I got tinnitus it seems outta nowhere

[TonyBottomTime]

Let's start with what happened. Back at the end of March, I went diving on 2 consecutive days. 4 dives total with max depth of 70ft. These were my first dives in 2 years. Speaking in terms of pain, injury, discomfort, etc, the dives were uneventful. Nothing of that sorts happened, not even the slightest. Nothing I could point to later and be like, 'ahhhhh, it must have been that moment'. I've always had trouble clearing my left ear (I believe I have a narrow/dysfunctional Eustachian tube), but these dives were wonderful due to this not being an issue. I left the dive site around noon thinking excited for my next dive the next day. The tinnitus (low frequency buzz) manifested later in the afternoon only in my left ear — the ear I've had problems with clearing in the past. It has been persistent since. Plus I have this feeling of my ear feeling 'full' or having cotton in there. The only thing I could attribute to causing any sort of dive injury would be that the road back to my hotel and the hotel itself has an elevation of 1500-2000ft (600m).

In April, May, and first week of June, I spent going to my doctor, hearing test, ENT visit, and a head MRI. All the while after a couple weeks being back, the tinnitus started to fluctuate. Still to this day I still don't understand what makes it worse or better. I had a week in mid-June where it just vanished, but that all came to an end when I listened to music in my car.

So back to medical stuff. My primary dr's visit resulted with him telling me that there is fluid in my middle-ear and he thinks a decongestant would clear the fluid and probably the tinnitus. That didn't work. So off to the specialist I went. The hearing test was pointless in my opinion. The ENT found nothing wrong with my ear, in the exam or MRI. The thing that had me searching for more was that the ENT didn't seem to take any interest in the coincidence of my issue and my diving activity being within hours of each other. She even flat out said she doesn't think they are related. I thought then and now, this is f'ing ridiculous. I even had to press for obvious post appointment advice, 'uhhhh, well....can I ever go diving again?' I guess having a follow-up question contrary to her opinion, with attitude, she said I can still dive. But should I trust her advice since it seems she has no clue about dive physiology? Since then I've been trying to schedule an appointment with a dive physician (dive dr, dive medicine, whatever it is), but still haven't secured an appointment.

I wanted to wait until I had dive physician's visit before I came posting on here. But you know what, what's the harm. I'm sick of dealing with the medical system right now. So I'd like to hear other's anecdotes, stories, advice, etc in the meantime. I've read so many stories about how things like this just clear up and heal on their own. Like I said, we're coming up on 4 months now and I'm starting to feel like that's not the case for me. Am I even too far out to even seek a medical cure? What are my only options anyways? Wait it out for it to heal itself or surgery? Just going off the cuff here, but could there still be a saturated gas stuck in my inner ear fluids and just need to get pure O2 or go under pressure to clear it out?

Just a couple more misc. questions. Could barotrauma occur and one could have no sensation that it even did? Can a conventional ENT miss something that is dive related? Has anyone have anything to say about inner-ear decompression sickness? Or even Eustachian tube dysfunction (which i just found out existed 20 min ago and honestly would make for a perfect diagnosis for me)?

Thanks for anything you have to say. I dislike writing long rambling posts but I tried to be as concise as possible.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

As we've chatted in than other thread I have nothing to offer than if my interpretation of your post is correct, the frustration you express mirrors that of my friend.

I think your scenario is mostly unknown by modern medicine. That's what I gather from my friend at least.

For myself I'm trying to focus on techniques recommended by @Angelo Farina as he has a solid background and has trained under one of the people who invented a safer equalization technique.

I apologize for this "thanks but no thanks" comment as I have nothing useful to offer.

 

[scubaozy]

I have no medical qualification, so do not take my comment as advice, but because your symptoms onset are not immediate, I would think that you have higher probability of having inner ear decompression sickness than a barotrauma.
At the same time a probability of the decompression sickness in general is very low, so, such case as yours is also a fraction of that. If you had iedcs, after 4 months delay, there is very little a hyperbaric o2 treatment can do, so you would have to go through normal healing process. 600m altitude can make a difference especially if you did dive close to ndl.
My sister has been struggling with one of her ears equalizing much harder, despite many check ups over the years, nothing was found until recent, dive doc diagnosed her with allergies (she is not symptomatic), oral allergy medication and streoid nose spray solved her mystery problem.
If you never had tinnitus before that day, it is probably the diving caused it, so, check with a dive doc.

 

[Cabg]

I have similar symptoms, I blame them on diving with a head cold. I was meeting people for first time to dive in quarry at night. Didn’t want to bail out! Had equalization issues and ended up calling the dive early anyway. Symptoms started as soon as head cold cleared up.
I am a practicing MD specializing in critical care and cardiac anesthesia and have administrative authority over the operating rooms of my hospital. I say that not to boast, but to say that I have “inside track” and access to our ENT surgeons, Neurosurgeons, Neurologists, and have read the diving medical text books. They are not helpful and will leave you feeling frustrated. I understand your feeling of being brushed off or marginalized. They just don’t have the answers.
I have been told that there are several ENT that specialize in dive related issues. If their is one in your area that is your best option. I would recommend DAN as a resource to locate specialist options in your area.
Good luck

 

[Hojo in SC]

I've lived with tinnitus for 45 years, sometimes it's annoying, other times I'm busy enough to not notice.

 

[VikingDives]

Tinnitus sucks. I've been dealing with it since 1998, but generally, once you have it, you have it. Figure out what works to ameliorate it - low salt helps some people. Get your hearing checked by an audiologist, if you have high-frequency hearing loss, hearing aids can help (they do for me, though I don't really need them for day-to-day).

There's also some hearing aids that will "pump" high-frequency sounds into your ears that will counteract the tinnitus. I don't really understand how they work, but my wife's a Speech-Language Pathologist and we both stayed at a holiday inn last night.

 

[TonyBottomTime]

@Hojo in SC and @VikingDives
Does/has your tinnitus fluctuate? or have you had a uniform ringing since it began?

Yet again, yesterday evening going into bedtime, the tinnitus was so slight. I woke to it this morning with it being as loud as the morning after diving.

Also, as distressed as I am, knowing if I could dive again, that would be a huge boost to my morale. Honestly, after feeling like I was just processed through the medical system, I'm a bit weary of the ENT saying I'm OK to dive again. That being said and responding to @Cabg, even with an exam that I felt was genuine and heartfelt that resulted in inconclusive findings, I would have a sense of relief and closure and in turn I could start the coping process. But I don't. My exam/appointment was as apathetic as it can get, so it has me looking elsewhere. Reading about tinnitus before appointment, I understood the mysterious nature of it, so not having an answer was anticipated. Her answer was figuratively and literally blank which is the f'ing worst. The thing is, she didn't have any questions or seek answer apart from the standard. So her M.O. was clearly objective which is complete BS. This wasn't a routine check-up. I had a particular problem with particular circumstances. On top of all that, I had to prompt for conclusion and clear myself at the end. So I have my legit reasons why I don't trust the ENT.

I'm going to try diving again. Obviously, I'm going to be very conservative and mindful. I guess my only fear is that tinnitus gets worse. From reading others on SB, sounds like tinnitus just remains constant once a diver gets it. With the real pesky cases, doesn't get worse, doesn't get better after future dives.

@wetb4igetinthewater
thanks for your replies. Discovering DAN's and a couple other online resources several weeks ago, I was excited and hopeful. But now I'm back to being discouraged. The one website uhms.org was completely unfruitful. Now with DAN, the 1st result for a dive dr., the guy is retired. The next 2 I got the run-around. Your referral (Rubinstein), was suppose to get back to me yesterday, but didn't. So today I'm feeling ****-this-****.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Let's start with what happened. Back at the end of March, I went diving on 2 consecutive days. 4 dives total with max depth of 70ft. These were my first dives in 2 years. Speaking in terms of pain, injury, discomfort, etc, the dives were uneventful. Nothing of that sorts happened, not even the slightest. Nothing I could point to later and be like, 'ahhhhh, it must have been that moment'. I've always had trouble clearing my left ear (I believe I have a narrow/dysfunctional Eustachian tube), but these dives were wonderful due to this not being an issue. I left the dive site around noon thinking excited for my next dive the next day. The tinnitus (low frequency buzz) manifested later in the afternoon only in my left ear — the ear I've had problems with clearing in the past. It has been persistent since. Plus I have this feeling of my ear feeling 'full' or having cotton in there. The only thing I could attribute to causing any sort of dive injury would be that the road back to my hotel and the hotel itself has an elevation of 1500-2000ft (600m).

In April, May, and first week of June, I spent going to my doctor, hearing test, ENT visit, and a head MRI. All the while after a couple weeks being back, the tinnitus started to fluctuate. Still to this day I still don't understand what makes it worse or better. I had a week in mid-June where it just vanished, but that all came to an end when I listened to music in my car.

So back to medical stuff. My primary dr's visit resulted with him telling me that there is fluid in my middle-ear and he thinks a decongestant would clear the fluid and probably the tinnitus. That didn't work. So off to the specialist I went. The hearing test was pointless in my opinion. The ENT found nothing wrong with my ear, in the exam or MRI. The thing that had me searching for more was that the ENT didn't seem to take any interest in the coincidence of my issue and my diving activity being within hours of each other. She even flat out said she doesn't think they are related. I thought then and now, this is f'ing ridiculous. I even had to press for obvious post appointment advice, 'uhhhh, well....can I ever go diving again?' I guess having a follow-up question contrary to her opinion, with attitude, she said I can still dive. But should I trust her advice since it seems she has no clue about dive physiology? Since then I've been trying to schedule an appointment with a dive physician (dive dr, dive medicine, whatever it is), but still haven't secured an appointment.

I wanted to wait until I had dive physician's visit before I came posting on here. But you know what, what's the harm. I'm sick of dealing with the medical system right now. So I'd like to hear other's anecdotes, stories, advice, etc in the meantime. I've read so many stories about how things like this just clear up and heal on their own. Like I said, we're coming up on 4 months now and I'm starting to feel like that's not the case for me. Am I even too far out to even seek a medical cure? What are my only options anyways? Wait it out for it to heal itself or surgery? Just going off the cuff here, but could there still be a saturated gas stuck in my inner ear fluids and just need to get pure O2 or go under pressure to clear it out?

Just a couple more misc. questions. Could barotrauma occur and one could have no sensation that it even did? Can a conventional ENT miss something that is dive related? Has anyone have anything to say about inner-ear decompression sickness? Or even Eustachian tube dysfunction (which i just found out existed 20 min ago and honestly would make for a perfect diagnosis for me)?

Thanks for anything you have to say. I dislike writing long rambling posts but I tried to be as concise as possible.

Next time you dive, if you feel you're having equalization problem, especially in one ear, turn that ear up towards the surface, stretch your neck out and even do a hard stroke with two fingers as if taking your pulse just below your jaw line by the ear. Pressing down pull your fingers down your neck towards your collarbone.

Now, all that said, you will be noticing the tinnitus more often when your surroundings are quiet, like at bedtime or morning.

Do not play loud music. Do not hang around noisy places. Get a white noise machine if tinnitus is making you crazy at bedtime and upon waking.

Accept the tinnitus. Let it become a part of your reality. You can even amuse yourself listening for the overlay of different tones. but yes, that only works if you accept the situation as part of your life. Ask me how I know these things.

 

[VikingDives]

@Hojo in SC and @VikingDives
Does/has your tinnitus fluctuate? or have you had a uniform ringing since it began?

It fluctuates constantly, in volume and frequency. It does get easier to ignore as time goes on. You might want to check out Treatment Options for more info/options.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

even do a hard stroke with two fingers as if taking your pulse just below your jaw line by the ear. Pressing down pull your fingers down your neck towards your collarbone.

Will have to try that. Will be interesting in a dry suit (which I am sure you do).