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clogged Eustachian tubes

slobake

slobake

resident ... something
Aug 6, 2011
1,904
25,886
Somewhere to the left of "Whoopie"
smowles01.wordpress.com
#1
I was pretty sick for about a month. Hacking up a lot of foul stuff from my lungs, coughing sneezing and just feeling terrible. Went to the doctor and he gave me some nasty antibiotics that cleared most things up.
Everything went away except for clogged ears and ringing in my ears. I thought YIKEs! I've got tinnitus!
Called my doctor and he said to wait two weeks and if it didn't go away by then the would send me to an ENT specialist.
Sure enough I was riding my bike to work last week and stopped to blow my nose. I heard something in my left ear like air being let out of a balloon. It felt great and I could hear again in that ear. The ground started spinning underneath me but that soon passed.
Been waiting for my right ear to pop but nothing so far. I have been using Flonase since yesterday using the method shown here.
Correct Nasal Spray Use for Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
I have all the symptoms described on this site.
I hope it clears soon I am tired of playing bass by braille.
Anyone else ever go through this?
 
#2
I got one of these things a few years ago when I started getting clogged ears from head colds. http://www.amazon.com/Waterpik-Sinu...406&sr=1-21&keywords=waterpik+sinus+irrigator

Basically, it blasts water up your nose. I use it in the shower to minimize the mess. It works very well for me because it helps me drain my sinuses naturally without drugs. I got it from Costco and it was much cheaper than link I found.
 
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#4
slobake said:
I was pretty sick for about a month. Hacking up a lot of foul stuff from my lungs, coughing sneezing and just feeling terrible. Went to the doctor and he gave me some nasty antibiotics that cleared most things up.
Everything went away except for clogged ears and ringing in my ears. I thought YIKEs! I've got tinnitus!
Called my doctor and he said to wait two weeks and if it didn't go away by then the would send me to an ENT specialist.
Sure enough I was riding my bike to work last week and stopped to blow my nose. I heard something in my left ear like air being let out of a balloon. It felt great and I could hear again in that ear. The ground started spinning underneath me but that soon passed.
Been waiting for my right ear to pop but nothing so far. I have been using Flonase since yesterday using the method shown here.
Correct Nasal Spray Use for Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
I have all the symptoms described on this site.
I hope it clears soon I am tired of playing bass by braille.
Anyone else ever go through this?
Click to expand...

Last summer I was going to Austin TX for a bachelor party with a handful of friends from college. About a week and a half before the trip, I got super mega congested, and I was afraid I might miss the trip. Well, I got better, but I was still a tiny bit congested, and that is NOT how you want to be on an airplane. My ears never popped during the flight, and by the time we landed, my hearing was all out of whack, and I had bouts of tunnel vision stemming from the pressure in my head.

It was the 2nd night we were there (some 36 hours later) when I was in the shower, and my ear did exactly what yours did ... it sounded like when you slowly let air out of a balloon. I don't think I've ever felt so relieved in my life.
 
#7
I've had a lot of trouble with my ears the last several years. Sometimes it seems like somebody turned a valve and turned off my ears. Everything gets muffled, distorted, and ringing. I've actually had to have an ENT specialist poke holes in my eardrums several times and then suction out fluid that builds up behind my eardrums. (No, it's not fun!)

Now at the first hint of trouble, I get an anti-inflammatory steroid pack (6 days) and take it. It seems if I catch it early enough, it gets better without having to have the surgery. If it continues to happen, I'll have to get tubes in my ears like little kids get.
 
#8
slobake said:
I was pretty sick for about a month. Hacking up a lot of foul stuff from my lungs, coughing sneezing and just feeling terrible. Went to the doctor and he gave me some nasty antibiotics that cleared most things up.
Everything went away except for clogged ears and ringing in my ears. I thought YIKEs! I've got tinnitus!
Called my doctor and he said to wait two weeks and if it didn't go away by then the would send me to an ENT specialist.
Sure enough I was riding my bike to work last week and stopped to blow my nose. I heard something in my left ear like air being let out of a balloon. It felt great and I could hear again in that ear. The ground started spinning underneath me but that soon passed.
Been waiting for my right ear to pop but nothing so far. I have been using Flonase since yesterday using the method shown here.
Correct Nasal Spray Use for Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
I have all the symptoms described on this site.
I hope it clears soon I am tired of playing bass by braille.
Anyone else ever go through this?
Click to expand...
At least you don't have clogged Fallopian tubes.
 
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#9
blue-tubes2.jpg
 
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#15
Munjibunga said:
At least you don't have clogged Fallopian tubes.
Click to expand...
Keep your personal affairs out of this
Bob Lee (QSC) said:
I frequently suffer from ETD, mostly in my right ear. Outdoor exercise—playing soccer, cycling, etc.—seems to trigger or exacerbate it sometimes. Pseudoephedrine usually provides some minor relief.
Click to expand...
Yes I have noticed that riding my bike seems to make it worse. I have an appointment with an E.N.T. specialist on Friday.
 
#16
Bob Lee (QSC) said:
I frequently suffer from ETD, mostly in my right ear. Outdoor exercise—playing soccer, cycling, etc.—seems to trigger or exacerbate it sometimes. Pseudoephedrine usually provides some minor relief.
Click to expand...
Playing bass, listening to music on my iPod, cycling, coffee all seem to make this worse and they are all things that I love. I have to get this taken care of.
On Sunday our guitarists started playing in the wrong key, my hearing was so messed up that I didn't notice. :bag:
 
#17
Long time allergy sufferer here, plenty of experience with Flonase, decongestants and antihistamines. Also a (mostly retired) scuba diver.

Flonase is not a decongestant, it's a topical steroid that reduces irritation from allergens. It won't open eustacian tubes.

Sudafed and Pseudoephedrine-based decongestants do work, but they mostly have only a short-term effect. They can wear off suddenly, which means you have to be a little careful using them while diving. One important thing for older guys (including me): Pseudoephedrine often makes the prostate swell, which can be highly inconvenient.

Exercise is by nature a decongestant - you can feel the effects even while walking around. I have occasionally eaten dinner standing and walking in place rather than being seated, to keep my nasal passages open long enough to taste dinner.

Alcoholic beverages are all congestants. A beer, wine or other booze will plug you up harder than you are now. Avoid drinking when congestion is bothering you.
 
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#18
Guaiafenisin (Mucinex) + warm salt water gargle + Valsalva maneuver. Lather, rinse, repeat; it may take a couple of days of repetition to fully open. Nasal lavage (neti pot) is useful, but IME better after things are opening up.
 
#19
For the past 10 years I've been suffering from tinnitus in my right ear. Just under 2 weeks ago I woke up one morning and discovered that I had lost almost all of the hearing in that ear. I freaked out, went to see my GP and he told me the Eustachian tube in that ear was blocked and it would open up by itself in 3-6 weeks. Well not accepting that I went to my ENT doctor that I've been seeing since I developed the tinnitus and he immediately tested my hearing and discovered that I'm deaf in that ear. He's not sure why yet but he's put me on a short prescription of prednisone for 3 weeks to see if it has any effect on reversing the loss.

I'm booked to see him again next Monday and I know he's going to have another hearing test done to see where we're at. If my hearing doesn't come back, I'm going to have to try a hearing aid to see if that will help.

I've pick up my basses a number of times and played them to see what the impact of only being able to hear out of one ear is. I've noticed that it's very difficult to hear and distinguish between flat and sharp notes which concerns me greatly plus everything is distorted. It's like having the right channel of your stereo fail and trying to listen to music through it and it sucks.

Got my fingers crossed that this is only temporary cause I'm to young to give up playing bass.

TD
 
#20
My doc suggested Flonase and Allegra D (I have abnormally small Eustachian tubes and have had ear problems all of my life). So far they've helped a great deal in keeping me from feeling like I have water-logged cotton in my ears.

One thing to consider is whether or not one has conductive hearing loss. Turns out I'm a middle aged white woman (the population where my condition is most prevalent), and I had otosclerosis in my left ear. I now have a bionic ear after they took out the two inner ear bones that had fused to my skull and replaced them with a titanium prosthesis. Only drawback so far is I have to carry a card in case I have to have an MRI. Titanium in the ear and an MRI tube could be a very painful mix. My hearing, however, is definitely better in that ear post procedure.
 

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