what could be causing my ear problems

ive been having ear trouble for a while now and its driving me mad. i first seen my gp because my ears felt blocked up and i was unable to hear normally. there is also ringing in my ears and even popping sounds from time to time. my doctor looked at my ears and decided to refer me to ent. i then seen a consultant who has arranged for me to get a hearing aid fitted and go back and see him in 6 months. since then my problems have got worse. the constant feeling of blocked ears and the ringing is driving me mad. even when i swallow i can hear like a crackling or popping sounds. i would be grateful for any information and advice.

[meniere135]

I think food allergies might be causing your ear problems.  Mine used to sound the exact same way....ringing, muffled, popping.   Since I had read that MILK is the #1 cause of ear problems in kids, I gave up all milk products ( I didn't have anything that contained any derivative from milk - no yogurt, cheese, ice cream, coffee creamer (not even non-dairy creamer - that has a protein from milk in it  called sodium caseinate).
Read all ingredients on labels.  

Within 4 or 5 days, I got relief - suddenly!  I didn't feel like it was helping at all for the first 4 or 5 days.  Then I was lying in bed, and I just started feeling this trickling feeling  from my ears, down my eustachian tubes.  And I suddenly realized I could hear much more clearly.  Due to the fact that it was hard to stick to the diet all the time, I had to repeat the milk free diet several times and got the same results each time.  So milk helped my muffling!

Now, before I tried the milk free diet, I tried a GLUTEN free diet.  Gluten comes from wheat, barley, rye and oats.  Don't panic here....I'll tell you what you can eat.   When I got off of gluten, the immediate reaction was for the ringing in my ears to get louder (unbearably loud!).  So, strangely enough, I knew this had to be helping.  So I stuck with it, and within several days, the ringing dropped down to a much softer level - one easily ignored - one I only paid attention to at bedtime.  Before it dropped down, I lived with very loud noises in my ears for several years - I thought I was going to go out of my mind.   I also had itchy ears - wanting to stick a Q-tip  in them a lot of the time.  And the gluten free diet got rid of the itching.  

The ears are a hotspot for yeast.  These foods feed the yeast!!!  Milk, gluten and sugar.  Now some people might be sensitive to other foods.  But these are two of the most likely food groups.  I would start with the milk free diet first.  See what improves. Then try the gluten free diet - this one probably has more to do with your hearing loss than milk - it's very damaging to the nerves in your ears.

They say milk takes 3 weeks to get out of your body.  Gluten takes about a week.  So if you are going to try these diets, be patient.  Everyone is different!  Even if these foods are causing the problem, many people can cheat a little without starting up a reaction.  But again, everyone is different.  

Keep your appointment with the specialist.  In the meantime, elimination diets are a simple thing to try.

Before I tell you what you can eat, I'll check this post to see if you respond and would like to try.  Nothing to lose here.

[budwiser]

hi there thanks for responding to my question. i would be very willing to try the elimination diets and would be grateful if you could tell me how to go about this and what i can and cannot eat.i look forward to hearing from you soon, thanks again.

[meniere135]

Start with the gluten free diet.   You can read about it on-line.  

Breakfast:  Sausage, bacon, canadian bacon, pork roll, ham slices
                 Eggs - plain, w/cheese, w/onions, peppers, etc.
                 Gluten free sandwich bread ( found at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's - health food supermarkets) - needs to be microwaved about 20 seconds then toasted.  Put butter, jelly, or cream cheese on it.  You can make french toast with the gf bread
                 Some of the Chex cereals are gluten free - check on the front of the box - it says gluten free.  Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles, Cream of Rice Cereal, Instant Breakfast - Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry (no malt) flavors, Hash browns (homemade only).

That should be enough ideas for breakfast for now.

Lunch:  Gluten free bread (again, microwave for 20 sec to remoisten it) - lunchmeats and cheeses, any salad materials, Romaine lettuce rollups (use lettuce like bread) and put lunchmeat, mayo, bacon, tomatoes, etc. inside.  Be careful with salad dressings - they usually have gluten.  You can buy some at health food stores (they say gluten free) or just mix olive oil with balsamic vinegar and add italian seasoning.
Or just heat up leftovers from dinner the night before (gluten free dinners).

Dinner:  Potatoes, rice  - no Uncle Ben's type rice packages - just plain rice.  You can add butter, chicken bouillon, stir fried veggies, etc.  Potatoes - same thing - no prepackaged stuff.    Any meat ( no prepackaged, seasoned or breaded stuff).  Any fish (again, just no prepped stuff), chicken, etc.  Any veggies and fruits.  

Juice, coffee, soda, water is ok.  Any questions, just ask.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.  I did write you something before, but forgot to click on Post Comment.  

[togomalik]

Does this make you feel off balanced at all and dizzy??  I was just curious because that is how I feel.  I have been dizzy for about 5 months now.  I am thinking about trying the milk free diet and seeing if that would work.  Do you think it would help?

[meniere135]

You didn't provide enough information for anyone to say if food elimination will work, but many people find relief by eliminating anything from cow's milk or gluten (wheat, barley, rye and oats) and possibly sugar.  Are you diabetic, togomalik?  What other symptoms do you have?  The above diet is the gluten free diet.   This is the diet that relieved my dizziness and ear ringing.  The milk free diet relieved my muffling by opening up my eustachian tubes.  But make sure you see a doctor first to rule out other problems.  In the meantime, give dieting a try.

Good luck!

[togomalik]

Hi,
Sorry I was pretty vague.  Well I had been dizzy from an MS relapse.  Well that went away but then I had to do a heart cath (long story) and the weekend before I got this bad cold.  Well I've been dizzy ever since.  I thought I just worried myself sick again and it was the MS.  Well my ears have been hurting ever since I had that cold and now I have fluid backup.  I have actually been complaining about my ears for awhile now (probley about a year)  I felt like I couldn't hear as good as I used to.  Anyway, I was just wandering if the gluten free diet or diary free diet helps with fluid build up and infections.  I've tried antihistamines and they don't work.  The only relief I've gotten is the chiropractor but the pressure builds back up by the next day.  

Thanks for any advice,
Christy

[meniere135]

Sorry about the MS.  You said the chiropractor temporarily relieved pressure - where was the pressure in your head?  Did you hear better temporarily at the same time the pressure let up? I believe the food diets can definitely help many people if they have problems with them.  It worked wonders for me.  Give the diets a try one at a time.  Try gluten free first.  Look above at the diet I suggested, and give it a try for a few weeks.  See  if you have any improvements.  Make sure you take a gluten free vitamin (Nature Made is all gluten free).  Make sure you medications don't have gluten in them - call the pharmacy who dispensed them to you and tell them you are on a gluten free diet and need to know if any of your meds have gluten in them.  Don't discontinue any meds - check with your doctor.  Let me know how the diet goes.

[togomalik]

Thanks for the advice.  The chiropractor relieves the pressure from my ears mainly my right one.  ( I think there is fluid built up and then it drains, thats what it feels like anyway)  But Wednesday of last week I was riding in the car and all of a sudden I got this intense pressure in my head mainly on my right side and along with it my ears were hurting alot worse.  Do you think this is all probley related to the ear problem?  Because I keep having the head pressure but not constant.  Today has been worse than the other days but my right ear hurts and has pressure built back up.  I just don't want the pressure to be something serious but I would guess its due to the ear thing right?  (I have high anxiety ever since I went paralyzed which doesn't help)

I am going to start that this week after I talk to the pharmacy.  I will keep you updated.
And thanks again for talking to me it eases my anxiety alittle just trying to figure this all out.  I'm hoping once the ear problem is gone so will all the dizziness :)

[meniere135]

I know when I am driving in the car, there are certain areas that change altitude ever so slightly.  And when that happens, if the eustachian tubes are closed up, it will cause pain in my ears and pressure-like feeling.  If I'm not sticking to my diet, and my eustachian tubes get plugged up, I can't even stand wearing ear plugs - it increases the pressure in my ears too much.  When I went on the milk-free diet, in 4-5 days, after no relief at all, I would suddenly feel my eustachian tubes open and I would feel like water was trickling down my tubes and I could hear better.  Now I'm not sure if your tubes are closed because of structural problems (bones out of alignment type thing) or if it's food related.  You've been under a lot of stress just worrying about the MS.  Maybe your neck is "crunching down" when you tense up.
Or maybe the foods are causing inflammation.  Or maybe both at the same time.
I just looked up a thing called Chiari Malformation just by chance.  I'm 99.5% sure I have that and wonder if that is why I have all these problems myself.  

I hope you have someone to talk to about your health.  I know after having Meniere's disease for several years without knowing it was Meniere's was the scariest thing I'd ever gone through.  I literally begged God to take me (and I have three kids), and put me out of my misery.  I used to shake in bed, breaking out in a sweat, scared "********" (excuse the language), listening to really loud tinnitus and feeling muffled and losing hearing.  I got my first taste of what it's like to live and not be able to bear the thought of living like that.  I'm Catholic, so I prayed to St. Therese (because she sends a rose in answer to your prayer) asking her to send me a rose telling me that I'll never lose any more hearing and my ear noise will never get louder.  I asked her to send me two - one for my nightstand (because nights were long in my muffled, loud world) and a real one, placed in my hand.  About 5 days later, the last day of my 5 day novena, my oldest daughter drew me a flower.  It looked like a tulip, but underneath it she printed the word ROSE. (And she was only 6 at the time and didn't know about my prayer).  That same day, my mother-in-law put a little bouquet of flowers in my hand.  I looked immediately to see if there was a rose, and was disappointed to find out there wasn't one.  But my same daughter, again not knowing I was even looking for a rose, came over to me and told me there was a baby rose in the center of the bouquet.  Here it was just buried by the other flowers.  TRUE STORY!  And I still have the drawn flower and it reminds me I'll be ok.  And I haven't lost any more hearing, and the noise has gotten much gentler and easy to tolerate.  That was 11 years ago.  I know everyone believes different things, but I hope this story opens you up to the fact that God does hear our prayers.  Tell God exactly what you want.  Tell Him how scared you are.  Just tell him like it is, each and every day.  Help someone each day in some little way.  Don't forget to keep on living.  And He didn't put us here alone.  There are people around us to help us through.  Keep reading up on MS....MS and vitamin deficiencies, MS and hormone imbalances, etc.
Help yourself and let God do the rest!!!!  Pray for all the other people with MS.  

Good luck!  I'll check in with you.