PLUGGED EAR FOR NEARLY A YEAR

Last October, 2023, I had a ton of mucus and my right ear was leaking at night. Go figure??? I felt good and was doing a lot of hiking in the mountains at that time. I am pretty active. I wasn't too concerned. So I just spit a lot and blew my nose frequently. Then on Oct 31, while laying on the couch, my L ear started hearing a ticking noise and I stood up to see what it was and R ear was completely plugged. I talked to my dogs and voice sounded far away like it was coming down a pipe. I just thought, when this thing unplugs, it is really going to hurt. I had no idea what was wrong.
The next day walk in clinic said Flonase. OK. It didn't seem to help. Next two Urgent Care doctors (my regular physician had left town, so I didn't have a doctor) said ETD from acid reflux. Which I did experience. Elevate bed. Second one said, take Prednisone. At the time, I didn't and I told him later. I was afraid of heart palpitations. He gave me a referral to WW ENT. I go there and see the audiologist. She told me to pray and buy a book called Root Wellness. (for real). Also according to her hearing test, I had sudden hearing loss and the, Urgent Care doctors, with a ton of experience, were WRONG, saying ETD . Now I know I"m in trouble. I see another local ENT and took Prednisone for 12 days, which didn't help. He put a hole in my ear as well and that didn't help either.. He thinks it is a neuropathy so gives me a referral to Neurologist, which took me six months to get there. Back to Urgent care and have a MRI w/o contrast of neck. Off to Spokane. Another diagnoses of Sudden Hearing Loss. Brain MRI. I fly to FL. My ear about blew up. I call Spokane and asked how do I get home???? Rent a car?? No chew gum, yawn and swallow.... I had been doing that for 150 days, by then. No help. Back to Urgent Care. Take Amoxicillin 800. I did. No help. You are welcome to 2nd opinion at UW. I buy airplane ticket and go.
She says it's my age and the ear leaking is my brain tricking me. My ear started leaking around the first of October 2023. If I stick my finger in there it is wet and moist like a sponge, when it drains at night. I'm not sure how my brain tricks that.
Spokane calls me at my house and said we would like to put a tube in your ear. I said local ENT did put a hole in my ear last Dec and didn't help. I drive the 400 miles and his narrative said, he had very low optimism for the procedure....... So why did YOU CALL ME and say you wanted to put me down for the following Wed. See neurologist this June. The referral they got was for a migraine. You can't make this stuff up........ I said no. It's for a plugged ear. I give him a rundown of my trail and he kept digging at me.... Did you pray????? Did you pray????? YES!!!!!!!! On July 8, my L ear is starting to plug. Noooo... Using Valsalva maneuver, my R ear unplugged after 250 days with a flurry of bubbles down my neck..... It didn't last long. Just a few minutes... But it unplugged. It felt wonderful and was such a relief. I call local ENT and he said come back in 3 mo. Whatever??? I have this figured out. If I am 1000 feet lower in elevation and I plug my nose and blow very gently, a layer or two of pressure will come off R ear and if it completely unplugs, there is a freeway of air between nostril, throat and ear. YES!!!! It feels so good, but is very short lived. So I write back to Spokane ENT and they say that is not uncommon. UW tells me to let someone else know. But it was 250 days, blocked up tight and it opened completely for a few. Yesterday back to local ENT and told him about neurology referral he gave me.
That the Dr. was hammering me, asking if I had prayed or not. He asked where was that??? Where you referred me. He said we don't even know those guys. He said, I have done everything I can for you.
I message Dr.s office that told me to pray, because now that audiologist is gone. After the audiologist recommendation to pray 12/01, I did not go back to see doctor. I was sure, someone out there could help me. I call that office back yesterday and they said Dr had reviewed all my hearing tests and imaging and concurred it was Sudden Hearing Loss. So I come home and Google if the Valsalva method would open ear if you had Sudden Hearing Loss and it clearly said no. So now, I know it will open for a short time, by plugging my nose and blowing very gently. If you blow harder the L ear plugs and it hurts badly. It will be one year shortly, and I am not giving up. I know there is someone out there that will know exactly what happened and how to fix it. I do a sinus rinse daily, use either Flonase, Astepro, Azelstaine. When I lay down to sleep, the pressure is gone. There has never been a time that there is not mucus in my throat. The first few months there was a lot of blood and chunks in my mucus. There was never a time, that my nose didn't need blowing.
In this whole ordeal, I did end up having a tooth pulled also. At the end of May, my jaw was killing me. I went to local dentist. He took ex rays and said everything looks good. I was glad more symptoms were manifesting as I was close to going to UW. I knew it must be connected to my ear. I told her and she did give me a MRI of neck order with contrast..... It showed I needed a tooth pulled now. So much for local dentist. But this is how it's been going.

I did see my new local primary guy yesterday. Now I have a primary. He told me. Don't Quit. I told him I was going to write a book called Grandma Mary's Ear and my Granddaughter was going to illustrate it, when this was all finished. He wants an autographed copy.