Triggers of ETD

I'm not even sure what mine is caused from. I had a cold in December fell asleep, woke up and been this way ever since. Did you have known allgeries before ETD?

Yes I've had allergies since I was 18 so most of my life. Mostly seasonal but they've gotten worse as I get older.

So you get relief every 8 weeks or so? And you didn't have a problem until after you wit smoking? I get no relief at all, just get worse with humid weather. I have never noticed alcohol or caffeine maybe I don't drink either enough to see a pattern. How long have you suffered? Have you ever had or thought about having the balloon dilation?

I attribute my ETD to a combination of allergies, giving up smoking, possibly weight gain as a result, and work related stress, but who knows!

I've had ETD for the last 4 years, which started off as a complete left side blockage for a few months, then middle ear infection, tinnitus, labyrintihitis etc etc. It was a nightmare that ending in me having grommets. Over another year, things started to settle considerably. Fast forward 4 years, and my symptoms are nowhere near as severe, and much easier to deal with. My tinnitus is moderate, my tubes are mainly open but click quite alot. I have good periods and bad periods. When it gets bad, the only thing that seems to help me is inhaling steam at least twice a day with either eucalytus or tea tree oil. Tea tree oil seems to work much better for me, as an anti-inflammatory. I combine that with twice daily neti pot rinses to keep things moving, and dymista spray. Apart from that, I've tried many things that made no difference to me personally, but everyone is different ie: daily anti-histamine, steroid sprays, dairy free, agressive dust control, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, etc etc, but they didn't help me personally as much as steam and neti pot rinses do.

Balloon dilation isn't available in UK as far as I know, and I'm not sure how long term that is as a solution. I'm sure ot helps some people, but i don't know anything about it.

It's extremely frustrating that the DRs and ENTs seem to know nothing about the condition, in UK at least.. The best advice i can give to anyone else going through this is, you WILL get better, so relax and try to manage it as best you can, with whatever works for you, because it may take some time. Stress and anxiety most definitely makes everything worse in my experience. 

I'm the same way. Only drink some on weekends and think it's worse then.

I totally agree with what you said about how stress and anxiety definitely compound the problem and makes things worse. That’s what happened to me. About 4 weeks ago I got sick with bad cold and strep throat. It eventually made my ears plug up and increased the tinnitus I have always had but never bothered me until it got ramped up. Got prescribed Amoxicillin. 

Strep went away in couple days but ears remained plugged. Was told to keep taking The Amoxicillin till it was gone. I started getting anxiety and it increased very aggressively over the next couple of weeks. I did some research on Amoxicillin and found it can cause adverse reactions like anxiety and central nervous system damage. I think the combination of that and the plugged ears gave me horrible anxiety. 

I went to GP today and he thinks I have ETD and no fluid in my ears because my ear drum was actually retracted instead of pushing out if there was fluid. 

My Eustachion tubes need to open back up. Been told it can take time. He did give me a prescription for Hydroxyzine (antihistamine and anti-anxiety) to see if that can help with opening up the tubes and helping with the anxiety a little through out the day and a mild sleep aid to help me sleep at night. 

I haven’t gotten much sleep last few weeks which I’m sure has helped increase the anxiety. Sleep deprivation can wreak havoc on your nervous system. 

I am also taking some natural supplements to help with the anxiety ( Glycine tablets and Honokiol extract) they are both very good for resetting your brain and nervous system to healthy levels. 

Stressing about the ears doesn’t help at all. It can be scary and difficulties and even though mine are still plugged, just hearing other people say they will eventually pop open just makes a person feel better. The body is a complicated thing, but it usually finds a way to heal itself and that is what I am hoping for. 

I'm sorry to hear that. I sometimes feel as though I hear my heartbeat or a thumping. It's really annoying but it passes fairly quickly. It worries me a bit and probably doesn't help my anxiety with the whole thing.

Yeah I've had that in both ears at different times. It's called pulsatile tinnitus. It seemed to last about a month each time for me but worse at night. Sleeping upright a bit seemed to help.

I'm sorry you are dealing with it. I'm sure it's unnerving.