The ear saga...

So... LONG ent appointment today. 2+ hrs. I didn't really find out anything new. My eardrums don't work. I have mild hearing loss. My Eustachian tubes are stupid (they do NOT work). And so far we don't know why and/or have not come up with a medication combination to help. The current theory is that my allergies are so bad that the nasal inflammation and sinus issues are causing my E tubes to be pinched shut (basically, I guess). So my sinuses and nasal passages are always swollen and they push up against the tubes in my ears that are supposed to regulate the pressure and help get fluid out of my ears. The one in my right ear seems to be completely blocked and the left ear is mostly blocked.

Before this trip I was taking zyrtec, asmanex, and fluticasone (a nasal steroid spray) plus my albuterol inhaler when I needed rescue help for my allergies/asthma. My ears are still not better even with all this medication that should be helping my allergies. The thing is my allergies don't seem to be horrible this season (yet... oh how I love the peak of ragweed season though. It is about to be upon us with fury too). But my passages are still very swollen. At any rate, Dr. Y says there is nothing dangerous going on with my ears and we certainly have time to try things to see what will work best so for now he added another medication, singulair, to my every increasing lists of medications. He also did a RAST blood test to confirm or disprove that my body has an IgE reaction to corn and rice. I have had skin reactions to those foods before but I have eaten them my whole life. So I have been wanting to see if it may make my immune system and allergies better if I cut them from my diet. But corn is very hard to get rid of so I want to double check the allergy test. If both the skin test and RAST say I have those allergies, I definitely need to see if I can cut them out of my diet.

Anyway, the short answer is we are guessing that the problem is my allergies. There are some other issues we are hoping just go away (tinnitus the static in my ears, the clicking adn vibrating) as we correct the swelling that is messing up my E tubes. But this is just a guess at what is going on. So I guess I wait a bit longer and see if the new medication helps. If not, back to the dr for more practicing of medicine on me... love the guess work. The good news is it is not dangerous and we have time to figure out what is causing the E tubes to malfunction. So I am going to roll with it. I am not convinced it can be fixed because the problem has been very chronic and my hearing is still not normal but I can live with it for now until we get it figured out. I am very thankful that so far it seems to be just a really annoying problem to have and thankful for my doctor who is trying to help me even if I find the process incredibly slow :)