Ear Congestion Clicking and Ringing Ears?

Sending this to our resident audiologist.

Squirtingt water into ears can easily induce dizziness but is unrelated to eardrum issue.

Can you see an ENT (ear, nose and throat specialist)? He’s in charge of eardrums.

Aka Otolaryngologist.

I don’t have a hole in my eardrum but I do have problems occasionally with stuffiness, ringing and dizziness, and fluid in the ears. I have found that taking benedryl at night helps after a few days. It helps to dry out the ears which helps with most of that. I do have tinnitus that comes and go.
I also take ginko biloba, b vitamins and eat foods heavy in potassium .
I only take the benedryl if I feel there is liquid in my ears.
I also take the ginko only during this time.
I don’t eat enough protein so that is why I take the b vitamins but it is a necessary nutrient for your ears, as well as the potassium.
It seems that people who are low in vitamin b, tend to be prone to ringing of the ears.
It may or may not help, but it shouldn’t hurt. I hope it works.
Oh, check your medications. Some medications can cause ear complications. Antibiotics seems to cause such problems. I know of a woman who lost her hearing because she was on antibotics for too long. At least that is what her ENT told her.

The use of water pressure can certainly have caused your dizziness symptom. We cannot speculate to what degree they may have contributed to the problems you’ve had since.

This is why many wise general practitioners will not mess with attempting to clean the ears. There are many variables, and different techniques for cerumen removal depending on those variables.

I strongly recommend that you consult an ear specialist as soon as possible. While chances are that you will heal just fine and go back to normal, being under the care of a specialist greatly increases those odds. I hope you feel better soon!

I would go see an ENT if I were you to get a second opinion.

thank you all for your advice. I am due to go back to the GP in 2 weeks as I am away on holiday in a couple of days (on a plane so not sure how that is going to go!!) He has said if things have not improved he will refer me to see ENT specialist. Again many thanks

Do you have to get a referral? Will it be easy to get into the ENT appointment right away in two weeks? If not maybe consider making the appointment now, so if you need it you have it. You can always cancel it if you get better.

@aph32 – Try to get in with an ENT today. If you have a healing perforation of your eardrum, the pressure change the airplane might not be good. It would be best if you have a specialist check it before you fly. If there is no possible way for you to get seen by an ear specialist before you travel, then I suggest that you purchase special earplugs that allow the pressure to change more gradually, they are called Ear Planes and the big chain drug stores usually have them in stock.

I live in the UK so you have to be referred to specialists by your General Practitioner. The GP said I should be OK to fly he said the left ear (which is not perforated just full up with fluid) may be painful but the right ear which is perforated should be OK. I travel on Saturday so will just have to chance it!! I will go and buy some ear planes today! Thank you all so much for your advice.

I am sorry to say that I don’t entirely trust your GP, and I am sorry that your health system does not allow you to control your own health care.

I am not certain of the availability of the Ear Planes in the U.K. If you can’t find them in the drug stores, maybe the shops at the airport will have them. Put them in your ears before takeoff and leave them in at least a half-hour after reaching cruising altitude. Put them in before the descent begins, and leave them in at least a half-hour after landing. If you experience problems with your ears from the flight and are traveling to a country with a good health care system, consider consulting an ear specialist there.

Also purchase swimmers earplugs to keep the ear dry when bathing or swimming, and avoid doing any diving.

I hope you have a lovely vacation and that your ears don’t bother you at all.

You might want to try asking your GP for the referral ASAP. Maybe if you ask for it expressing your fear of flying or that you don’t feel cmfortable waiting so long for it to be checked by a specialist they might give it to you. It seems to me, but I could be wrong, that you are going along with whatever they suggest, but if you put up a little flack maybe they will accomodate you. Can you call an ENT just to tell a nurse what has happened? Maybe she can help request the referral.

Definitely follow @hearkat‘s advice to protect yourself when flying if you don’t get to see the ENT.

I have just checked with my local chemist store and they do stock ear planes so will go and buy some today. Unfortunately in the UK you do not have control over your health care. This is the price you pay for having a National Health Service. Once the GP has referred me to an ENT it could take weeks for the appointment to come through! We all have to pay into the NHS here it is taken at source from our wages. There is private insurance you can take out on top but that is VERY expensive so working class people cannot afford it! If a GP does not think you need a referral there is nothing you can do about it you can only see a specialist if they refer you, that is just the way it is! I will let you know how I get on when I return from holiday. Again many thanks

@aph32 I’m just saying it might be worth it to challenge the GP. In America we have HMO systems that work the same way, just not run by the government, and it sucks. Even so, sometimes you can argue the doctor into giving the referral. Sometimes you don’t even need to argue, just ask. I hate to think the GP is just trying to CYA, hoping it heals and no one will be the wiser that he possibly screwed up. Also, you might check to see how much it is for an appointment with an ENT and just pay. You don’t have to have insurance to see a doctor do you? An appointment at the doctor won’t be close to paying for insurance for years. I do it in America. I have seen doctors not covered by my insurance.