Terrified — After 3-Hour Flight My "Good" Ear Feels Clogged and Possibly Has Ringing Now Too

[Angel Dust]

Hi,

I've been lurking in this forum for a couple of months now.

I am 101% scared as I am typing this. I got tinnitus on my left ear, but I flew (3 hour flight) from Austria to Spain and now my "good" ear (right) feels slightly clogged and I am not sure if I also hear ringing on that side.

I just wanted to see my family for Christmas and now I may have ruined my good ear. I am crying as I type this.

Sorry for my English. It´s not my mother language.

 

[glynis]

@Angel Dust ,g
Lovely to see you now posting for support .
It could be caused due to a few problems but have your ears checked for wax .
It could be mucus in your Eustation Tubes so try steam inhalation see if it helps the clogged up feeling.
Also if you have being playing music through earphones it can cause tinnitus for some people.
The main thing is to try stay calm and relaxed as anxiety will feed your tinnitus and can cause it.
You will get round the clock support so please don't cry as we are all here for you.
Love glynis

 

[Angel Dust]

@glynis

Thank you for your reply and support. God knows I need it. Nobody understands what I've been going through since the summer and my family and friends, all well-meaning of course, tell me it'll go away, meaning my T, no matter how much I keep telling them that there's no cure for it.

 

[glynis]

@Angel Dust ,
Let them come on here with you and it will open their eyes for sure .

Keep relaxing music on around you when you need a break from your tinnitus.
Are you sleeping ok ?

love glynis

 

[Angel Dust]

I did last night and the night before, not so sure about tonight.

 

[glynis]

Having background sounds or soft music can help or a fan .

love glynis

 

[Angel Dust]

I might just try that.

As far as my "good" ear goes, I want to make an appointment with my ORL but I'm scared to.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I flew (3 hour flight)

Were you wearing any hearing protection? What kind of an aircraft was it (did it have a propeller)?

In any case, one thing I learned is that you need to wait for at least 3 months before considering the possibility that a spike will end up being permanent. Temporary spikes can last a surprisingly long time.

Full ear sensation normally goes away (but it can take many months for this to happen).

 

[Angel Dust]

Hi,

No, I wasn't. I mean, I did have those soft earplugs you can get at the airport. My ORL said it was not necessary to wear them, so I only put them on for the takeoff and part of the descent.

It was something similar to this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizz_Air#/media/File:HA-LWK_LLBG_11-07-2014a.jpg

 

[Bill Bauer]

My ORL said it was not necessary to wear them

In the future, you might want to wear good earplugs
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008MVYL7C
underneath Bose noise-cancelling headphones (they work really well for aircraft and car noise).

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822
for information about some of the other things you might want to do, in order to not hurt your ears.

 

[Jack Straw]

In the future, you might want to wear good earplugs
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008MVYL7C
underneath Bose noise-cancelling headphones (they work really well for aircraft and car noise).

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822
for information about some of the other things you might want to do, in order to not hurt your ears.

Aren't active noise canceling worse for you when compared to passive noise canceling?

 

[Bill Bauer]

Aren't active noise canceling worse for you when compared to passive noise canceling?

They are worse because there have been some posts here of people who think that they got T as a result of active noise cancelling headphones. This is why I would never wear noise cancelling headphones without earplugs. Earplugs dampen all incoming waves. So if there are waves produced by the headphones that one can't even hear, they ought to be taken care of by the earplugs.

 

[Don Tinny]

Every time I read this forum I think "Wow, our ears are really problematic". So many people travel all the time and nothing happens to them! What kind of problem do we have?

I think I would only travel by plane to treat my tinnitus in another country, but surely I will not travel for pleasure in my entire life. You have to take too many precautions and it is nearly impossible to enjoy in those conditions.

There is no way to know if it will fade or not. But before you feel sad thinking "there is no cure", rembember that there is some treatments on the way (Neuromod, Susan Shore's device, FX322, etc)

I hope you feel better soon.