Does tinnitus in "good" ear mean I'm going bilateral???

Discussion in 'Your Living Room' started by Seatlegirl, Jan 19, 2009.

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  1. Seatlegirl

    Seatlegirl New Member

    I freaked out when I woke up this morning with tinnitus and a feeling of pressure in my GOOD ear. Argh!!! Since I was diagnosed in 1994, I've never had even one whiff of a problem with my left ear.

    I could tell something was coming, since my balance was a little off yesterday and we had a busy weekend with 3 parties, which means more sodium and alcohol and less sleep than normal. I'm also congested.

    My docs office is closed today due to the holiday, but I can't just sit around. Does this mean I'm going bilateral???? I have a very good attitude about Meniere's and I just roll with it, but I'm going to have a tough time being my usual polyanna self if this hits both ears.
     
  2. June-

    June- New Member

    I don't know. I had tinnitus in a deaf ear (not mm related) for a long time. I also woke up with a blaring new tinnitus in my hydrops ear the other day. Something told me it was sinus related. I used flonase and the awful siren went away in 15 minutes and the donald duckness of voices corrected in about 2 1/2 hours. I hope yours is something like mine was. (I had a new piece of furniture in the bedroom that reeked of varnish the night before this happened).
     
  3. survivedit

    survivedit New Member

    Really too soon to say - could just be an anomaly. I had tiinitus in my good ear for over 20 years before it went. I wouldn't try to read too much into it.

    Bob
     
  4. wileyriley

    wileyriley New Member

    I had a similar experience this past summer. Some ringing in my good ear along with some fullness. I was also much dizzier than normal. I got very freaked out. I went for my usual ENT appt and hearing test. It turned out my bard ear was much worse. My hearing had dropped in my bad ear. My good ear looked perfectly normal. I started using Nasacort nasal spray to help open up my sinuses and eustachean tube. This has seemed to help and my good ear feels much better. Once in a while, it will ring for a minute or two but that's it. The audiologist said my good ear was extra sensitive to pressures because it was compensating for my bad ear. I don't have that phrased right but I'm just trying to say it could be you have something similar going on. Hope you feel better soon.
     
  5. brentomatic

    brentomatic New Member

    Tinnitus has moved to my good ear as well. Like you, this causes great concern for me. No fullness or hearing loss, just tinnitus.

    Stupid ears...! ::)
     
  6. poppaharley

    poppaharley Meniere's: God's answer to a free merry-go-round

    I have a strange situation depending upon the frequency of the tinnitus. Mine varies when I do have it. Usually it's pretty low level, especially since I've been doing JOH, but sometimes it does really get loud. When it's loud, it can sound like a jet whine or lower frequency like cicadas buzzing. When this is the case, it's very obvious that it's in my right ear. However, usually the tinnitus is very soft and not alwways noticable in many environments. However, it is at an extremely high frequency. It's like at the upper limit of when I get audiograms. Probably up there with dog whistles, who knows. When this happens, it's hard to tell which ear it's in.... it could almost be either or both because the sound more or less "fills my head". There seems to be no direction but it's all around.

    Tony
     
  7. poppaharley

    poppaharley Meniere's: God's answer to a free merry-go-round

    Pass on through. This was a double post by mistake and I can't figure out how to get rid of it
     
  8. mel b

    mel b New Member

    Hi. I have same thing plus the need to 'clear' or 'pop' my good ear. And I can clear it then like 5 seconds later it 'fills-up' again......Anyways, just went to doctor and he said I was fine. And that the good ear was still good. How he knows this I have no idea but Im choosing to believe it 150%.

    Mel B
     
  9. JRod

    JRod New Member

    Hello,

    I haven't had the tinnitus hit my good ear. Having said that, I have extremely sensitive ears. Consequently, whenever my good ear itches, pops, or feels sore I have the same thoughts that your having. (How's that for being paranoid?!!) Depending on which numbers/poll you want to believe, there's about a 15%-40% it will hit the other ear. My Doc is in the %15 camp. He's in his early 60's and claims that he's never seen a patient go from unilateral to bilateral. I find that hard to believe, but try to take comfort that the %'s are in your favor.

    Furthermore, (Note, I DON'T have my ENT Degree laying around) I don't think anyone (including the dr's) could definatively say one way or another if your going bliateral just on the Tinnitus/fullness that you've had the past couple of days. I would imagine the doc will check your hearing and whatever other tests he has in mind. Hopefully it will go away and be end of story.

    JRod
     
  10. mel b

    mel b New Member

    Yes, both MM doctors that I have talked to said only 10%-20% go bilateral. Odds are in our favor...then again, who the heck gets MM to begin with???? Ha,ha

    Someone here said too that their doctor told them that if it does go bilateral, it is not as severe as in the initial ear.


    Mel B
     
  11. Carrie~Anne

    Carrie~Anne the sounds of birds stops the noise in my mind

    I have MM in my right ear, but when I first started getting the feeling that something wasn't right with my ears (before my first vertigo attack), I had fullness/roaring/tinnitus in both my ears (hearing loss only in right ear). Then after 3 months of that, I had my first series of vertigo attacks.

    The drs. say that because I'm having symptoms of MM in both ears now, they can't rule out that I'm going bilateral, but it also doesn't mean I am. They told me to just keep an eye on things and if my symptoms worsen, then to come back in for reassessment. I also have developed mild hearing loss in my left ear as well now.

    I have to say that, the tinnitus is worse in my left (good) ear then it is in my MM ear though. Time will tell. I'm really stopped worrying about this whole thing and I'm trying not to borrow trouble. When/If it happens, then I'll deal with it. Not much I can do to change it anyways. ;)
     
  12. Seatlegirl

    Seatlegirl New Member

    Thanks to everyone for their replies. My ear felt full with a low level tinnitus that day, but it gradually improved all day and was gone by the next. I had some nasal congestion, so I really hope it was an anomaly. My husband pointed out that tinnitus happens to people without MM all the time, and to give it time to see what happens next.
     
  13. AnneT

    AnneT New Member

    Thanks for these posts - it's calming me down a little. I've been enjoying this reprieve of not thinking about my ear/balance much for many months. LOUD tinnitus in my 'good' ear today has me freaked - will I be totally deaf? Spinning and puking? Can I go to work tomorrow?
    Ok, just breath, use Flonase and migraine meds, be prepared to ditch my driving duties today...
     
  14. recentlydizzy

    recentlydizzy New Member

    My bad ear is the left according to a VNG but my right ear is the one that always bothers me so go figure. When I was told about the results of the VNG the audiologist said pain, pressure, and discomfort on the good ear was not necessarily an indication of an inner ear problem as evidenced by my VNG. The bad ear never bothered me and was a complete surprise to me on exam.
     
  15. kaiguy55

    kaiguy55 New Member

    It's great reading this thread, as I developed tinnitus in my "good" ear (the left) about 6 months ago, with the last year or so being especially hard in my MM ear. I was afraid this was an indicator I was heading to bilateral, but so far the tinnitus is the only thing in that ear, and I generally only hear it when I plug that ear or am trying to fall asleep, of course...

    What does everyone's tinnitus sound like? Mine is a low hum/cicadas in the bad ear and an almost musical, higher-pitched noise in my good ear. It sounds strange, but it reminds me of what it sounds like when water runs through old radiant heaters. So odd.
     
  16. recentlydizzy

    recentlydizzy New Member

    My tinnitus reminded me of a hearing test. The puretone part of a hearing test where you hear a tone and press the button. I remember wondering to myself is that the tone or is that my tinnitus. The key for me was knowing the puretone beeps and my tinnitus is a steady high pitched tone. Also I have had a very deep low tone in my ear for only a couple of minutes but that was after an experiment I did with my trucks audio system of 1000 watts pushing two 12 inch woofers at 25hrtz. Needless to say my system bumping days are over.
     
  17. annegina

    annegina New Member

    I have tinnitus in both ears and was diagnosed unilateral in 2006
    The bad left ear has definite hearing loss and I wear an aid in that one which does help.
    the right "good" one has tinnitus but the hearing is still OK--I am going for a checkup tomorrow and a hearing test
    at my oto's tomorrow. It's easy to be paranoid--though as someone said nothing you can do about it and don't borrow trouble.
    I also get a lot of wax buildup and when he cleans my ears out it sure helps the hearing!!!
     
  18. Karenplus8

    Karenplus8 New Member

    I had a vng and echo and the report said I had Menieres in my right ear. I already knew that but a week later I had fullness and tinnitus in my left ear and it hasn't gone away. I can only assume I have Menieres in both ears now.
     
  19. Philosopher

    Philosopher New Member

    Bilateral tinnitus of the high pitched kind is not indicative of Meniere's but rather, of noise induced damage. The tinnitus associated with Meniere's is a very low tone roaring or sea-shell like sounding sound and is always of the low tone kind. The docs I saw at HEI in Los Angeles told me that one of the tell-tale signs they consider when working towards a Meniere's diagnosis is the patient's description of their tinnitus. If they describe a chronic high-pitched type of tinnitus, they know to steer clear of a Meniere's diagnosis.
     
  20. AKJim

    AKJim Giant's Causeway Northern Ireland

    This isn't necessarily true. In my case, the Meniere's in my second ear was much worse than the initial ear.
     

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