Sudden Tinnitus Increase in the Middle of the Night: Can Earwax Cause Worsening in Both Ears?

[Survivor234]

To preface this, I had tinnitus before these problems and, while it was there, it was manageable or ignorable. I had more important problems anyways.

Here's the full timeline:

One day, at night I suddenly hear a gurgling noise in my left ear. Horrified (I was asleep when it happened) I yelled and then it went away. Thought I heard a ghost! Looked up online and found it has something to do with earwax. Being depressed and stupid for other reasons, I didn't call or say anything.

Fast forward to very recently, my left ear had been itching and irritating me, generally due to earwax I couldn't reach. Now I know that using cotton swabs for the inside of your ear is a bad idea and I know your ear cleans out earwax for you. But it itches me so maybe scratching the outer ear with my finger wouldn't do anything?

Wrong. Immediately afterward another sound was added to my existing tinnitus. A scratching or short-circuiting sound that is pretty annoying. By this point I know I have to contact my ENT but this all happened on the weekend so I have to wait until Monday to make an appointment.

As I was sleeping on Sunday, specifically when I was lying on my side with my left ear up and right ear down, my tinnitus overall shot up suddenly in both ears. Temporarily the small, scratching/short-circuit noise went away but I felt, instead, louder tinnitus. As of right now I can't sleep because of the noise increase.

What's going on here? Is the tinnitus caused by earwax in both ears? Why the sudden noise increase in the middle of the night?

 

[DutchGuyMike]

Apologies for the late reply but it IS entirely possible that earwax is culprit. But not in itself, as in my case for example, where it formed into a plug in my left ear (twice over 10 years due to sleeping mostly on my right side) and it was lodged long enough for the ear to get infected (as the bacteria gets trapped).

In 2012, my ear got infected and hurt quite badly until the tinnitus started. After antibiotics the infection went away but the tinnitus stayed.

In May of 2023, my left ear kept hurting again but I kept scoffing it off as I was putting anything ear related "into the background" as a result of the tinnitus. I should have heeded the pain warnings as my left ear was infected AGAIN from an earwax plug (as it traps bacteria/removes airflow) which made it very sensitive and then a long gaming session with headphones (despite on low volume) worsened the tinnitus (and the antibiotics this time gave me a buzzing in my right ear).

Long story short, if the earwax stays in your ear long enough and especially when it plugs up, it can cause tinnitus most definitely! Do NOT get it cleaned out with a syringe, the number of posts of people reporting of it causing pain/tinnitus is very high. Instead, get it cleaned out with a "scoop" by an ENT or, if you have no choice, with a very gentle rinsing device they nowadays employ in the clinics, though soften up any earwax a few days beforehand with a skin neutral oil (don't use vegetable oils as people recommend which is horribly stupid as it will go rancid IN your ear if it doesn't get cleaned out well enough, which causes infection AND makes everything worse).

Best of luck.