Tinnitus?

I live on quite a quiet road and, after we had more acoustically-insulated windows installed, I found that my tinnitus was more noticeable because it was so quiet. Sometimes putting on a rain-sounds app is quite good at maintaining a pleasant amount of background noise.

Fucking school in front of my house had an alarm go off for nearly 50 minutes. Now it’s still going off in my skull... Idiots.

I'm booked for a full ear health examination and hearing test next week due to the following:

Recent (past month at least ) constant high pitched ringing in both ears.
This is on the back of the following background - i had a chest infection back when i was 21/22 )I'm now 50) and this resulted in my ears/eustachian tubes feeling blocked and muffled.
This has never resolved and often i've forgotten about it and learnt to live with it but have occasionally consulted a GP about it - nasal sprays didn't work and that's all they offered me in the UK.
Numerous times a day I try to equalise the pressure in my ears , as you do on a plane but this results in a load of strange noises and pressure changes then back to the muffled baseline!
In NZ i had a CT Scan which showed nothing out of the ordinary however the Doctor did say something about the stuffy feeling being due to a mechanical cause (jaw/ear bones?) but then nothing else came of that.
I will update following my hearing exam - i wonder if hearing aids would help.. ?

Similar symptoms to me. Turned out it was a cholesteatoma.

My left ear is playing up again now, need to go back.

Go see a proper specialist is my advice. Most doctors even ENT ones are not good at spotting this.

Thanks,
yes i think paying privately for a consultation might be the way to go on this as Covid/GP/waiting lists will slow down the process i reckon.
What was your treatment for the cholesteatoma if you don't mind me asking?

I had all this shit done.

Treatment
Although surgery is rarely urgent, once a cholesteatoma is found, surgical treatment is the only choice. Surgery usually involves a mastoidectomy to remove the disease from the bone, and tympanoplasty to repair the eardrum. The exact type of operation is determined by the stage of the disease at the time of surgery.

Mastoidectomy: When an infection or cholesteatoma has grown into the mastoid (the bone behind your ear), we will open the bone to remove the disease. Sometimes this requires removing all the bony walls within your ear to create an open cavity. This process is called an "open cavity," "canal wall down," or a "radical mastoidectomy." Sometimes the bony partitions can be preserved, resulting in a canal wall up”, or “closed cavity” mastoidectomy.

Tympanoplasty: This refers to repair of the eardrum and hearing mechanism. The eardrum is repaired with a graft of cartilage or fascia (the lining of the muscle behind your ear). Usually this type of repair is successful in closing holes in the eardrum permanently. If the small bones involved in hearing are damaged, we will try to repair them with natural bone or cartilage, or synthetic prostheses made of bone mineral. We use natural bone whenever possible.

Cholesteatoma surgery, which is delicate surgery performed under a microscope, usually takes 2 to 3 hours, and patients may go home the same day. It is very important to remove the disease completely, or it may grow back. The rate of re-growth is higher in children than adults. Because of the aggressive nature of cholesteatoma, we ask patients come in regularly for careful follow-up. Sometimes a second operation will be necessary

The consultant I saw who first identified the issue was Mr Nicholas Eynon-Lewis and the Surgeon was Mr Michael Wareing

Been down this road with both ears Mastoidectomy surgery on both ears twice, coupled with a Tympanoplasty on the left, too risky on the right ear. Mr Tim Mitchell was my consultant/surgeon, nice guy. Hearing has been a nightmare since my early twenties. hey-ho.

Grim. How often do you go back for check-ups?
What's the prognosis for right ear?

Dire

Had a weird experience a about 4 years ago when I was camping in France. I work up one morning with a quite loud high pitched hissing sound in one ear, like a whining tv static. By coincidence I had been bitten super badly that evening by harvest mites, this is probably unrelated though. I just thought my ear was blocked but then I started hearing the noise in the other ear now too. Went back home and had hearing tests and examinations at 3 different ENT practices and all we found out was that I had 15% hearing loss and they couldn't find a physical medical reason as to why I had these sounds. Tried steroids but that didn't work.
They reckon it was partly due to many years of loud gigs/loud headphones and my job where we have lots of loud power tools and banging and that it happened suddenly when I was camping because just before that I was really stressed out with work/life stuff.

Since then I've been super careful around loud noises and always wear ear protection at gigs and at work. I have't used headühones/ear buds for 4 years or so. I always cover my ears when sirens go past or I go past loud road works.
I have these annoying noises constantly but they are particularly bad when im stressed, hungover or worn out.
Any good advice? Someone mentioned something about a pressure chamber that can help?

I have tinnitus. Not formally diagnosed, but the classic ringing/whooshing.

And my left ear is pretty much useless, as far as a I can tell. I don’t know if there’s damage or if I just need syringing… I really should make a GP appointment to get things sorted.

Really interested in any advice that comes from @sorethroat resurrecting this thread.

I would say 100% get it diagnosed. They'll do hearing tests as well and write off anything else that it could be. You might be able to get it fixed by a just a deep clean/syringing. You might have something like:

who has diagnosed me with a Cholesteatoma which requires surgery to remove as it gets progressively worse.

It would be worth paying to see a private Dr to rule out such things.

I don't know who posted that (deleted account) but they thought they had tinnitus and instead it was some heinous growth in the ear.

Christ. That’s helped my health anxiety no end. XD

You’re absolutely right though.

Most doctors no longer clean out ears.

Might be easier for somewhere like Specsavers to sort you out with a pure tone audiogram and micro suction (to remove wax and stuff from ears) and take it from there.

Trying to get it free on the NHS might be a bit of a challenge.

Interestingly, I passed my age related medical which involves a hearing test for sure safety reasons. shrug

Good advice, thanks.

Cholesteatoma will present with symptoms like tinnitus and progressive hearing loss. Definitely best to get checked out. Completely ruined my hearing, so really one not to ignore.

First rule is don't panic, it may be something really banal, like bit of stress. Second rule is to get it checked out. Especially if one sided and loss of hearing on that side. My own experience.

I'm assuming ENT docs recognise this fairly easily with their ear microscopes right?

Could well be stress - I seem to spend most of my time in a heightened state. So if I don’t have a stroke, I suppose I might go a bit mutton…!

I work on trains so need hearing to be of a specific standard, always had tests and have loss but only of very specific frequencies caused by loud engine noise. Unfortunately it is self inflicted due to always having the availability of ear defenders. It is not medically proven, as are all causes of tinnitus, but is thought to be the brain trying to fill in the gaps left by the damage.
I have hearing aids, but don't get much benefit from them as they are tuned to my lost frequencies. They are most useful for listening to music and telephone calls, so still wear them.

An aside, the frequencies required for being trackside, in driving cabs and around trains in general are all fine, so when out of the office have to take aids out as I passed the tests without them.

I think the best thing to deal with Tinnitus is to reconcile yourself to it and learn coping mechanisms, in everything I have read there is no cure available and none close.

Hope so. Have you noticed how it goes away while near running water like river or in woods?
I'd still go to see ENT specialist, as said my personal experience, can share more in PM if you want.

There are lots of times when I’m not aware of it. And come to think of it, when I’m out and about walking, running or riding. I’m more relaxed in those moments, but there is also background noise.

I am going to sort a GP appointment (and counselling for the stress/anxiety) but it would be good to hear anything you’re willing to share over PM if not on the open forum.