I took klonopin it helped me sleep but a few hours ... Is this sudden hearing loss? I did see the allergy doctor this morning and he put some afrin in my nose.. I suffer from severe sinus and allergies and that helped to clear my nose and ears a lot but now I got this? Was it the afrin? Is this permanent? Anyone has experienced this? Please help

 

[Telis]

Sounds like a blocked up ear, try inhaling steam, chewing gum and yawning. Happens to me a lot, sometimes the pain, plugged feeling and loss of hearing lasts for weeks at a time.

 

[Rina]

Thank you @Telis ... It's 4:10 am here where I live ... I called my Ent .. Thank God he was on call and told me he will see me first thing in the morning, do a hearing test and treat me there ... I'm just overwhelmed... I'm alone with my two kids .. 4 and 2 year olds... I'm not well ... I really how you are right and this just temporary... If this becomes my new normal I don't know how I would cope...

 

[DebInAustralia]

Hi Rina,

What you are describing sounds like a spike. I get the diminished hearing preceding the increase in noise. I have experienced the fullness in the ear too. That sounds like a stress response to your extra noise.

I would say that your spike is related to your sinuses and anxiety. It doesn't sound like SSHL to me.

Can you take a hot bath, breathe in some steam, relax as much as you can, mask, and try to get some sleep. Easier said than done, but im here so if you need someone to talk to, just send me a message.

 

[Leodavinci]

Are you sure your hearing is diminished? Sometimes it seems that way because of the intrusiveness of loud tinnitus but when you put your ear to the test hearing may be unchanged. Try to relax and sleep but if you must test your hearing before your appt with ent - for a quick test hold your ear up against a phone during a call to see if low frequency hearing has changed. Your being seen in the morning which is very fast and even if you had sudden hearing loss (I've had it) you will get treated quickly and have the best chance at improvement. if you have a baseline hearing test Try the app "hearing test" in the play store or store. It's a pure tone audiometry app works pretty well and even without calibrating it.

If you haven't had hearing loss before, sudden loss tends to improve dramatically for most people even without treatment. That was my experience - I got back about half of my lost hearing in DB threshhold. Lost hearing to 40db average in 3 frequencies and it went down to about 20db average. Now its a bit worse so it may fluctuate for some people.

Here is the best information i've seen online on Sudden hearing loss also called Sudden sensorinueral hearing loss or SSNHL: http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/hearing/shl.htm