ear ringing

I have had this bad ringing in my left ear for 4 months now. All the usual test MRI, Audiogram, EEG and they find nothing. It started suddenly few days after suffering some light headedness and dizziness. ENT said, well really nothing and gave me dieretics, which did nothing. PCP gave me Trazadone and Clonazapam and the Neurologist gave me Celexa. So after taking all of these meds I have good days and bad days. Some days it is completely gone and I can sometimes get 3 days of this, but then I will get 3 or more days of bad ear days. It's almost like a high pitched hissing sound and some days... the good ones, it is localized to just my ear and faint, but the bad days it is like it's coming from the center of my brain, so some days it's a 1 other days it's a 4 on the 1 to 10 scale. I have had seizures  is the past, never needed meds but this thing feels like the aura they talk about right before a seizure and or the weird zingy ring you get when you have fainted and are just starting to come to, only much worse. When I walk up in the morning my whole head is just ringing like mad, like morning fog only a thousand time worse. After I take some meds an am awake awhile this calms down, but it either stays at a 2 or 3 the rest of the day, or it localizes to my left ear and gets to a 1 or sometimes less...the good days. I am now wondering if the combo of all these meds are causing some of this mad morning ring. I just don't know and now they want me to also take Lycra on top of everything else... man I feel like a walking zombie. I have been on these Tinnitus support sites and read all about habituating, and I try, but I am just so damned tired of this. I have been healthy all my life, don't drink or smoke and weigh 170 pounds and add NO salt to anything I eat, cut out caffeine, watch sodium content in all food I eat. I just don't get it. How can I have a symptom of something no test seems to find? I did have shingles on my right side 3 years ago, so viral labrinthitis?

[Christopher R Newey, DO]

Thanks for using the forum. I am happy to address your questions, and my answer will be based on the information you provided here. Please make sure you recognize that this forum is for educational purposes only, and it does not substitute for a formal office visit with a doctor.

Without the ability to examine and obtain a history, I can not tell you what the exact cause of the symptoms is. However I will try to provide you with some useful information.

I am sorry to hear about the tinnitus (or ringing in your ears). Tinnitus may be a benign finding other than the annoyance. Some patients become reconciled to its presence. Treatment options have been discussed in the literature such as using a hearing aid to improve audition which may suppress the ringing or using a another form of hearing aid to provide a sound to diminish the ringing. Surgery to decompress the 8th nerve has been reported but the these are rare and special cases. Medications such as amitriptyline have been used with mixed success.

Have your physicians evaluated all of your medications to ensure they are not toxic to the inner ear? These drugs include usually aminoglycosides, chemotherapeutic agents such as cisplatin, and high doses of aspirin.

You should continue working with your ear, nose, throat specialist on this matter.

Thank you for this opportunity to answer your questions, I hope you find the information I have provided useful, good luck.