Do any of you have these symptoms? I have told three of my doctor's about these and they say nothing or tell me simple things to do...Sometimes hard to describe and they look at me like a need a shrink. I don't know if they are important or not. 1. Ear drum weirdness. I can tap on the side of my face, head, or tap my ear, and I get weird sounds from my ears, like being in a hollow hole, or just stuffed sound. I can put my finger in my ear and pressurize it, or blow air through my nose and my ear drums do not feel right. 2. Ear drums don't seem to extend or vibrate and are sometimes frozen by stickiness. 3. Of all sounds, lower bass is the worse, almost unintelligible. It is as if my ears are poor stereo speakers that a teenager used too long in their old car--cracking and popping. 4. When I use steroid drops my left ear (with tube) just pops. It just happens randomly and hurts. 5. Physical pain while my hearing aids are in my ear. I have itching and just pain sometimes. 6. If I am up to late at night, my hearing declines precipitously watching TV and then I get vision distortions. 7. Lower my head, turn my head quickly, or close my eyes to any level makes me dizzy and I have pain around the face and jaw. Seeing an allergist next week. 8. Headaches almost every day which seems to be consistent with loud ringing in the ears. 9. Constant lightheaded feeling. Thanks for any input on these...
Yes, i did. I had these symptoms nonstop for many months. I used the same analogy to a broken speaker in an old car radio. The wierdness seemed to be endless and i could not even recognize a bass as anything. I often could not recognize the voices of famous men when i heard their voices on tv. I could go on and on. I did not have a headache. Antivirals (acyclovir) corrected all the distortion for me. It took a hefty dose for several months. I also got some hearing improvement and corrected the eustacian tube issuew when flying etc from allergy shots. But the distortion responded most to the acyclovir. It does take time though and it is a gradual improvement. But i have had normal hearing now for many years. Dont give up hope. And yes, i know exactly what it is like and how hard it is to convey it to the doctors.
However ... you do have some symptoms i didnt. Have you had an mri? Have you considered migraine? Sometimes the same symptoms can be caused by different things. Good luck, stay positive.
Thanks June, I have had an MRI (no problems) but then I was told I should have a 3D special MRI of the ears only. It seems every time you have something done you learn more or there is an improvement--a good thing I think but this MRI was over 6k and insurance did not cover it all. Next week seeing an allergist and then the next week a Neurologist for the headaches. When my whole issue got started on November 11, 2016 the first thing I felt were distended and stuffy ears/ear drums on the left side and it went down from there with tinnitus, hearing distortions, and loss etc. Now I have just started this feeling with the ear drums on my right ear. I have my antivirals ready to go, but giving my current doctor a chance before I start. My doctor gave me a handout about not bending down to avoid dizziness, but this seems odd to me...what causes it?
I've had many of those symptoms. The TV experience sounds like MAV. The pain in the face and jaw sounds like TMJ. The distorted low sounds sounds like Menieres. I have all of those. Pre-antivirals everything got worse if I didn't get enough sleep. It's a lot to untangle, but I've untangled a lot, and things are much better. I don't know about the bending down. I wish I'd discovered and started antivirals sooner. I think I'd have kept more of my hearing. I'm passing that on because I wish someone had told me.
I think bending over just generally messes with blood pressure and predisposes one to dizzyness and if you already have some dizzy or balance issues you want to be careful.