Plugged Ear

[MMERHS]

Last Sunday morning my left ear started to plug up.  At first I thought it was the barometric pressure changing because a storm was coming in.  It has plugged up so that all sounds are tinny and I have a constant ringing and gurgling like a boiling water pot.  I feel great and have not been dizzy.  It does not hurt.  I tried putting peroxide in it, but nothing changed.  my ear is clean with no earwax.  Any ideas about what I can do about it?

[Wear/a/Jimmy]

Yes. SEE AN EAR SPECIALIST TODAY! You need to get a hearing test. Sudden hearing loss is a medical emergency and needs to be treated in 24-48 hours for best chance of saving hearing.

(standard train of though is treatment within 2 weeks of onset) but I would agree the earlier the better.

[Nancy T]

Yes. SEE AN EAR SPECIALIST TODAY! You need to get a hearing test. Sudden hearing loss is a medical emergency and needs to be treated in 24-48 hours for best chance of saving hearing.

If it is a conductive loss (middle-ear problem) it is not urgent, but if it's an inner-ear problem, it IS urgent. If you see your PCP and they don't use the tuning fork to test your hearing to determine whether it's a conductive problem or a sensorineural (inner ear) hearing loss, don't let the PCP tell you it's just wax or fluid or whatever. Insist on immediately having the test to figure out what's going on. If PCP balks, get yourself to an ENT immediately.