Looking for a bit more information on my own case of tinnitus and hearing loss - and to see if anyone has had any similar experiences. I'm 37 btw - so unlikely to be related to age. Basically this is what's happened below:
April 2023 - ear wax blockage in both ears - so used olive oil drops (as prescribed by GP) before going back for a syringing appointment at the doctors. I noticed some funny sounds at higher frequencies in my left ear before the syringing - slightly distorted 'robotic' sounding higher frequencies. I put this down to the blockage. When getting ears syringed - right was fine, but I experienced a sharp pain in my left when the water got behind the wax. The wax was removed but I was left with very loud tinnitus and the continued distortion of higher frequencies.
Ever since then it's been a battle to get a proper referral to ENT (the NHS can be slow in the UK and the GP was at first reluctant to do anything about it saying just wait to see if it clears up) - I've had an audiology appointment and they have noted moderate hearing loss in the lower frequencies. She said it was likely nerve damage as no other obvious signs of trauma/infection. I'm waiting now on an appointment to see the ENT consultant (which will be in September).
The audiologist did note that if I had been seen in the first 48 hours, they would have prescribed steroids, but too late for that now (slightly frustrating thing to know!).
Tinnitus has been almost constant since the syringing, though has fluctuated and changed sounds from hissing, ringing, etc. The distortion has also often changed and is sometimes much more noticeable than other times. It can be really disconcerting and has often very much affected my mood. I'm a big music fan, and it's felt like quite a loss to not be able to hear it like I did.
The wait for the consultant in the hospital has been slightly killing me though - but maybe there's nothing they can really do other than offer a hearing aid? Would a visit to a ENT private surgeon be worth it at this point?
Thank you for any input - would love to hear if anyone has similar stories or ideas of what might be happening here..
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DoubleAdvantage
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I always begin by saying that we are all different, everyone's experience is personal to them. Also I have no medical qualifications, but I have suffered from T for more than 20 years and have read many stories, in addition to my own.
When my T started, and my GP (a very good careful, caring, GP by the way), made the usual observation that I might have to live with this , my first response was to pay for a private ENT appointment immediately. I was referred, paid for the usual MRI (no tumour, as expected), and audiology tests. The result, after two appointments, was that my hearing then (it has deteriorated since - I grow old), was quite good, and that I would have to learn to live with it. TRT was recommended, but I didn't take that up.
The onset of T is often utterly unpredictable. I think of the whole condition as a chaotic system. Some little thing, or nothing at all, sets it off, and that, often, is all we know.
About 6 years ago my hearing did deteriorate and the T grew louder. I saw a good NHS ENT and had another MRI. The outcome / advice were the same as before, but I was referred to my excellent local NHS audiology unit, who carried out very comprehensive tests and provided a hearing aid including masker. In my case the aid is helpful in reducing the daytime level of my T. Some patients find the same, others don't.
As far as I know, there have been no significant developments in physical T diagnosis / treatments since then, but talking therapies (TRT, CBT, Mindfulness), continue to help many people.
Apart from giving you the experience of one more sufferer to add to your portfolio, my point comes down to this. It may relieve your anxiety to a greater or lesser extent if you see an ENT privately, but unless you are prepared to pay also for an MRI / more audiology, my own feeling (I may be wrong), is that you might not get anything more than that out of it, and the MRI can probably wait until provided free in any case.
Hi sorry I can't help too much sorry to hear this. My situation is different I set off a loud alarm 140d decibels for a few seconds and and I immediately called 111 on Saturday they said call the gp on Monday to check I did ask if I need to go a and e the lady on 111 spoke to her manager/paramedic asking she said no necessary. 6 days later I saw the Dr and they didn't seem to realise how loud 140 decibels was and said if not cleared up in 2 weeks come back. He said you' need to be exposed for a lot longer but he was looking online as he looked it up and he was looking at 100 to 120 decibels not 140! However my symptoms are all new to me and I'm not the expert so I didn't argue. After 2 weeks I saw another Dr and he said alarms that loud wouldn't be sold or they'd be getting sued etc I said they are being sold easy to get hold off etc. He said he'll write to the ent to see.
I said I heard you need to have steroids or treatment quite soon after acoustic shock trauma he said he has never heard of that
I went to specsavers the audiologist so I have mild hearing loss in the left ear but eardrums and ears look healthy and tinitus is common.
I also saw someone at hidden hearing and she said my eardrum looks like it has some features she hasn't seen before such as ripples so she is writing to my gp to see of they can refer me to ent
5 weeks and 2 days now cannot believe that buying a cheap alarm to offer some sort of peace of mind for me and my children has created the worst 5 weeks of my life
The worst thing about all this is the Dr won't see the children as they wrote unless there is signs off hearing loss we cannot see them and there is a 6 month wait for ENT please see specsavers for a fee
However specsavers won't see children even with a fee
The Dr only looked in my sons ear as he was with me and apparently his ears are full of wax
The lady at hidden hearing looked I'm my daughters ears and her left ear is full only. Which was the side the alarm went off
My daughter had slight achy ears fot a few days
My son has had some ringing and slight muffling lil pressure but not constant.
So some damage must have happened and I'm scared symptoms will come on later a lady wrote somewhere that after a firecracker went off symptons didn't come on for 40 days so I'm going to be really worried for the next few weeks
When my kids where having an eyetest thr optician said I notice you wanted to talk about their hearing so I explained the situation and said yes but I don't think you can see under 18s she said she ask the audiology manager the audiology manager came over and said if it was seconds should be fine but go to gp.
Because it was seconds no one seems to think this is severe However over 120decibels less than one second is enough for immediate damage this was 3 to 6 seconds!
This is why I set the alarm off as I would think in a million years you could buy something that could instantly deafen you! Also the instructions said long term exposure to this sound can cause damage not instant ! Sorry going on,
I just can relate to the stress of waiting and having to think thay if we were seen earlier we may have been able to reverse any damage!
I too have looked at private ent but not sure if it's worth it or not! What can be done now?
I had mild tinnitus for over 20 years and had my ears syringed lots of time due to hard ear wax and never had any problems and it was always great walking out of the doctors hearing properly again and then 30 months ago i woke up with unbelievably very high tinnitus, i went to the doctors who said i had lots of ear wax in and would haft to have it removed before the ent people would see me, so like i had done in the past i put drops in for 10 days and went back but this time after numerous syringes the wax wasn't budging so i had to go away and do it for a nother 4 days , i had my right ear done first which cleared, then my left one was still being a problem, then i heard a noise in the ear what sounded like a shot gun going off and i felt very strange, the ear had cleared, but as i walked out side i noticed both my ears sounded a bit dull and the sound of the traffic was horrible and when i got home i realised i had lost some hearing in my left ear and when i moved for example cutlery the sound in my right ear was horrible it was a similar sound to rubbing your finger nails down a black board but different if you know what i mean, and my tinnitus was even louder, so as you can imagine i was in a worse state then i was before which sent me down a very deep black hole.
After about 5 months my right was ok every thing started sounding normal again and its great today but i am still partly deaf in my left ear that has never changed and certain sounds can sound a bit strange. That was 30 months ago, people that have read my posts know what i went through but today i am in a great place yes my tinnitus is still loud 24/7 and it can get me down at times but life is good again, my only fear is my ears blocking up with wax again, i have heard of people getting tinnitus by having wax removed and also like my self tinnitus becoming louder , for most people its only temporally, i was just un lucky, as for the ent people i am afraid to say don't get your hopes up as lovely as they are there's not much they can do to lower tinnitus.
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