Hello, my name is Serge. Let me tell you a little bit about how I got here. Back in 2022, I noticed that my wisdom tooth sometimes caused me to bite incorrectly, and my ear would even close up. I thought, "Well, maybe it's an ear infection." Besides, I have chronic reflux issues. I went to the ER, but they found nothing serious. With ibuprofen, the inflammation went down, and my hearing returned to normal. I had several episodes of ear closure.

Then, in 2023, I noticed tension in the area of the wisdom tooth. That year, I planned to have it removed, but for personal and financial reasons, I decided not to, as it wasn’t causing me many symptoms. Towards the end of 2023, I started feeling tension in my jaw. After taking more ibuprofen, the issue resolved, and there were no problems.

However, in February 2024, my ear closed up again, though with fewer symptoms this time. More ibuprofen resolved it. By late April, I had a small ringing in my left ear, and my ear got blocked again. The difference this time was that I had a severe reflux episode, so bad it burned my throat. I had symptoms all month until I saw a gastroenterologist, who prescribed me omeprazole for 90 days (three times a day, 20 mg each).

In May, specifically on the 23rd, with my ear inflamed and ringing, I had an argument with a family member and violently slammed the door. From that moment, the previously mild ringing became much louder, and I also developed ringing in my right ear.

A week later, I went back to the ER, and they said I had too much earwax to see if there was an infection. They gave me drops and performed an ear cleaning. By June, my ear had clogged due to the drops, but it unclogged after the cleaning. After that, I only had a small ringing in my left ear, which I didn’t pay much attention to. I spent June and July dealing with my reflux, and finally, in August, it stabilized.

By late August, I started hearing a new intermittent ringing in both ears, like a light breeze. Since I no longer had reflux problems, I started reading up on tinnitus. They told me it could be caused by TMJ, as my left ear area was tense. I thought that could be it, so I started physical therapy, and the tension in the left side of my jaw began to decrease.

By September 9th, I only heard the wind-like ringing, but I noticed I had more postural issues with my spine. After more physical therapy, the wind-like ringing became almost imperceptible. On September 15th, while I was sleeping, a loud noise woke me up. It was ringing so intense it hurt. I noticed my ears were clogged for about four minutes, but that was the only incident, and I went back to sleep without further problems.

A week later, on September 20th at night, I started hearing distorted sounds. Since I had researched a bit, I realized it was hyperacusis. I calmed down and tried to figure out what might have caused it. The only thing that came to mind was the September 15th incident.

So, I began hearing about 60% of the sounds distorted. Some days I wouldn’t hear any distortion, other days I would. On September 26th, I finally decided to have my wisdom tooth removed. It took the dentist one hour to extract it. It wasn’t too complicated, but my teeth have long roots that are very attached to the bone.

The tension in my left area disappeared, and the ringing I had almost went away. Right now, I’m still hearing distorted sounds, and I’ve developed two new ringing sounds that are very similar to the distorted noises I hear. For now, I’m listening to pink noise, and I’ve noticed that after two days, the ringing has changed: in my left ear, I can barely hear it, but it’s still somewhat strong in the right ear. As for the hyperacusis, it’s mild. I don’t know if it will heal completely or leave some sequelae. Right now, I’m nervous, reflecting on all the time and suffering a single wisdom tooth caused me, and how careless I was in letting it go for so long. I hope my ringing improves and the distortion disappears.

Note: at some point in the last two weeks, I did feel pain when listening to sounds like wind or a river, but that pain is gone now. I’m calmer, only a few sounds affect me. I’ll keep using pink noise for now to see if there’s any improvement. Best regards.