Really struggling with ear issues and tinnitus

Could this be SSNL or just congestion/ earwax build and my tinnitus is distressingly loud.

Monday I woke up with some congestion and I noticed my right ear felt blocked and my hearing wasn't as good as it normally is. I also noticed my tinnitus is alot louder in that ear as well.

I also had a work hearing test and my right ear showed hearing loss in the congested/ blocked ear

the results were .5- 25 1k- 30 2k-30 3k-30 4k-15 6k -45 8k-60

on the Friday I woke up and I could hear my heartbeat and whooshing sound I also had some ear pain too .

I went to a urgent care (it was a nurse practitioner) and they dont think its ssnl (mainly because i can still hear out of it although its muffled and isnt good its not complete deafness like what they see in most ssnl cases. although the increase in tinnitus volume is alarming too though no signe of infection

but instead the congestion and earwax build up

so they prescribed me some nasal steroid spray and i have to put some drops on my ear to soften the wax for a ear flush in a week.

Ivr been using olive oil and i picked up some debrox with a flush bulb syringe. to help soften tbe wax. Also once i started the drops my left ear is alsp now muffled.

I used the debrox 3 times and flushed my ear as directed but then i saw it can make tinnitus worse so i was scared and stopped using it afterwards.


but after yesterday i used some olive oil and thought some was stuck so i used a bulb flusher and after that my tinntus spiked bad.

I can hear it over everything and its been quite distressing i cant sleep, eat or enjot my usual hobbies i cant focus on anything else. I vsnt stop crying and breaking down.

Im afriad that i made it permenatly worse and im worried about getting it flushed this friday (febuary 20th

I dont know what to do i this isnt fully tms (eareax build up and congestion but idk i cant go on those other fourms i already have been down dr. Google

 

I can't comment on a lot of this because I'm not an ENT or a specialist - what I will say is that I get pretty decent wax build up in my ears (seemingly more than most people) but it was nothing worse than it meaning that once it got clogged enough I would keep having water trapped in there after a shower and it was annoying (like putting your ear to a seashell at the beach - I didn't have tinnitus - it obviously impacted my hearing to an extent due to the water being trapped). I didn't know of them before but I started going to an earwax micro-suction place (and do so now almost annually). I was skeptical at first and scared, but honestly it's been great and it's pretty easy (it's also largely painless and involves minimal discomfort - it's just like putting a vacuum cleaner in your ear and it sucks out all the junk).

I read up on it quite vigorously prior to my first visit as I'm very careful with my health, but it's done by ear nurses and seems very legitimate. I wonder if what you're saying about getting it flushed is the same process or whether it was different? Obviously the relevance of my experience is much lower if it is a completely different procedure.

The point of me posting this is to perhaps give you some reassurance about the removal of wax, especially if the nurse and your doctor have ticked off on it (this is the most important thing). Like I said I'm not an expert and this isn't advice, so don't take my word for it, but I actually enjoy getting them cleaned out now (and I haven't had any complications) and I'm glad I found out about it I would hope they wouldn't have assigned you this clean-out if it was a risk to your ear health.

 

We can't diagnose here. But as long as you are working with your doctor, you can also treat this like TMS. If anything, it will help you have the mindset to deal with it. The SEP program on this site is excellent to start out with!