Busted ear drum = permanant balance issues?

[Christian_rider]

Okay guys, I know there are many experienced guys here (Doctors, Pilots, etc. )who have gone through a lot of things here. I have a problem and I can not get the doctors to shoot straight with me. This flu bug hit me hard and I am not one to get sick, hardly ever. I ended up with many upper respiratory infections, and pink eye. I was stupid and stubborn and was going to get better on my own through rest and self medication. The pink eye was what finally made me break down and go to the doctor . I have been maybe 8 times in my life. Then while on antibiotics, ( Z-Pack) I developed the worst ear infection I have ever had. Made an appointment but had to wait three days. Last evening my ear drum burst. Lots of bleeding from my ear. I have to wait until Monday for the referral to the ENT Doctor. Seems many here are dealing with the crud. My balance is off, way off and the dope has me sleep most of the time. When I do get up its bad because I have been in bed too much.

My worry is my balance thing and the fact I can not hear anything but constant ringing in my ear right now. I am worried it may affect my employment and also my equilibrium enough to ride. I am only 38 but it is getting harder to overcome and heal from illness. It is finally getting nice enough here in the S.E. to ride without bundling up and I am quite worried I may miss a good bit of it. Not to mention my job that pays for it being in jeopardy. Are there any other deaf riders here? Will the equilibrium thing go away? I not freaking out but do wish I knew better what to expect.

Sorry about spelling and grammar issues, a little doped right now!

[George Brown]

Sad news. Hope everyone reads your post as I think many of us do not take "the flu" serious enough. It was the flu that brought WWI to an end.

 

Regarding your ear and permanent balance issues, I hope that doesn't end up being the case. My brother-in-law (Fasterpills' father) lost his equillibrium about 20 years ago at age 58 or 59 due to surgery. As a life-long rider (took his first driver's license exam on an Indian Scout) it was very difficult for him to adjust. He finally purchased a HD Servi-car to putt around town with and still get "in the wind".

[Dave McReynolds]

I'm no doctor, but I had similar symptoms a few months ago, bleeding eardrum, burst tympanic membrane, severe pain, etc. Significant hearing loss at the time I visited the Dr.

 

I've recovered completely, so far as I can tell. Same old lousy hearing I've had for many years, and same fair to good balance.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Not a doctor, don't play one on TV and I almost never stay at Holiday Inn Express but, I don't think the loss of equilibrium will be permanent.

 

As far as I know, balance is keyed to fluid within the semi-circular canals in the inner ear. The eardrum is located in the middle ear and only serves as a sound amplifier/transmitter. There is no physical connection between them.

 

Your loss of balance is probably a result of some lingering infection and maybe some crud buildup and once that is cleaned out, you should be more or less OK in that respect. Your ENT guy should be able to tell you more as you are going to have to be more careful about hygiene and other stuff in that ear from now on.

[Christian_rider]

Sounds good so far! It is aggravating as I have always ensured everyone on the rides and at the range have had proper ear protection. Have been forced to fire .357 sig Glock w/o protection several times on two occasions, and that did not do the ears any good. Turns out it was okay I was not as good a shot while under pressure. Nor, did do good working on the flight deck even with protection when I was younger. This may have played a role in all this. A little uneasy with bleeding from the ears.

[Jake]

I had a nasty bout with Vertigo (BPPV) a few years ago. Real nasty. I don't even wish that on Elliot Spitzer. I have high hopes that your ear will heal and right your ship. The ear contains a fluid - the flow of which can be disrupted by illnesses, viruses, etc, sending funky signals to your noggin. Once the proper viscosity returns, you'll see straight once again. Just don't climb any ladders too soon.

 

Edit: What Ed said.

[drzep]

Here's the rub: This is not likely to cause permanent hearing issues but may have some consequences on equilibrium. However, the prognosis depends on a few things, one of which is the sequence of events leading up to the rupture of the drum (see below…). Once the ENT gets a good look in there and performs audiometric testing, you will have a better idea. Most often the vertigo does goes away because the brain can compensate.

 

WARNING! If you are not interested in a boring diatribe on eardrum rupture and vertigo, read no further. I’m bored, so this is what you get…

 

The reason your drum ruptured is pressure. A viral infection like influenza A or B can cause inflammation of the middle ear as well as the tube the normally connects the middle ear to the upper airway. The function of the latter is to equalize the pressure between the atmosphere and your middle ear, e.g., increasing or decreasing in altitude relative to sea level. Now, the reason this tube, or pharyngotympanic / Eustachian tube, is critical is because the organs of both hearing and balance have very thin membranes that connect their fluid filled compartments to the middle ear (air filled). This is why an increase in middle ear pressure can cause vertigo and/or hearing disturbances - its pressure translated from one compartment (middle ear) to another (vestibule for balance and cochlea for hearing). So why does this matter?

 

These membranes, which are called the oval window (balance) and round window (hearing) are similar to the eardrum but a tad more delicate. What can often happen is that an increase in middle ear pressure can rupture one of these membranes before the eardrum actually ruptures. This is when permanent changes can occur; the membranes often do not heal normally or can form small connections between the middle ear and the balance and hearing organs. Usually this is bad news, but not always.

 

The critical part here is that in a typical case of an ear infection, this usually doesn't happen because the ear drum, with a greater surface area, tends to rupture at lower pressures than the oval and round windows. For example, we see oval and round window ruptures more often in divers who descend too quickly without equalizing middle ear pressure and water skiers that fall directly on the ear. In your case, the reaction of the body to the virus has generated enough pus and mucus in the middle ear, as well as sufficient inflammation of the Eustachian tube, such that your eardrum ruptured and the blood vessels supplying it ruptured with it. That's the reason for the pus/mucus/blood. The question is weather the vertigo and tinnitus is a result of the instantaneous change in pressure on the oval and round windows or it is because oval and round windows ruptured prior to eardrum rupture. This is why I mentioned the timing thing above.

 

So…did you have ringing in the ears and dizziness before the rupture of the eardrum or right after? If these started right when you noticed blood and mucus then the chances of permanent vertigo and hearing loss are much less. But even if the windows ruptured first, a lot of people fully recover from that, so don’t get too stressed out about it yet.

 

Hope things work out for you!

[Christian_rider]

Thanks alot! Better than Web MD. Now if I could only get it done and over with and move on. Thanks for your response(s)!

[Smoky]

I blew out my right ear drum in a water skiing fall, about 25 years ago. Hurt like a sonovabitch! It healed up in a week or so, but then I got an infection behind the ear drum, that hurt a bunch too.

 

However, I got back my hearing, and my balance.

 

It interupted my riding for about 2 weeks.

[algover]

..... Are there any other deaf riders here? ....

 

My wife will claim that I am one! I've been using hearing-aids for a couple of decades and just recently gave up on them.

I hope things get better for you soon.

 

Dr ZEP, that's a darn good explanation!

[Christian_rider]

Well, I still can not hear out of the ear but after a long day with the Doctor he assures me the rupture is repaired and the infection that caused the fluid build up is well on its way to being healed. I have to go back in 12 days for a graft but in a few weeks all should be well and any long term issues would be trivial at best. Good news, I guess I got a little freaked out about it for no reason. He did say stay of the bike for a couple of weeks though! Not sure how it feels right now as the loritab and tylox pretty much hides any pain. In fact a little hard to even type this. I thunk I am going to slee

[drzep]

Terrific news! Hang in there.