I hit my head very hard, and now my ear is clogged... is it permanent?
 

6 days ago i fainted in my bathroom and hit the back of my head on the bathtub very hard when i fell. I was out for about a minute (not sure if it was from fainting, or hitting my head... or both) and when i came to i was in a lot of pain.

I sat in a recliner to rest, and everything seemed ok (except for a bad headache)... then about 2 hours after hitting my head i stood up and noticed that my ear felt like there was water in it. Soon after, my ear completely stopped up, like if you have a bad cold. It's been that way ever since (6 days now), and i am starting to become concerned.

My head was swelled behind the ear where i hit it, but it feels like it has gone down a lot... yet the muffled/clogged ear persists. If i hold my nose and blow air out through my nose, my ear pops and feels how it normally would if it was about to clear up, but goes back to feeling clogged when i am not blowing out.

If anyone has experienced this, or knows any information about it, i would be very grateful for your input.

Thanks

I'm curious about what caused you to faint? Does it happen often ?

If you don't know why you fainted, I suggest going to a dr to get both fainting & the ear/head looked into.

I had cut my toe and was cleaning it under the bathroom faucet. The blood made me light headed and i passed out.

Last night i slept in a recliner with ice behind my head hoping it would help... this morning there is no change, my ear still feels severely clogged/muffled.

If this is permanent it will be terrible. :(

This happened to me too, but in both ears. Hit my head, my ears clogged, then unclogged for a week, and then clogged back up again. At first they were 24/7, but gradually became less and less severe. I am now 2.5 months out from my hit and they still clog, but only when I am dehydrated and/or am doing something strenuous.

My guess is that it is an inflammatory response of some kind. I know that it feels maddening - it is probably the worst feeling in the entire world. Give it time, rest, etc.

One thing to note - do you have any thin, clear fluid coming from your nose, ears, or down the back of your throat? If so then you need to get checked by a neuro immediately, could be a CSF leak.

Also, you may have agitated your sinuses. Not sure if it is coincidence or not, but after I hit my head my sinuses started producing thick mucus in the back of my nose/throat which I am assuming accounts for the blockage that I still feel.

thanks for your input. it's coming up on two weeks now, and my hearing is still messed up pretty bad, but it seems to be improving slightly. things are popping and crackling more like when your ears clear up from a cold... the muffling is reducing some as well. hoping it clears up soon, otherwise i will let a doctor look at it.

clogged ear
 

If the symptoms do not subside, know that it is very possible that the pressure in your ear is du to a "displaced" vertebrae, mainly the atlas or axis (upper two neck vertebrae) which are also frequently involved in post- concussion-like symptoms (vertigo, headaches and neck pain).

Going to see a good chiropractor may be very usefull .

Tecie
 

I myself wear a hearing aid in my left ear. I use to do stainglass, I had a brother in law turn on a bandsaw with me right there and no ear plugs, my ear started ringing, then felt clogged. Went to ear doc, because of my eardrum being kind of crumbled from noise they said I lost part of hearing not all.
Then 2 1/2 years ago I was hit by a drunk driver on my lunch hr, left with brain trauma, I now have maybe 20% hearing in that ear, got a new hearing aid.
Very loud noises can crumble your ear drum or cause damage. I hope it gets better for you :)

thanks tecie and pepa.

i went to the emergency room today to get it looked at, and the CT scan showed a small fracture... so that's probably what the hearing loss is from. they gave me some steroids and i have an appointment scheduled with an ENT doctor in a few days. hope it heals ok.

things improved considerably in the days after i visited the ER, since then i have had an audio test and visited an ENT doctor.

the audio test showed normal hearing, which didn't surprise me as i now feel only 10-20% off of normal. the doctor looked in my ear with a microscope and said she didn't see any damage, just maybe some fluid. i am continuing the steroids.

so things are a lot better now... although a problem is still noticeable and it flares up and down depending on what i am doing. i get the sensation that one side of my head is in an audio test chamber... where everything sounds deadened... if that makes sense. i can hear fine, but something just feels/sounds off... like the feeling you get when you go into a soundproofed audio test chamber.

hoping it doesn't get any worse, and also that it eventually returns to normal.

I smashed my head on concrete and had imbalanced and blocked feeling in my ears for months. I also had pain in my ears. All this completely resolved in about 7 months and the only thing that is left behind is tinnitus and hyperacusis which maybe permanent. My ears also kind of opened up after a couple of months and felt somewhat normal. Maybe it has to do with eustachian tube ? Or C1 C2? Who knows