Tinnitus and Other Weird Symptoms — Should I See a Doctor Again?

[Isra]

Hello Dr. Nagler, my tinnitus started after a sinus infection. In the beginning my GP could see there was some pressure on my ears, gave me some medicines did not work and sent me to an ENT. The ENT did a hearing test and ordered a scan, everything seemed to be normal. He gave me Dymista which kind of helped with the ear pressure, but other than that he said he could not help me. So now I'm using this nose spray and whenever I'm not using it my ears feel really blocked.

These are my symptoms now:

- I hear a sound particularly left side, it's not like ringing, but it's an annoying sound. It also hurts sometimes.
- When I swallow I hear a click in my ears and other weird sounds.
- When I move my jaw I hear a clicking sound.
- My ears feel full most of the time, sometimes it 'opens' when I swallow.
- When I have hiccups I feel something pushed in my ear, I don't know how to explain, it's like air that wants to get out.
- When I yawn I hear a loud ringing in the area of my ears, when I yawn harder the sounds becomes more prominent. When I stop it stops.
- You know that sounds in an electronic water kettle? My ear sometimes has that boiling sound and I can feel something like there's water in it.

Do you think it's worth going again to the doctor or should I just live with it?

Thank you for taking the time to respond to me, I appreciate it.

 

[Dr. Nagler]

Hello @Isra. Thank you for your interesting question.

I generally try to look at this sort of thing from a pragmatic standpoint. Nothing in the list of symptoms you describe suggests to me that there is an underlying cause that represents a threat to your health. And given that you have had a rather full ENT evaluation, the same can be said for your tinnitus.

So whether or not any of this is worth pursuing further really depends on how much your symptoms bother you. I am not sure how long you have had tinnitus or the degree to which your tinnitus affects your life, but in many cases - especially early on - tinnitus sufferers can become aware of a host of other long-standing head and neck symptoms that flew completely under their radar until their brains start trying to figure out what's going on. I'm not saying that you necessarily fall into this category, but bottom line is that whether or not it's worth going to the doctor again really depends on the degree of distress you experience because of the symptoms you describe rather than the fact that you have them.

Hope this helps.

Stephen M. Nagler, M.D.