Tinnitus and Fullness in One Ear, Comes and Goes — Could I Have Meniere's Disease?

[jdub]

Hello, all - I've been reading through posts and can identify with many of the symptoms being reported. I'm in my mid-60's. Very healthy.

About 9 months ago, I started to have issues with my left ear. There was this feeling of fullness...congestion. Everything was muffled. That went on for several weeks.

Then one night, I was awakened from my sleep with this sudden burst of tinnitus. Scared me. I went in to see an ENT. I've always tested well on my hearing, but this time my left ear had severe hearing loss. We ruled out an auditory tumor with an MRI.

ENT is at a loss, but after a couple visits he was wondering if I might have Meniere's Disease. Have any of you had that diagnosis?

Anyway, the weird thing is that this comes and goes. Most of the time I can't hold my phone up to my left ear because it's very distorted...like a bad transistor radio. Sometimes after a couple weeks or so, everything is back to normal and my hearing, although a tiny bite degraded. No distortion or tinnitus. I'm learning to live with it, but like many of you... I'm a music lover. I've played electric guitar since I was in high school and I still play today although not as much. I've gone through quite a bit of stress over the last 4-5 years... divorce, job loss, unemployment for about a year. I'm just now getting my feet back under me.

Also, I've heard reports of hearing loss and tinnitus after taking the COVID-19 vaccine. I did take the first and second round of Pfizer, but no boosters. My issues started started a couple months after that.

Grasping at straws and am bummed that this might be permanent. Looking forward to participating in the discussions.

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum. Your description is like what I went through with my left ear about 18 months ago. I had a sudden hearing loss on my left ear. But my situation of hearing loss is permanent. I have no verbal word recognition at all as all sounds are scrambled and distorted. I had severe vertigo at the start. I thought I had Meniere's but my ENT ruled it out. If you don't have repeated episodes of vertigo then it may not be Meniere's. You may want to get a second opinion on that. All the best. God bless your recovery.

 

[Joe Cuber]

Hey @jdub, welcome to the forum.

I went in to see an ENT. I've always tested well on my hearing, but this time my left ear had severe hearing loss. We ruled out an auditory tumor with an MRI.

I'm guessing you and your ENT also ruled out a viral infection, which is one explanation for sudden hearing loss.

the weird thing is that this comes and goes.

Mine also comes and goes, I have roughly a daily cycle, but it's random, so I may get quiet or loud on any given day. Does yours have a pattern? I've spoken with others who also have on-and-off experiences. It's a bit bizarre that it does that. I spoke to an ENT that specializes in tinnitus about it. He didn't offer an explanation, but he said he's seen all sorts of cases.

I've gone through quite a bit of stress over the last 4-5 years

Same thing happened to me prior to my onset (which was late March this year). I underwent serious work-place stress for months leading up to March. Then, bam, one night I experienced a sudden onset in the middle of the night in my right ear. I do have moderate hearing loss in the high pitches in both ears, but experience the majority of my tinnitus in my right ear.

I also like to play guitar, in my case I play a classical. I chose classical because I have weak hand grip, so it was the only guitar I could fret, haha. I suck though, but still like playing. What kind of music do you like to play?

 

[jdub]

Welcome to the forum. Your description is like what I went through with my left ear about 18 months ago. I had a sudden hearing loss on my left ear. But my situation of hearing loss is permanent. I have no verbal word recognition at all as all sounds are scrambled and distorted. I had severe vertigo at the start. I thought I had Meniere's but my ENT ruled it out. If you don't have repeated episodes of vertigo then it may not be Meniere's. You may want to get a second opinion on that. All the best. God bless your recovery.

Thank you. There are times when I can hear very little out of my left ear. But after a couple of weeks, I'm back to a tolerable level of hearing and no tinnitus. So odd. Went to see Top Gun last night. Today... significant ringing and hearing loss.

Thanks for your blessing. Same to you!

 

[jdub]

I'm guessing you and your ENT also ruled out a viral infection, which is one explanation for sudden hearing loss.

We have not ruled it out. But, I've been reading of similar symptoms after getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Anyone else?

Hey @jdub, welcome to the forum.

Mine also comes and goes, I have roughly a daily cycle, but it's random, so I may get quiet or loud on any given day. Does yours have a pattern? I've spoken with others who also have on-and-off experiences. It's a bit bizarre that it does that. I spoke to an ENT that specializes in tinnitus about it. He didn't offer an explanation, but he said he's seen all sorts of cases.

I haven't seen a pattern. The ringing usually lasts for about two weeks. But, last night I went to see Top Gun and today, the ringing is pretty bad. I can always feel it coming on... that 'fullness' in my ear like it's filling up with fluid or something. Then the ringing and the hearing loss.

Same thing happened to me prior to my onset (which was late March this year). I underwent serious work-place stress for months leading up to March. Then, bam, one night I experienced a sudden onset in the middle of the night in my right ear. I do have moderate hearing loss in the high pitches in both ears, but experience the majority of my tinnitus in my right ear.

I also like to play guitar, in my case I play a classical. I chose classical because I have weak hand grip, so it was the only guitar I could fret, haha. I suck though, but still like playing. What kind of music do you like to play?

I play mostly blues. Electric guitars. Can barely turn an amp on anymore. It's just too much. So, now I'm left to playing on my couch. It's a real bummer, but I am determined to find out what the deal is. Hope yours just goes away as strangely as it came.

 

[Joe Cuber]

The ringing usually lasts for about two weeks. But, last night I went to see Top Gun and today, the ringing is pretty bad. I can always feel it coming on... that 'fullness' in my ear like it's filling up with fluid or something. Then the ringing and the hearing loss.

I don't notice fullness in my ear. I might actually be experiencing that, but I tend to have sinus issues and get fullness for that reason, so I've learned to ignore it. Sorry to hear about the ringing due to the movie. I don't like it when I spike. Tends to be when I'm exposed to loud enough noise for long enough.

I play mostly blues. Electric guitars. Can barely turn an amp on anymore. It's just too much. So, now I'm left to playing on my couch. It's a real bummer, but I am determined to find out what the deal is. Hope yours just goes away as strangely as it came.

Ah nice, the blues. Yeah, same here, I put my guitar aside for the most part, only play with it for a short time every once in a while. I hope you get better too. Healing takes a looong time.

 

[Matchbox]

This seems to also happen to me. If I hear noises now, my left ear acts like I went to a rock concert and becomes muffled with insane reactive tinnitus. It's usually ok in quiet with enough rest and my hearing thresholds then recover.

I recently suffered a mild sudden hearing loss. Only one frequency. Just bam, all treble gone but it also comes back.

And that ear of course had had fleeting deafness and tinnitus sporadically leading up and for months now. Could also be due to pressure changes, or bad ear circulation. I had this happen where I lost it all (70 dB gone) and it came back same ear, same frequency (6 kHz) and it took about 2 days. It occured when I bent over to change a tire with the bad ear side down.