Like Mary who also posted a positive post, i promised myself if/when i got better, id make a post that others could read and get some positivity from.
Around 12 weeks ago i woke up with a muffled ear. i dont know what caused it. i went to the doctors who told me i had an ear infection and they prescribed antibiotics and told me in a couple of days it would get better. It didnt. It started to cause me lots of anxiety, something id never experienced before. After a month a made an appt with a private ENT consultant. He looked in my ear, said it didnt look too bad and he thought it would clear itself within a few weeks-months. I searched google for positive stories, i wanted to know i wasnt alone. i wanted to know there would be light at the end of the tunnel. Going online didnt give me that positivity i soooo desperately needed. I used a nasal spray for about a month - i dont think that helped tbh. I tried doing daily exercises that i found on youtube - there are loads. I also did steaming - boiling water in a bowl, towel over head for 5-10 mins - i did this daily. Then about 4 weeks ago some days the muffled feeling didnt seem as muffled. Then the next day it did. I didnt know if i was just getting used to it, or whether it was very slowly improving. Thank goodness for me, it was improving. Because i didnt know what happened once it started to heal… did it take hours? or a day, or days or even weeks? In my case its weeks. My ear still isnt 100% better, but i think its like70-80%improved. its clearly a very gradual process. Just remember, those who have ETD and get over it quickly do not come to online forums, when searching, generally you will only find negative stories which will only make you feel worse. Give it time, in most cases ETD will right itself within a few months.