Adult Glue Ear

Posted , 32 users are following.

I have had a problem with my right ear for two months and have yet to see an ENT specialist. I have little or no pain. What I have is a hissing noise. Sometimes it is very loud, but if I stay still and do not move it quietens down. Luckily at night it is quiet if I keep still and put my right ear against the pillow. Does any one else have these symptoms?

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  • Posted

    I have had glue ear since June last year following an ear infection and am now waiting to see the ENT guy, However, I was interested in how you had progressed with the Otovent which you had just purchased and

    whether this had proved successful or not.

  • Posted

    Hi. I have only just come across this forum. I was diagnosed with glue ear when I was 38. I am now 60 and am still receiving treatment. I iniatially had grommets and then t-tubes. One of them came out after 15 years so they are pretty permanent. I still have one intact. I now have reduced hearing in one ear.

    Over the years I have had a lot of ear infections but I have been lucky that I have a good GP and i go for yearly check ups at hospital. Anybody out there with long term glue ear condition.

    • Posted

      I'm 53 and I'm presently suffering with glue ear. My consultant tells me my eardrums are too thin to insert grommets and that I have perforated eardrums! I am however on route to receive hearing aids as my hearing isn't good! Although I've had this problem all of my life it's only in the last 8 years or so that something has been done about it...prob because I moved house and changed GP/surgery! I'm more knowledgable now as in the past I thought I was having bad head colds that lasted forever!! 
    • Posted

      Hi fran

      I never knew that adults could get glue ear when I was diagnosed. Luckily I had a good GP who referred me to a consultant. It is a shame you cannot have grommits as they did work. Good luck with the hearing aids. I think I will be on that route soon as my hearing is decreasing on one side.

  • Posted

    Hello all,this is my first visit and would welcome any feedback. I am 44 yes, male and have been unable to work for a decade due to insomnia and related anxiety. I have been trying to find an anwser all this time and recently received my doctors notes.I suffered tremendous ear trauma in late teens following an attack .Unknown to myself there was very minor treatment for glue ear(a balloon of sorts) since then I have always felt as though I'm underwater with muffled hearing, frequently infected ears and throat and chronic depression leading to self medication as my gp does not help. I am now sure this is otitis media. Can anyone suggest the fastest route to drain middle ear,I'm even close to inserting a grommet myself however,although I'm an engineer I'm not a medic,just very frustrated as I thought it was how everyone felt,now I realise it is not normal and i may have lost decades of life,please advise, private treatment is possible but I have no idea where to start and live a reclusive lifestyle
    • Posted

      Hi Christopher. Not sure if you are in UK but when I had my symptoms initially I was back and forewords to the GPs. In the end I asked to be referred privately. Straight away they diagnosed glue ear and I then had grommets fitted. 2 years later I had t tubes fitted which are permanent.

      i still have problems 15years later but not to the degree I did . My advice is to ask for second opinion. There is no harm in asking. It is very isolating when you get the muffled hearing as you cannot pitch the tone of yr voice.

      good luck 

       

    • Posted

      hey Leslie, hoping you can help me with some ideas- My 43 year old bro has just been diagnosed with glue ear and the suggestion is to put in grommets, he had them when very young but I cant remember much about it. He has been deaf a lot of his lfe and wearing hearing aids for years now. This is the first time glue ear has been suggested, any thoughts.
  • Posted

    I have had glue ear since 2006 so 10 years now. I got it in college when I took a scuba class. Worst decision of my life. Its amazing how one simple choice can alter your life forever. I ended up coughing under the water and shoving nasty pool water into my ears via eustation tube. I got a double ear infection and like a dumb a** only took about 5 of the steroids before quitting them. They made my bladder feel like it was going to burst so I stopped taking them. Well I am pretty sure I now have an auto immune disorder now and having a pregnancy with preeclampsia didnt help either. If I could just get this glue ear fixed once and for all my life would be so... it would be so amazing again. I have been to so many ent doctors that I am convinced they are all nasal spray salesmen. None of them actually diagnosed me with glue ear but I know thats what I have. Full ears, gross glue feeling like mucus in there. I wish someone would just stick grommets in and flush my ears out then pump some oxygen in there for a few months. I read in a very very old article that oxygen helps the tissue repair itself but you need grommets. I really wish someone had a solution for me. This is torture.
    • Posted

      It does hit you like a hissing brick! Im a 61 yr old man who never had any

      Problems with my ears. Im also a trained diver so was always used to clearing my ears to

      Equalise the pressure. Now my gp has given me a nasal spray and a balloon !? Dont know wether to laugh or cry.

      The muffled hearing and noise comes and goes but i dread it getting worse. Im an actor by profession so it makes my work

      Harder. I do hope your symptoms abate soon

      Regards from Northern Ireland

      BJ Hogg

    • Posted

      JB

      Northern Ireland! Wow that sounds nice. I'm from Arizona and can you believe it's still hot here. I have found the balloons push more junk in the ears. This has crushed my dreams of being an underwater archaeologists. I went to Rome a few years back and my ear problem made it impossible to equalize the pressure, not to mention I had a cold too. My ears didn't pop the whole way down to land! It was so painful and I didn't equalize pressure for two days!

      Best of luck to you

      -Sar

  • Posted

    Hi guest

    I had a really bad flu that ended in an ear infection.  2 rounds of antibiotics and 2 rounds of penicilin didn't help the deathness, popping, crackling etc.

    Yesterday I went to the doc and he tested my hearing with a musical tuning fork I could barely hear it with my death ear and mostly hear it with my "good" ear. Then he put the tuning fork in the centre of my forehead and I could hear it clear as a bell in my death ear (first thing I had heard in weeks) and could barely hear it in my "good" ear,  Within seconds I was swallowing yucky stuff.

    My ears continued to drain for 8 hours with 2 major mouthfulls and 2 very significant dizzy spells.

    Today my ears aren't completely better but there is a 80% improvement.

    I have ordered my own tuning fork and will treat myself again when it turns up next week.

    I looked online for sound waves draining ear fluid but couldn't find anything.

    I hope this helps and wish my doc had tried it weeks ago.

  • Posted

    Hello, i have had this most of my life,, its inner ear congestion and Sudafed or Inhaling Vicks is the best way to treat it... the doctors will onlysend you for dozens of tests..so try this first..then see a doctor..use a bowl and pour hot water in to it then a big glob of Vicks then inhale till the ear clears..it works for me.biggrin I still get it due to having small inner ear tubes.

  • Posted

    I'm 25 and suffered with adult glue ear for over 3years. Iv used antihistamines, decongestant tablets, nasel sprays and anything else the gphone has recommended and they still won't refer me to ENT specialist. The gp told me it's definitely adult glue ear and was going to refer me. She went and got anot her opinion and that doctor said not to refer me. I'm in absolute agony in both my ears and pain killers and anti inflammatorys aren't touching it. How do I go about being referred?

    • Posted

      Gp not gphone

      And another not anot her

      Sorry for mistakes

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