Ear pain/fulness for Two YEARS. I just want a diagnosis :/

Hi jenny. Yes,I thought two years was long enough, but 5 years! I expect to follow the same route as I don't see my condition improving any time soon. I have taken nasal drops of a few different kinds...which seemed to help an ear infection I was fighting at the time but I was told to just wait it out.

What I don't understand is if it is ETD, then why does certain frequencies make my ear worse. I can barley make music without feeling fatigued or dizzy, even at very low volume. Strangley enough, I also found that when I listen to music or watch YouTube videos through my headphones at low volume...it seems to SOOTHE my ear and the crackling and fulness reduced or dissappears very quickly...not always but definitely about 80% of the time. Its almost like my brain is being overprotecting and it's signalling pain when there really isn't or shouldn't be any and that when I listen to music at work in the background on my headphones, it's the only thing that has brought me temporary relief. I often go to work all dizzy with my ear congested and feel terrible and just want to go to bed, but soon after arriving at work and put my headphones on, I feel much better.

I have been looking into the relationship between ETD and acoustics/frequencies, but the main causes of ETD typically don't refer to it being because of sound.

Hi, It sounds like you have suffered acoustic shock. The University of Western Australia's Masters of Audiology students have studied this. Not sure how you get hold of these papers, but the three you will find interesting are:  "Karen Parfitt and Robert Patuzzi -An Audiological Investigation into Acoustic Shock from Telephones," "Nicola Taylor - Acoustic Shock Injury (ASI) and the 'flutter': An Examination of Oscillatory Ear Drum Movements in Normal Individuals and the Effect of Stress" and "Liew, Angela - An Investigation into the Physiological Control Mechanisms of the Tensor Tympani Muscle and its Role in Acoustic Shock."

Dizziness caused by sound is often 'Semi cirular canal dehiscence.' I would get a second opinion from another experienced ENT. Perhaps one that is a professor. You can mention both of these causes and they can assess if these are the reason for your symptoms. I hope you find answers very soon. That is a long time to have suffered and doesn't sound like eustachian tube dysfunction.

Hello sudechain yes I understand what you mean I can't even listen to music anymore because the sound makes my right ear drum flutter even the sound of my voice if I talk dose it to my right ear And certain high pitched noise also do it to my right ear I was told my ent that it's hycauseius I think that's what it's called but it's caused by the tubes messing up you might want to try another ent to get another opinion what I have learned over the years is that anything can cause the ears to mess up they are so delicate I wish you best of luck I hope you get healed soon

Thanks for the reply. Will try and hunt down those research papers. I agree...it definitely sounds like acoustic trauma. But at the same time, I can understand why ETD has been diagnosed because of the fulness, crackly and popping which are classic signs of ETD. thanks again

It must be awful to not be able to listen to music. If you do, how does it make you react? Thankfully I can listen to music...its just some frequencies that affect me,particularly when producing because it's a balancing act of the frequency spectrum and if I have a buildup of high frequencies then it affects me. I have learned to deal with it. The main symptom is fulness of the ear, so I just have to put up with it if I want to produce and keep the volume low. Sometimes...when I make certain songs, some seem to soothe my ears more than others, with others triggering an 'episode' of dizziness and fulness etc

My ENT specialist said that I have very sensitive ears and a lot of musicians do too. Im always covering my ears when an ambulance goes past. Im always amazed how nobody else does

Yes I have very delicate ears too its mostly the high pitched sounds that bug me right now let me clarify something for you at the moment I'm pregant and ever since I been pregant my ears have went bad the sound thing started with my pregnancy so doctor said it's due to hormones and it should go away after birth but I also have an echo when I speak that also started with pregnancy before I was pregnant I had pressure and fullness in my ears but it didn't bug as bad now I still have those sysmtoms but ten times worse but doc says it's from pregancy hormones and it will go away after birth in you're case I think the pressure and fullness will go away sometimes it just takes a while for the tubes to get back to normal

Oh and one more thing yes certain types of music I'm ok but others not I just avoid in all cuz I'm so scared making my ears worse I know you can't but try to protect your ears as much as you can you can get these special plugs not the foam ones but there's these plugs made for musisns which makes the sounds but you still can hear it really protects your ears they are pricy but in my opinion worth it to protect your ears from all these symptoms

Hi

Mine started with flu turned into ear infection.

When my daughter plays music it hurts.  I turned it down so I couldn't hear it but that was worse cause I could feel it but didn't know where it was coming from.

When I had my ears tested I couldn't hear 6 khz in my right ear but everything else was ok.  I also have a inflamed scab on the posterior wall of the middle ear (somewhere near ear drum and sinus).  This scab is prob why I can't hear 6 khz.  Joy of more antibiotic. Now waiting to see ent for first time.

Don't know if that help cause your test came back good but it something to compare to.

Last night I tried listening to classical recommended by sound therapy to drain ears, via you tube.  Mostly it was ok but the high notes hurt.  Glad I didn't have ear phones on.  Don't think it helped much, maybe I need ear phones.  Will try again today, can't hurt right.

 

Well I'm definitely not pregnant hehe. Im sure your condition will heal soon...

I can't imagine it lasting for years. Yes I try to protect my ears more than ever now...I don't even go to clubs or bars any more and haven't even long before this happened. It really makes you appreciate your hearing because there so delicate and it's just so amazing to feel amazing. On the good days I experience I am so happy and thankful but I know full well that tomorrow I could have another episode so I appreciate each day. Oh and yes I have heard about those custom made ear plugs...a lot of djs wear them when they perform. I don't dj at the moment but if I do I will definitely be wearing them at all costs. Yes I know what you mean about being scared about listening to music. I read something interesting that damaging your ear is like a footballer damaging his calf in many respects because if the footballer resumes to the field too soon after injury, then the injury will be worse and prolonged, and our ears are no different in that we must rebuild their resistance and strength gradually otherwise it's back to square one.

I listened to my headphones again at work tonight at low volume and within a few minutes, the fulness dissapeared greatly again, when all day, my ear has been full for the most part. This has been a common trend as I previously mentioned so it's just food for thought for anybody reading this. I guess its working in the same context as sound Therapy.

Sorry to hear about your situation. I'm sure if it's safe to do so your ENT will suggest having the scab removed if it is a permanent fixture. I know that ear canals can store skin debris and shredded skin from the ear also and that can play havoc to ETD. I hope you get some answers when you visit the ENT.

And just a bit of random trivia...high frequencies travel in a straight line so if ever you are in the crossfire of high frequencies I.e. A violinist happens to play right in front of you step to the side away from the firing line.

Hi and low frequencies don't travel differently, they just have different beats per second.  Maybe high frequencies hurt more because they vibrate faster.

 

When you said that fullness disappeared does that mean that they drained (you were swallowing yucky stuff) or that they felt better. 

Maybe relaxing listening to music helped you feel better while workingwith music you need to concentrate so couldn't relax. 

Maybe the music physically opened your ears. Vibrations on the ear drum and through the mastoid bone.

(still trying to find evidence of this working)

 

Hi Jenny there is a eustachian tube disorder called Patulous Eustachian tube PET, where your voice echoes (this is called autophony.) Sometimes you can hear your breathing too. It occurs when the eustachian tube is too open and you can feel "fullness" in your ears. It is the opposite of blocked up eustachian tubes or 'eustachian tube dysfunction ETD' where the eustachian tubes won't easily allow air to move from the back of your nose to behind your ear drum. ETD feels blocked and pressurised which people often say is " fullness' in their ears. If the symptoms are bothering you a lot, it would be worth seeing and ENT (ear nose and throat) specialist who can assess you. You need to find one that specialises in PET as many don't.

Hello olizzieo yes I know it's called pet have you ever experienced this yourself ever since I got pregnant I got the echo thing I never had that before I went to over 5 ent doctors and they said pet is caused by pregnancy hormones they think I have both pet and ETD due to my nose function they think I go back and fourth when they look at my eardrum it dosent move when I breath in and out they say with pet it's suppose to move when they look at my tube they say it's not open I'm so confused because all my symptoms point to pet which I read online can be caused by pregnancy hormones but it says it goes away after birth I'm really hoping because the autophony really bugs me. Thank you for your reply just wondering if you youself have ever experienced this?

My ears didn’t drain and wasn't swallowing yucky stuff. The sensation or fulness that I experience is like inflammation in my ear...there is no liquid feeling like when your suffering from a cold and when your nose gets blocked and unblocked repeatedly through different nostrils throughout the day.

I actually work at the post office part time. Music production is not my profession but I am working towards it so I make music by day and work at the post office in the evening where we are allowed to listen to music while working. I should really start putting headphones on at home and listen to some other stuff when I'm experiencing fulness. I only just came to this conclusion recently.

Hi Jenny, no I haven't experienced it but do test for it at the audiological clinic that I work at. Are you being treated for ETD as those medication could be prolonging your PET  or worsening it? I wish ENTs would routinely do tympanograms as that would give you information on what your middle ear is doing. This is the one way to tell you if your ear is blocked up or has negative pressure (as it would be with ETD) or if it moves normally (which it would with PET.) Jenny where do you live? Is there an audiologist that performs PET testing? It will also tell you if your breathing is synchronous with your ear drum movement. Have you had a hearing test which shows a conductive hearing loss (this often shows up with ETD.) The other thing you could do is have hormone testing to see if there is something going on. Often if you have lost a lot of weight, as can occur after pregnancy, you can suffer PET. Please let me know how you go!! x

Hi olizzieo I did do a hearing test in the beginning of my pregnancy and they said everything was fine I have been to over 5 ent doctors and they all said it's caused by pregnancy I'm still pregnant currently I'm 8 months u have read that weight loss can affect it too that's my biggest fear after I give birth and all the weight comes off it might get worse but doc keep telling me it's the hormones right now in my body causing it because I never had this before pregnancy so it's gotta be they say after birth once my hormones start to go back to normal it should go away so I'm staying hopefull I haven't gained much weight I gained about 12 pounds so far I think half of that is baby and water and placenta I'm going to try not to loose the weight after birth so it doesn't get worse but I'm hoping this will go away after birth I also talk to many pregant women and they say the same thing currently I'm not taking any medication for it which is good since it can make it worse but I feel like doctors just ignore me since they see I'm pregant and they don't really want to do test because their response is pregnacy it dose get frustrating though thank you for all the info you were very helpful

So glad you are still pregnant. I thought you must have had your baby 6 months or so ago. At least you can count down the days now. If PET did go on much after you have your baby, there is a lot that can be done, so don't worry about it. Like you say, no one wants to treat you with medications when you are pregnant. Some specialists have used swimming in a chlorinated pool, to improve PET symptoms. The chlorine blocks up the eustachian tubes. That is something you could try while you are pregnant, and it can't hurt the baby. x

Hi Sidechain

sorry for the delay but life calls.

It would have satisfied curiosity to have someone else claim relief from sound.  Hope you feel better. Hope you still enjoy the music. 2 years of suffering must be really aweful.  Good luck and  feel better soon.

Hi leila. Thanks for the kind words. I hope you too find some answers. Thanks for posting. All the best