Hi everyone!
My low hum tinnitus after an upper respitory virus continues.
Quick background: mid December, I started waking with plugged ears, but it would always get better as the day went on. Then, it got bad right before Christmas, the urgent care dr diagnosed fluid in ears, but no infection, recommended decongestants and nasal sprays. Humming in right ear started the day of the dr visit. After a few days, the virus got better. Occasional fullness and humming stuck around. Saw an ENT/audiologist last week, they diagnosed "slight" low frequency hearing loss (low frequencies in right ear were around 25dB, everything else was 10 or better) and ENT was pretty sure that hearing loss was causing the tinnitus. Since it all started with the virus, we're trying a course of prednisone to see if that does anything to help hearing loss or humming. I'm on day 5 and can't say I've noticed a difference.
Personally, I feel like there's something more going on, so I've been trying to jot down notes about how I feel each day and maybe help give some clues to the dr. Playing detective.
Anyway, this is what I've been noticing...each morning the hum is gone, but my right ear feels very full...full enough, that I think it effects my hearing. Things sound a bit muted in that ear. As the day goes on, the fullness subsides, the hearing comes back, and the humming starts. Sometimes that happens within an hour of getting up, sometimes it doesn't happen until early afternoon. Then, in the evening, our preschool age son often asks me to lie down with him as he falls asleep. As I lie in bed with my right ear down, it starts to fill a bit and that seems to start the "turn off" process...most nights by 8 or 9, a slight full feeling is back (not as bad as the morning), and the hum is gone. Repeat day after day. It's like the fullness and humming are some sort of tag team.
My left ear sometimes feels a bit full here and there, but nothing like my right ear.
Does anyone else have this where their tinnitus is caused/triggered by another symptom or it "swaps out" with another symptom?
(Other random "hum fact" I've discovered...when my right ear is humming, and I quickly shake my head down to the right, I can make the hum stop for a split second. When the hum has *just* gone away and I do the same thing, it comes back for a split second. When the hum has been gone over night and my ear feels full and I shake my head down to the right, nothing happens. I'm pretty sure ENT will just say "hmmm, that's interesting," but it seems like a possible "clue" to me.)
My low hum tinnitus after an upper respitory virus continues.
Quick background: mid December, I started waking with plugged ears, but it would always get better as the day went on. Then, it got bad right before Christmas, the urgent care dr diagnosed fluid in ears, but no infection, recommended decongestants and nasal sprays. Humming in right ear started the day of the dr visit. After a few days, the virus got better. Occasional fullness and humming stuck around. Saw an ENT/audiologist last week, they diagnosed "slight" low frequency hearing loss (low frequencies in right ear were around 25dB, everything else was 10 or better) and ENT was pretty sure that hearing loss was causing the tinnitus. Since it all started with the virus, we're trying a course of prednisone to see if that does anything to help hearing loss or humming. I'm on day 5 and can't say I've noticed a difference.
Personally, I feel like there's something more going on, so I've been trying to jot down notes about how I feel each day and maybe help give some clues to the dr. Playing detective.
Anyway, this is what I've been noticing...each morning the hum is gone, but my right ear feels very full...full enough, that I think it effects my hearing. Things sound a bit muted in that ear. As the day goes on, the fullness subsides, the hearing comes back, and the humming starts. Sometimes that happens within an hour of getting up, sometimes it doesn't happen until early afternoon. Then, in the evening, our preschool age son often asks me to lie down with him as he falls asleep. As I lie in bed with my right ear down, it starts to fill a bit and that seems to start the "turn off" process...most nights by 8 or 9, a slight full feeling is back (not as bad as the morning), and the hum is gone. Repeat day after day. It's like the fullness and humming are some sort of tag team.My left ear sometimes feels a bit full here and there, but nothing like my right ear.
Does anyone else have this where their tinnitus is caused/triggered by another symptom or it "swaps out" with another symptom?
(Other random "hum fact" I've discovered...when my right ear is humming, and I quickly shake my head down to the right, I can make the hum stop for a split second. When the hum has *just* gone away and I do the same thing, it comes back for a split second. When the hum has been gone over night and my ear feels full and I shake my head down to the right, nothing happens. I'm pretty sure ENT will just say "hmmm, that's interesting," but it seems like a possible "clue" to me.)
what's true for one person isn't true for another. Don't worry just yet. Two weeks after a cold is still within the healing timeframe. 
