Crackling and fullness in ear since June

Hi everyone,

Hoping for some more insight into something that I've been going through since this past June. I was shuffling a stack of papers at work and noticed this crackling sound in my right ear with a feeling of

slight fullness. Since these symptoms all started, I have also noticed crackling when I swallow hard which I can't remember if I had before or not because I never paid much attention to my ears prior to all of this. I tried not to think much of the crackling at the time and just assumed it was a weird thing that would quickly pass. This crackling sound happens any time I hear certain noises, which includes tapping, clicking, clapping, noises with a higher pitch or frequency I guess. It also includes my own voice and other people's voices at certain volumes or when I clear my throat or cough. Initially, I think I only really noticed the sound from outside noises, not my own voice up until more recently but I can't remember when it was. I tried not to worry too much about it at first and hoped it was something easy like maybe having water in my ear but sometime in early July I went to see an ENT (I had not gone to a primary doctor first). I explained to him the symptoms I was having and he looked into my ears and said everything looked great but noticed that my top and bottom jaw are pretty misaligned (I've had a fairly significant overbite since I was a teen) and he asked if my jaw gave me any problems, and I said yes, but not currently. Knock on wood, I haven't dealt with the TMJ issues

that I had suffered for about 11 or 12 years up until about 3 years ago. Every couple of months I would go through periods of time lasting for only a couple of days to a month or two at times where I could barely open my mouth and when I would I would have a ton of pain. So basically this first ENT I went to told me everything basically looked fine, aside from my jaw so I told him maybe I would try making a fresh night guard because the one I was using at the time was kind of worn out

(I've worn one at night for a long time to protect my teeth from clenching and grinding) my thought process behind that was that maybe because my night guard was worn out, somehow too much pressure was being applied to the structures in my ear causing my symptoms. After making a new nightguard and still experiencing the same symptoms, I decided to seek out another ENT since the first one I had seen didn't seem to really care about getting down to the bottom of anything. I made an

appointment with a new ENT who is very well-liked at the end of July and explained to him the same symptoms I had explained to the previous doctor and he said that he couldn't say for sure

what was going on but told me to start using a nasal decongestant daily and also take allergy medicine for about a month which I did but had no reduction in symptoms. He also had me take a hearing test from which my doctor concluded that I have perfect hearing, in fact better than average which provided a small amount of relief. I anxiously waited for my follow-up appointment with him again in early September, during this visit, I told him that my symptoms were the same even after doing

what he told me to do. During this visit, he also explained some of the more complex conditions that could be causing my symptoms, one of them being a perilymphatic fistula or semi circular canal dehiscence. He placed a tuning fork on my ankle and asked if I could hear the vibration in my ear(s) and I told him that I actually could hear the vibration in the affected ear. That's when he told me more about semi circular canal dehiscence and I dreaded the possibility of having such a condition as the symptoms sounded absolutely dreadful and surgery is typically reserved for people who's symptoms are much mores evere than what mine are. At the end of that visit, he ordered a temporal CT scan to better asses my situation. I got the CT scan done a week or two after my follow-up visit and he called me a few days later to let me know the results which felt devastating, he told me that I have semi circular canal dehiscence on both sides and that during my next visit with him he would further discuss everything and if I ever decided to go through with surgery he would refer me to someone else because he doesn't do many of these surgeries and that the risks are not to be taken lightly. I felt absolutely crushed and became extremely upset and wondered why all of a sudden something

I've probably had my whole life is now causing these frustrating symptoms. While on the phone with my doctor, I posed a potential trigger for my symptoms. I explained that around the time my symptoms I had started taking orthotricyclen (I think sometime in May) and spironolactone for my skin and asked him if he thought the combination of these two medications could have anything to do with the onset of my symptoms and he said maybe and said to try not taking them for a few weeks and see if it made a difference. At the same time, he mentioned a different diuretic than the one I was taking called acetazolamide (500mg capsules) which I intially declined trying but a few days later I called his office and asked for him to send the prescription to my pharmacy to try, so I started taking it once in the morning and once before bed but very quickly noticed that it made my lips, face and hands randomly tingle which I did not like and didn't notice any difference in my symptoms so stopped taking the medicine after about a week. Toward the end of taking the acetazolamide, I went on a week long trip to Colorado to visit family and worried for months prior if my symptoms would get worse due to the difference in elevation but my doctor said I should be fine and suggested taking sudafed before my flights which I did, and I did not notice any worsening of symptoms until we traveled to an area on a Saturday night that was 7,500 ft elevation versus the 5,000 feet near Denver. After coming back to my family's house that night from the higher elevation town, I experienced pain and fullness in my left ear, the opposite one from which I have the crackling problem which completely freaked me out. For the next several days the pain and fullness didn't improve much but then it started to feel better by Thursday, I felt relieved and the next day on Friday, I went to the gym and worked out as I like to do at least 2-3 times per week and on this seemed to trigger the symptoms in my left ear again and the pain and fullness didn't subside until this past Saturday or Sunday so I haven't worked out since then fearing that it will come back again. In desparation, shortly after returning from Colorado I went to see a doctor at one of the local urgent care places and he helped put me at ease (a little). The left ear pain and fullness has been intermittent since starting over

a week ago. The urgent care doctor was very nice and explained that he thought it seemed like a blocked Eustachian tube and said he thought that the crackling I have been experiencing for months could also be caused by Eustachian tube dysfunction. He tried to re-assure me that these symptoms would probably go away eventually and to continue taking sudafed and try steaming my face over hot water to help loosen everything up which I did a few times but my symptoms are still the same, with the exception of the constant pain and fullness I first experienced in Colorado which has gotten better but hasn't fully resolved. Over the course of just the last few days, I have noticed

new symptoms which includes random minor pains in my left ear that come and go and short bouts of ringing in my left ear on top of the same extremely frustrating crackling in my right ear which has remained a constant throughout this whole ordeal. Ever since this all started, and especially after my diagnosis, this has basically been all I can think about. My symptoms are really only noticeable when I'm in a quiet environment by myself, I don't notice it if there is background noise which offers some reief. Sometime last week I called my doctor's office again to see if there is any way that I can see him

before my next follow-up appointment on Nov 12th which I don't think is going to happen because his schedule is always very busy, but I was able to get the message through to him what had happened in Colorado and one of the staff members must have talked to him because they told me that I could try prednisone and that he would send over the prescription to my pharmacy but I haven't called to see if it's there because I have heard bad things about taking it and I don't want any more adverse effects from taking a medication. I even went to Rite Aid and purchased this device called Eustachi which you put up to your nostril while plugging your other nostril and it puts a puff of air up your nose to help clear the Eustachian tubes and I didn't notice a difference after using that either, I also bought some ear drops that I haven't tried yet. So that is where I'm currently at, anxiously awaiting and dreading my next appointment to see him. I'm kind of hoping that what happened with my left ear will point more to a Eustachian tube problem and not something directly related to the fact that apparently I have semi circular canal dehiscence and that hopefully eventually these symptoms will just go away. I know this is probably pretty far fetched, and I'm probably being neurotic but I'm honestly worried that one day I'm going to just wake up and not be able to hear anymore. I just want it all to stop 😦

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