What "Type" of Tinnitus Do I Have?

[Nausea92]

Hi everybody,

My tinnitus started in the middle of last August after I went to a birthday party. No loud noises but instead a lot of drinking and cigarette smoking (a habit I have quit since) on a rather cold summer evening in my t-shirt outside. This resulted in a minor cold but a very loud ringing in, then, my left ear. Eventually both my ears have developed a ringing that hasn't stopped ever since. The noises change throughout the day, the sounds that I hear at night are different than during the day. Also my ears crackle very loudly whenever I swallow or 'tense' the muscles around the area of my ears.

Is this Eustachian Tube Dysfunction? I am very confused about my condition. Because it's been a (relatively) long time now I have visited an ENT doctor last week but she couldn't find anything alarming in my ears. I now have to come back next week to get a hearing test.

Thank you for reading and any replies would be greatly appreciated.

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum, @Nausea92. I am no doctor. So do refer to the professional to assess your condition medically. Saying that, I have read enough about ETD and its symptoms. You may have Eustachian Tube Disfunction or ETD when the tube is blocked or swollen due to inflammation. The symptoms are dizziness, ear pain, ear fullness or pressure, dull hearing, etc. Do you have most of these symptoms? It usually will improve after the tube is back to normal after some time. So don't worry. Here is a good site to read up on it to see if your symptoms fit the description of ETD:

http://patient.info/health/eustachian-tube-dysfunction

Also my ears crackle very loudly whenever I swallow or 'tense' the muscles around the area of my ears.

This is a good site to read about causes for T and your issue with muscles around the ears may be related to this paragraph on this site on Harvard medical school:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/disea...s-ringing-in-the-ears-and-what-to-do-about-it

"Musculoskeletal factors — jaw clenching, tooth grinding, prior injury, or muscle tension in the neck — sometimes make tinnitus more noticeable, so your clinician may ask you to tighten muscles or move the jaw or neck in certain ways to see if the sound changes. If tight muscles are part of the problem, massage therapy may help relieve it."

 

[Nausea92]

Welcome to the forum, @Nausea92. I am no doctor. So do refer to the professional to assess your condition medically. Saying that, I have read enough about ETD and its symptoms. You may have Eustachian Tube Disfunction or ETD when the tube is blocked or swollen due to inflammation. The symptoms are dizziness, ear pain, ear fullness or pressure, dull hearing, etc. Do you have most of these symptoms? It usually will improve after the tube is back to normal after some time. So don't worry. Here is a good site to read up on it to see if your symptoms fit the description of ETD:

http://patient.info/health/eustachian-tube-dysfunction



This is a good site to read about causes for T and your issue with muscles around the ears may be related to this paragraph on this site on Harvard medical school:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/disea...s-ringing-in-the-ears-and-what-to-do-about-it

"Musculoskeletal factors — jaw clenching, tooth grinding, prior injury, or muscle tension in the neck — sometimes make tinnitus more noticeable, so your clinician may ask you to tighten muscles or move the jaw or neck in certain ways to see if the sound changes. If tight muscles are part of the problem, massage therapy may help relieve it."

Thank you for your reaction! Do you know if tinnitus can disappear once the eustachian tubes are healed?

 

[billie48]

Once again, I am no doctor so I can't give definitive answer to your question. Usually if T can be traced to a medical cause, such as ETD or TMJ, then when that medical condition is healed, there is a good chance T will fade too especially if your T condition is relatively new. So it is best to keep positive.

 

[Mike K]

You and I are in the same boat it sounds like, Naus.

Ten weeks ago I started hearing the ringing and a low-grade cold followed. I didn't think much of the cold but the tinnitus was loud and very annoying. My T has also fluctuated in sound throughout the time I've had it. It started in my left ear and has been in that ear 90% of the time. It's only in my right if I lay on that side in bed. Sometimes it can feel like my whole head is ringing, though. I went to see an ENT and it appeared that I had a sinus infection, which causes my sinuses to become irritated and enflamed. My throat also got infected a few weeks into being sick. Though the congestion is not bad, I have postnasal drip and my ears feel plugged. They also crackled when I open my jaw to yawn, and pop when I swallow (same kind of noise, just more abrupt when I swallow).

After being prescribed amoxycillin, which I don't think helped much because it's been a unique infection since it's lasted so long, and prednisone, which I believe did help, the ringing has really gotten a lot better. It still comes and goes but I have had days in the last week where I can't hear it at all, or it's been at a .5/10. At times it can get louder but I assume it's because my sinuses are acting up.

I am confident that I am healing from the infection (very slowly, but surely) and the tinnitus is going away. It sounds like you do indeed have ETD, like myself currently. My guess is that because of ETD, fluid can't drain properly, which can cause the ringing especially if the fluid is infected from bacteria.

My advice, stay calm and stay positive. Try not to give it any attention, which is the hardest thing to do when you have it. I was told it may not go away but it seems like it's a 90% chance it will considering how much better it has gotten for me. Drink as many fluids as possible. I just started to use steam to open up the nasal passage, and it felt really good to do so. Boil some water, and then soak a washcloth in the water. Ring it out, and then kind of enclose your face in it while you have your head over the steam. Then, just breathe! Tinnitus for me is really making me take care of myself more, especially since I have not gotten over this congestion.

Hope this proves to be insightful to some extent. Good luck! Stay strong

 

[Nausea92]

You and I are in the same boat it sounds like, Naus.
....

Hope this proves to be insightful to some extent. Good luck! Stay strong

Wow, yes, our situation seems very similar. I had a hearing test this week and I have no hearing loss or damage whatsoever so it is 100% an infection thus most likely ETD. I do (very very very) slowly notice improvement, though at some moments it can get really loud and at other moments the sound is near to quiet. Thank you for the 'sinus cleaning' tips, I will try them out. Best of luck to you as well and indeed, stay positive!

 

[Dina]

Hey u guys!! U still there????? I have the same case
And im also pregnant! Any updates