Hello, I’m a 21 year old male and I use moldable silicone earplugs for sleep due to strong noise sensitivity and insomnia (I take 50mg QUVIVIQ per night to help with my sleep. My current sleeping environment is very loud and it’s nearly impossible for me to sleep without earplugs).
When I woke up and removed my earplugs last Friday my right ear was blocked and since then I can barely hear from my right ear, everything sounds muffled, I have strong pressure on the ear, I hear the pulsating sound of my heartbeat and it also developed strong stabbing pain that’s irregular and it even caused headaches. I’m currently taking Ibuprofen for the pain.
I already had this a few times before and there it went away from itself within hours and one time it also stayed on the right ear but it went away after weeks and earwax removal from my ENT.
I also have very sensitive skin with Neurodermitis, Eczema and lichen.
I tried multiple things like washing the ear canal with water, olive oil and ear cleaning spray but nothing worked.
It’s currently very hard for me to visit a doctor.
I did imaging from my ear canals and it’s hard to say what’s going on. There definitely seems to be earwax/stuff around my right eardrum compared to my left eardrum that looks perfectly clean (my left ear works normally). But it’s hard to tell how much earwax there is and if that’s actually causing the issues. I’m a little afraid to remove it since it seems to be very close to the eardrum (it’s potentially sitting right on it) and I’m scared that I might damage it. And it’s also a little hard for me to operate the otoscope. Maybe it’s not earwax and it’s just my eardrum being inflamed or it has eczema/lichen or something? Maybe applying a little cortisone cream at the eardrum might help?
Here are images and video footage of my ear canals: