Hello all,
I have now had tinnitus for almost two months and it has been horrible - throwing my entire world upside down. Here is my story. If you have any recommendations on what I should do please comment on my post.
In early June I woke up in the middle of the night with a feeling of fullness in my left ear. I was finally able to get the fullness to go away but had some ringing in that ear so I decided to go to an urgent care and get it looked at. The doc said both ears looked fine but that I had some earwax so he said I should use Debrox, and also use Flonase because it might also be some Eustachian tube dysfunction. Fast forward five days later and I go to a primary care doc who uses a curette to remove some of the earwax... well I left feeling horrible like this had actually made it ten times worse because the wax was pushed up against my eardrum. I was able to get a referral to an ENT, but before that appointment I went back to urgent care because at this point both my ears were feeling full and I couldn't wait to see the ENT. The urgent care doc used a syringe and flushed out the earwax from both ears. Well, two days after this my ears started ringing like there was an electrical storm going off in my head. Granted, there was some light ringing in my left ear - I'm thinking this was caused from the earwax- before it was flushed, but NOTHING like this. I've now been to two ENT's, one audiologist and I can't get any answers. One of the ENTs brought up Meniere's, but that it can take a while to diagnose (so recommended I come back in 6 months for another audiogram).
My audiogram was normal (though on the lower end of normal for my age - 33 - according to one of the ENTs). I've never been around loud machinery and I don't listen to loud music, or go to many concerts, so I don't think I ever caused much damage to my ears. But now it has been almost two months, and I still have this crazy electrical sound in both ears. Though sometimes it seems like just my left ear. Making things even more difficult is I had a baby in April, so having a quiet place isn't really possible right now. And the tinnitus has caused my anxiety and depression to skyrocket. I have now seen a psychiatrist and therapist. I have looked into CBT for tinnitus, but I don't know if it's too soon for that, because possibly the tinnitus is caused by an underlying condition. I go see another audiologist this week because I have some doubts about the first audiogram - the audiologist was a resident an appeared to have difficulty getting one of the machines to work. I also have constant popping and crackling in both ears when I swallow and move my jaw (though I have no pain in my jaw whatsoever - so I don't think it's TMJ). I have had a few moments of silence but the sounds always come back, and sometimes it changes in pitch. It's terrible first thing in the morning when I wake up, and seems to change sometimes depending on how I lay my head. The white noise machine actually seems to make it worse because the ringing just seems to get louder. A family friend who is a doctor said I should get an MRI but none of the doctors I have seen have recommended an MRI. I also read sometimes this can make tinnitus worse because it can be loud.
These past two months have been dreadful, and I am generally an overall pretty happy person. I want to be a good mom for my baby, but the tinnitus is making it so hard to be happy. Does anyone have any thoughts on my story and what could be going on? Has anyone had anything similar to this happen? I'm wondering about the MRI, but not sure.
Thank you so much in advance. And thank you for taking the time to read my story.
I have now had tinnitus for almost two months and it has been horrible - throwing my entire world upside down. Here is my story. If you have any recommendations on what I should do please comment on my post.
In early June I woke up in the middle of the night with a feeling of fullness in my left ear. I was finally able to get the fullness to go away but had some ringing in that ear so I decided to go to an urgent care and get it looked at. The doc said both ears looked fine but that I had some earwax so he said I should use Debrox, and also use Flonase because it might also be some Eustachian tube dysfunction. Fast forward five days later and I go to a primary care doc who uses a curette to remove some of the earwax... well I left feeling horrible like this had actually made it ten times worse because the wax was pushed up against my eardrum. I was able to get a referral to an ENT, but before that appointment I went back to urgent care because at this point both my ears were feeling full and I couldn't wait to see the ENT. The urgent care doc used a syringe and flushed out the earwax from both ears. Well, two days after this my ears started ringing like there was an electrical storm going off in my head. Granted, there was some light ringing in my left ear - I'm thinking this was caused from the earwax- before it was flushed, but NOTHING like this. I've now been to two ENT's, one audiologist and I can't get any answers. One of the ENTs brought up Meniere's, but that it can take a while to diagnose (so recommended I come back in 6 months for another audiogram).
My audiogram was normal (though on the lower end of normal for my age - 33 - according to one of the ENTs). I've never been around loud machinery and I don't listen to loud music, or go to many concerts, so I don't think I ever caused much damage to my ears. But now it has been almost two months, and I still have this crazy electrical sound in both ears. Though sometimes it seems like just my left ear. Making things even more difficult is I had a baby in April, so having a quiet place isn't really possible right now. And the tinnitus has caused my anxiety and depression to skyrocket. I have now seen a psychiatrist and therapist. I have looked into CBT for tinnitus, but I don't know if it's too soon for that, because possibly the tinnitus is caused by an underlying condition. I go see another audiologist this week because I have some doubts about the first audiogram - the audiologist was a resident an appeared to have difficulty getting one of the machines to work. I also have constant popping and crackling in both ears when I swallow and move my jaw (though I have no pain in my jaw whatsoever - so I don't think it's TMJ). I have had a few moments of silence but the sounds always come back, and sometimes it changes in pitch. It's terrible first thing in the morning when I wake up, and seems to change sometimes depending on how I lay my head. The white noise machine actually seems to make it worse because the ringing just seems to get louder. A family friend who is a doctor said I should get an MRI but none of the doctors I have seen have recommended an MRI. I also read sometimes this can make tinnitus worse because it can be loud.
These past two months have been dreadful, and I am generally an overall pretty happy person. I want to be a good mom for my baby, but the tinnitus is making it so hard to be happy. Does anyone have any thoughts on my story and what could be going on? Has anyone had anything similar to this happen? I'm wondering about the MRI, but not sure.
Thank you so much in advance. And thank you for taking the time to read my story.
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