Blocked ears
Imagine feeling water gurgling in your ears continuously. The same sensation you get after swimming and your ears block up. Living with that discomfort was the beginning of a long, expensive and often futile journey which started June 2016, shortly after an international air flight.
By sharing my experience, I hope I can help others in a similar situation and perhaps learn from others’ experience as well.
My GP told me that I had excessive wax in both ears and I was treated with warm oil drops and the GP removed large plugs of wax . Initially I felt relief but then the sensation of water in my ears returned.
The blocked sensation waxed and waned. I got new hearing aids in August 2016. The pressure in my head started to built up. I made an appointment with an Ear Nose and Throat specialist but cancelled the appointment because the blocked sensation abated and I thought I was recovering.
Initially I was delighted with my new digital hearing aids, but I as the blocked ear sensation returned I found it difficult to fit the ear pieces into my ears which felt swollen. I was supplied different domes (to cover the part of the hearing aid that goes into the ear) but the fit was still uncomfortable. I made a new appointment to see the specialist. Unfortunately, the holiday season was approaching, and he was fully booked and scheduled for a long break so I had to endure three months of discomfort and finding it difficult to hear. I often did not wear my hearing aids because they were uncomfortable, and I could not hear clearly. Struggling to fit them one day, I managed to break one.
There were days I could not out of bed or drive a car. I managed to get through some days but never felt comfortable. When the day of my appointment with my ENT specialist arrived, I was in and out of his consulting room in five minutes. His diagnosis? My problem was not related to my ears but was either in my jaw or my cervical spine. He advised me to consult my dentist. This is the problem with specialists. They know a lot about their own speciality and will only treat a symptom that relates to their expertise. Anything that falls beyond their scope and they will send you on your way. It is a problem with modern medicines that doctors work in silos.
I felt so alone on my journey. My GP, although distressed about my discomfort, was out of his depth with a problem he had not encountered previously..
My journey to sort out the problems with my ears began in earnest. My dentist was uncertain about what he could do. He fitted me with a dental plate fitted to my upper jaw. I wore this every night. I also had physiotherapy. I had a neck problem from a whiplash injury almost forty years ago. I was covering the bases suggested by the ENT by treating both jaw and neck.
Get Granny Lou’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
In April 2017 I was so miserable I went to a second ENT for a second opinion. He sent me for scans of my sinuses, said there was a remote possibility my deviated septum was a factor and told me to persevere with the dental plate. I saw him again a few months later and he suggested a pain management regimen. I tried this for a while. It involved taking a low dose anti-depressant. There was a lessening of discomfort but I think I was learning to live with a chronic situation.
I kept searching for a solution. I saw a Cranio-Sacral practitioner a few times. She offered a few theories and did a limited treatment inside my mouth as well as other parts of my body, but there was no noticeable improvement. Her fee was high so I gave up. How long is a piece of string?
Next, I went to Chinese acupuncturist who had successfully treated me fifteen years ago for IBS and insomnia. At that time I had a similar blocked ear sensation and she dealt with it successfully. No such luck this time. I had to drive to Sydney’s North Shore, usually at least one way in peak traffic, swallow unpalatable herbs and have the acupuncture. Her fee and the cost of the herbs (which changed weekly) was close to $500 a week. I went along with all this for about six weeks but because there was no improvement I gave up. I tried a second acupuncturist closer to home but he too gave me no relief.
Towards the end of 2017 I mentioned the problem to a Physiotherapist who was treating me for an unrelated condition. She told me her practice did a lot of Temperomandibular joint work and asked if she could have a go at helping me. She offered the possibility that releasing my T-M joint could give me relief for the blocked ears. This was the first time I found out that physio’s work on the T-M and that the joint (as opposed to jaw) was a probable cause of my problem. Jo, bless her, is a miracle worker. The treatment was excruciating as she worked inside my mouth to unlock a very tightly locked joint. My jaw movement, unbeknown to me, was very limited. We persevered and within a month I noticed a lessening of the blocked sensation. Jo gave me homework and finally the joint grew more mobile. I could wear my hearing aids with comfort.
I wish I could say that at this stage, I had cured my problem, but the saga continued. Eventually, six months into the treatment, the recovery reached a plateau and the pressure was building up between appointments, so Jo sent me to a dentist whose speciality included the T-M joint. The physio and the dentist work collaboratively. I had to complete an extensive questionnaire, have several X-rays and photos done before the dentist saw me. He explained that T-M joint problems cause fluid to get trapped in the inner ear. He sent me for CAT scans and skull X Rays. The dental plate the dentist had fitted me with, and that I wore every night for eighteen months, only prevented grinding but did nothing for the joint.
The results of the CAT scan and diagnostic tests showed that the joint space in my left T-M joint has reduced and there has been some bone erosion. The specialist is of the opinion that the cause of the blocked ear sensation is fluid being trapped in the inner ear due to the limited joint space.
I am about to be fitted with jaw plate which will remain in place night and day for three months. I must also go on a diet of soft foods and not eat anything that requires me to bite. The Physio sessions will continue.
This is where I am at time of writing. I plan to keep updating this post to show if there is any progress. I would like to hear your story as well.
First update: I was fitted with a plate to my lower jaw a week ago. Getting used to it is challenging. The only time I remove the plate is to brush my teeth and clean the plate. Every time I eat I need to brush my teeth and clean the plate as the food particles stick on the plate and make it even more uncomfortable to wear. When the plate is out of my mouth I also swallow my vitamins or any other meds I need to take. Trying to swallow a pill wearing the plate is a feat. The pills usually lodge between my palate and the plate. I am getting used to throwing the pills onto the back of my tongue if I need to take them with the plate in place. Eating soft foods is also not fun. I have to think through what I am going to eat at each meal. I can’t feed my spouse mush so I am cooking two separate meals. Most of my meals are soup or a smoothie and I am trying to cook my meals in bulk and freeze to make life easier. I am a lean person and have already lost more weight than I can afford to lose so I am trying to eat. The first few days it took me a long time to consume a very small amount of food but I am finding eating is getting easier. Talking is quite difficult as I am lisping and talking as though I have something in my mouth (which I do). That too is improving. One interesting point is that my tongue is forced into a position against the roof of my mouth. This is the position my physiotherapist has recommended to keep my T M joint open so that is a good thing as I no longer have to be conscious of where my tongue is resting.
