Ear problem

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I experienced a sudden reduction in low-frequency hearing in one ear some months ago. No dizziness or vertigo or anything like that. My hearing in that ear just sounded muffled and tinny. (Also some tinnitus, but I've had that forever.)

My PCP at the time ordered an MRI to rule out acoustic neuroma, then prescribed diuretics (they just made me pee a lot, but did nothing for the hearing), a decongestant (also did nothing), tested me for lupus (negative), put me on prednisone (no joy), and finally sent me to an ENT.

I saw the ENT every week for several months. He did multiple hearing tests (always with the same result, which was low-frequency hearing loss that got neither better nor worse). He put me on tinnitus vitamins (lipoflavanoid?), which did nothing. He ran blood tests for syphillis (negative), autoimmune disorders other than lupus (also negative), squirted ice water in my ear (not sure what that was all about), had me do balance tests (normal), tested my reflexes (normal), and finally diagnosed me with "idiopathic low-frequency hearing loss, probably sensorineural."

I then had another hearing test done, which suggested "conductive hearing loss," but ultimately I decided to just live with it because there didn't seem to be much else that could be done diagnostically that hadn't been done already. The handicap wasn't severe enough to affect my flying or anything else, other than that adult male voices on the telephone sounded garbled using that ear. Because the headset is binaural, flying wasn't affected.

Also, listening to the same tone in each ear separately, the pitch sounded half a note lower in the affected ear. Once again, since that's not something I ever thought of doing other than during a hearing test, it really wasn't a handicap.

Since then, I've tried various remedies suggested by friends or over the Internet, with some improvement. But a few weeks ago, something weird happened. I decided to spice up some salad dressing by puring some habanero sauce into it, and as soon as I ate it, my ear cleared up. It was like I could feel it opening. My sinususes (which I hadn't even known were clogged) also, um, drained, to put it nicely.

"Surely a fluke," I thought, and didn't think much about it. But for the next few days, my hearing was noticeably improved. Then gradually, over a couple of weeks, it started to feel clogged up and the hearing loss came back. So I tried the habanero sauce again, and presto, it cleared up.

So... before I go back to the ENT and he thinks I'm a total nut...

Is there some sort of condition that could cause low-frequency hearing loss, which would improve because eating a spicy food unstopped something in the ear?

Sorry if this sounds bizarre. I'm just wondering if maybe this problem is something as simple as some sort of clog in the plumbing somewhere.

Thanks!
 
Not a doctor, but I do know that habanero's cause the sinuses to , ummm, "unblock". Sounds to me that you have some sort of congestion/blockage that needs to be periodically drained. Now if I could just find an excuse for a weekly marguerita I'd be all set!:D
 
bstratt said:
Now if I could just find an excuse for a weekly marguerita I'd be all set!:D
Click to expand...
It's called FRIDAY.:blowingkisses::yes:

And as for the habenero, bring some with to the ENT and demonstrate the cure. Hearing test before and after ingesting. Don't know if you're like me, but I don't like mysterious cures; I want to know why they worked. Besides, it could somehow mask something else. How, I don't know.:dunno:
 
Unregistered Your ENT won't think your nuts. I also tend to get congested and find spicy food unclogs me. I can't take decongestants so its not unusual to see me eating a spoonful of horseradish when I'm all stuffed up. It might be interesting to try using other spicey stuff such as hoarseradish, tobasco certain mustards ( wasabi) and see what they do. I'm serious about that.

I really would go back to your ent as I think the "cure" says a lot about your problem.

Hopefully Bruce will chime in.
 
I had an unusual problem that in my case caused primarily high freq. loss but also noticeable overall loss. Some crud built up on my ear drum from some kind of leison, damage, infection, not sure, and it was virtually indestinguishable from the eardrum itself. Even under the microscope, the ENT did not detect this. He thought he was looking at my eardrum when in fact he was seeing a smooth layer of crud that had oozed from the eardrum covering the lower 2/3rds. Multiple hearing tests, decongestants, antibiotics... Finally, someone, I don't remember who, realized what was up and carefully VERY carefully vacuumed my eardrum clean and presto, hearing restored. That allowed the underlying eardrum to start healing properly though it required repeted cleanings for a while. Other ENTs refused to believe my story when I had problems later. Now I take ear health really seriously. It's too much trouble to educate a new ENT. They don't like being told what to do. Might have nothing to do with your situation. Mastoid sinus infections can be tricky too and cause weird hearing loss. Eustation tube congestion can be an issue. Good luck. It's a very annoying condition.
 
Just be sure the ENT also gets you on topical nasal steroids (nongrounding) to keep things in the OPENINGS to your sinuses (which are IN the nose) shrunken up.

When mucous has the consistency of mucilage, what you describe happens. Keep it drained.
 
Thank you, Dr. Bruce and everyone who responded, for all for the information. I'll call my PCP next week for a referral back to the ENT.

Much appreciated!
 
Netti pots works great and are not grounding by the FAA. Make sure you use non-iodine salt. I have added a drop of tabasco to help open me up when really clogged and it worked great.
 
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