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Eustachian tube dysfunction on right ear

Eustachian tube dysfunction on right ear

Hello,

So my right ear feels full on a daily basis for the last two years (since Oct 2007). I've only got pressure in that ear, and no pain. I've seen 4 or 5 doctors and an ENT.

The first doctor said i had an ear wax build up, so she had a nurse clean out my ear with warm water and a syringe. That helped for 20 mins then the pressure came back again.
Second doctor said I had allergies. She gave me a steroid nasal spray. Sprayed it for 6 months straight, and that did nothing.
Third Doctor gave me an antihistamine (GET NAME) and that did nothing.
Fourth doctor told me to keep taking my steroid nasal spray and my antihistamine. Did that and that did nothing.
Went to my dentist because I thought maybe it was my wisdom teeth on that side that was creating the pressure. Got my both my wisdom teeth pulled and even that did nothing.
I thought it may be some sort of deep sinus infection that spread to my middle ear, so I asked my doc to give me an antibiotic. He prescribed Bactrim for ten days. I took it for ten days, and drank a lot of water. The funny thing is while I was on the antibiotic the pressure went away, but when the medicine started to fade away (after about 4 or 5 hours) the pressure came back again.
I even went and got an STD test (because for some odd reason I thought maybe this was some sort of manifestion of an STD.) Everything came back normal. The only thing I didn't test for was Herpes. Could herpes affect only one ear like this? If so, should I test for it?
Went to an ENT, and she did hearing tests and everything came back fine.
Finally, here's where I feel i'm getting warmer with the cause. I noticed my right jaw joint is hard as a rock. I also noticed that if I keep my mouth open a little the pressure mostly goes away. So I went to my dentist and he says im grinding my teeth at night (bruxism.) So he made me a nightguard to wear at night. I've been wearing that nightguard for the last 5 nights, but I still got this pressure in my ear. So here's what I want to know:

What can cause my right TMJ joint to be so hard?
If I am grinding at night, why is my right joint hard, but not my left?
I took my braces off prematurely about 7 years ago, and my orthodontist said the teeth on my right side has not moved forward yet. Could my bite be the cause of all this?
I have had veneers placed on my front 6 teeth. Could the pressure from the veneers on my teeth radiate to my middle ear? If so, why isn't my left ear having pressure problems?

Any help at all can be beneficial at this point.

Also, the only thing that clears my ear is when i do the valsalvic maneuver. That clears my ear usually for about 1 to 2 mins then the pressure comes again.

Thanks.




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Sorry, the name of the antihistamine is Loratadine.

Thanks again.
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