Hi all, I am new to tinnitus, it's been one week since it started. I've had problems with my ear canals for about 9 years now, they are very itchy from rosacea and I have to get my ears cleaned from impacted ear wax but no hearing or other ear problems. Over a month ago, I started to get a very full feeling in my ear. I went to Urgent Care and they said I had impacted ear wax and cleaned out my ear and gave my cortisone drops for inflammation of the canal. The fullness continued but it wasn't terrible. Soon, I began to lose my hearing and my left ear felt very full. I went to an ENT who thought I had TMJ and told me to eat soft food for a week and to take Ibuprofen around the clock for a week. At the end of that week I had really bad pain and went to an urgent care ENT who said I had fluid behind the ears and did a hearing test which found a conductive hearing loss in the left ear. They put me on Amoxicillin and 40mg of Prednisone for 10 days. It was a very stressful time for me as I'm in the middle of switching jobs and in my last year of a demanding grad program.
On my last day of taking Prednisone I fell asleep over my laptop. When I woke up my ear felt very stuffy and I did the Valsalva maneuver (that had been helping me). That's when the ear ringing started and it hasn't stopped. After getting off the Prednisone a few days later I was in terrible pain in my ear and went back to Urgent Care. The doc said my eardrum looked pretty bad and like it was about to burst and put me on Augmentin and another taper of steroids. I hate taking the steroids, my sleep is completely messed up but this has helped the pain a lot and my ears are less clogged now.
However, the tinnitus is still there and no better. I have anxiety disorder that I was managing well with techniques I learned in therapy but this combination of major lack of sleep from the pain, ringing, and meds has me in a terrible way. I'm afraid I'm going to fail in my new position that I was so excited to get and not be able to complete my research project and graduate from my Master's program. I also have a spouse and two kids and I'm afraid I haven't been a great parent through all of this. I am having panic attacks.
Thank you all for listening. I've had other health issues before that I think were partly caused/made worse by my anxiety disorder and the stress of my job and grad school. I've always made it through and gotten better and continued. I keep telling myself this just a blip but it's hard to believe it!
The bright side is that this has brought me closer to my spirituality and God.
I could use some encouragement. I'm so scared this will keep me from being the person, parent, and professional I want to be. I'm scared of the depression and panic attacks.
Does anyone have any experience or know anyone who had tinnitus because of an ear infection but it went away? I feel like I'm in a nightmare right now. I keep telling myself at least the ear infection part has got to go away at some point.
On my last day of taking Prednisone I fell asleep over my laptop. When I woke up my ear felt very stuffy and I did the Valsalva maneuver (that had been helping me). That's when the ear ringing started and it hasn't stopped. After getting off the Prednisone a few days later I was in terrible pain in my ear and went back to Urgent Care. The doc said my eardrum looked pretty bad and like it was about to burst and put me on Augmentin and another taper of steroids. I hate taking the steroids, my sleep is completely messed up but this has helped the pain a lot and my ears are less clogged now.
However, the tinnitus is still there and no better. I have anxiety disorder that I was managing well with techniques I learned in therapy but this combination of major lack of sleep from the pain, ringing, and meds has me in a terrible way. I'm afraid I'm going to fail in my new position that I was so excited to get and not be able to complete my research project and graduate from my Master's program. I also have a spouse and two kids and I'm afraid I haven't been a great parent through all of this. I am having panic attacks.
Thank you all for listening. I've had other health issues before that I think were partly caused/made worse by my anxiety disorder and the stress of my job and grad school. I've always made it through and gotten better and continued. I keep telling myself this just a blip but it's hard to believe it!
The bright side is that this has brought me closer to my spirituality and God.
I could use some encouragement. I'm so scared this will keep me from being the person, parent, and professional I want to be. I'm scared of the depression and panic attacks.
Does anyone have any experience or know anyone who had tinnitus because of an ear infection but it went away? I feel like I'm in a nightmare right now. I keep telling myself at least the ear infection part has got to go away at some point.
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