Who cares about Edward's Ears?

If you have found this blog by accident,.... I'm sorry. This will be REALLY boring, at least for anyone who isn't an ENT, an audiologist, suffering from hearing loss, or a member of my immediate family.

You see, I am having trouble with my ears. After a relatively minor cold or sinus infection, I started experience congestion in my ears. No biggie. I took a bunch of decongestants and it went away after about a week. A few weeks later the problem returned and I again chased it away - or just waited it out - with OTC decongestants. Unfortunately, the third onset was worse than before, including hearing loss in my left ear. It basically felt like I had toothpaste in my ear. I really detected the hearing loss when I put a phone up to my left ear and thought it was broken because all I heard was a buzzing sound. I checked to see whether the phone was properly plugged in. Only when I put the receiver up to my good ear, and heard a regular dial tone, did I realize what was going on.

Having failed to overcome this bout with ear stuffiness and reduced hearing, I went to my PCP. She prescribed Astellin and Flonase, along with a daily Claritin, in an effort to really blow open my aural sinuses. Well, it didn't work at all. That's when I went to my ENT for help.

Dr. Bruce Suzuki is my ENT. He performed my sinus surgery back in 2003. His sent me to his audiologist for a hearing test, which showed substantial hearing loss in the left ear. His initial diagnosis was sudden onset hearing loss, due to nerve damage from a viral infection. Apparently, this sort of thing happens all the time. So, he prescribed an anti-viral agent and Prednisone. This treatment did not help. In fact, the "full" sensation and hearing loss felt even worse after a week. I also had developed ringing in my left ear. I was so despondent that I called up Dr. Suzuki and he told me to schedule an MRI if the situation did not improve over the weekend.

Well, on Sunday, I went to play golf with a friend. It was a bright, sunny Autumn day and we were out on the course for about 5 hours. When I returned home, I took some Advil for my general soreness. Plus, I sometimes get headaches from dehydration after playing golf, so Advil seemed like a good idea. Lo and behold, my ear started improving that afternoon. I was amazed. When I woke up on Monday morning, I could hear again.... mostly. I still had the ringing, but it was a tremendous improvement and at least I knew the hearing loss was not permanent.

So, I did not call up Dr. Suzuki's office to schedule the MRI. Well, by Monday afternoon, my ear was clogged again and I was in no better shape than I had been over the weekend. I guessed that the anti-inflamatory effect of the Advil was actually helping my ears. So, I started popping Advil. It seemed to help.

Realizing that I wasn't actually "cured" but had only discovered a stop-gap measure, I called Dr. Suzuki's office on Tuesday to schedule an MRI. Well, it turns out that there was no way to get one done in time for my appointment with him on Wednesday, so I decided to hold off. I took more Advil Wednesday morning at about 7:30 and went to my appointment at 10 am. My ear was mostly clear at that point and the hearing test confirmed that I was hearing much better. "You're cured," declared Dr. Suzuki. "No, I'm not," I quickly responded. "If I stop taking the Advil, it will clog up in no time." Dr. Suzuki decided to try a little experiment. I am supposed to take Advil 3 times per day, along with my anti-viral medicine, for 1 week. Then, I am supposed to quit cold-turkey for 48 hours before my next appointment.

That was Wednesday morning. My ear filled up again Wednesday afternoon. It felt better Thursday morning, but, despite all my Advil popping, it was very clogged by Thursday afternoon. I have decided that lying horizontal must help unclog the ear, which would explain why it is always better in the morning, despite the fact that I haven't taken any Advil for 12 hours.

I have decided to use this blog as my medical journal for the next week, so that I will have detailed records of my condition, medicinal intake, sleep pattern, etc. I plan to make several entries per day. I hope this will help us figure out what it really going on.