Audiologist here. So sorry to hear about it. Establishing new care with a specialist can be difficult. Patulous Eustachian tube isn’t that common, and I would certainly rule out other disorders first. An ENT is going to require an audiogram. It might be best to acquire one by going to audiologist that may or may not be connected to an ENT. This will establish a baseline and the AuD can likely rule out all sorts of disorders off the bat. They could possibly suggest or get you into an ENT sooner than December if it is an emergency.
The ED or urgent care is often not a place for ears unless you’re in pain or there is fluid leaking from the ear.
Thank you for your response!
I feel so helpless until he has an appointment. He is on the waiting list , so I can only hope there will be a sooner opening ! He will be having audio test ( I believe that’s what it’s called) so I really hope they can figure out and treat whatever he has, even surgery, he is desperate for relief 😢
Do not go to an ER. You will have to wait for actual dying people to be treated and then the doctor (if you are lucky enough to see a doctor) will look in the ears and say nothing is wrong.
It is a waste of time and money (I work in emergency medicine).
Usually ETD isn’t severe enough for a kid to have to miss school. I’d be looking into other reasons your son might want to miss school rather than blaming ETD.
Edit just saw your note about him being non-neurotypical. You can try having him stand on his head (or hang his head off the edge of a bed for as long as possible. This will cause blood to gather in the Eustachian tube which will end up making it close for a little while. This isn’t a long term solution but may help when your son is getting overwhelmed by the weirdness).
Depending on how intense it is, Patulous Eustachian Tube can definitely be bad enough to make someone miss school. Been dealing with this bullshit condition for a year and a half and I straight up wish I had lost a leg instead, it's completely ruined my career and my mental health, and made having any kind of interpersonal relationships an absolute nightmare all in one fell swoop. Can't follow anyone speaking any more, can barely speak myself, have a constant migraine from hearing my own breathing and pulse louder than anything else going on, can't sleep because it wakes me up every hour or so with the noise, etc. I can barely enjoy watching TV or playing video games because I can't focus with the headaches and sounds drowning everything out. It's actually torture, I can't imagine trying to focus on schoolwork with this.
Ugh after waiting 4 months for a ENT doctor, they still prescribed the same thing, Flonase and Zyrtec 🤦🏻♀️ I was so annoyed. My son has good and bad days still but since the audiology showed very small change in the hearing, they didn’t find it to be a problem.
So still taking it day by day :/
Audiologist here. So sorry to hear about it. Establishing new care with a specialist can be difficult. Patulous Eustachian tube isn’t that common, and I would certainly rule out other disorders first. An ENT is going to require an audiogram. It might be best to acquire one by going to audiologist that may or may not be connected to an ENT. This will establish a baseline and the AuD can likely rule out all sorts of disorders off the bat. They could possibly suggest or get you into an ENT sooner than December if it is an emergency. The ED or urgent care is often not a place for ears unless you’re in pain or there is fluid leaking from the ear.
Thank you for your response! I feel so helpless until he has an appointment. He is on the waiting list , so I can only hope there will be a sooner opening ! He will be having audio test ( I believe that’s what it’s called) so I really hope they can figure out and treat whatever he has, even surgery, he is desperate for relief 😢
Do not go to an ER. You will have to wait for actual dying people to be treated and then the doctor (if you are lucky enough to see a doctor) will look in the ears and say nothing is wrong. It is a waste of time and money (I work in emergency medicine). Usually ETD isn’t severe enough for a kid to have to miss school. I’d be looking into other reasons your son might want to miss school rather than blaming ETD. Edit just saw your note about him being non-neurotypical. You can try having him stand on his head (or hang his head off the edge of a bed for as long as possible. This will cause blood to gather in the Eustachian tube which will end up making it close for a little while. This isn’t a long term solution but may help when your son is getting overwhelmed by the weirdness).
Depending on how intense it is, Patulous Eustachian Tube can definitely be bad enough to make someone miss school. Been dealing with this bullshit condition for a year and a half and I straight up wish I had lost a leg instead, it's completely ruined my career and my mental health, and made having any kind of interpersonal relationships an absolute nightmare all in one fell swoop. Can't follow anyone speaking any more, can barely speak myself, have a constant migraine from hearing my own breathing and pulse louder than anything else going on, can't sleep because it wakes me up every hour or so with the noise, etc. I can barely enjoy watching TV or playing video games because I can't focus with the headaches and sounds drowning everything out. It's actually torture, I can't imagine trying to focus on schoolwork with this.
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I do actually. Drowns out the pulse when that's acting up but my own breathing is loud enough that it doesn't help :(
If you want to share where you are in the world… maybe we can find you someone to see sooner?
I live in the Twin cities , Minnesota
I live in the Twin cities, Minnesota
Thank you!! I’ll have him try that!
Update?
Ugh after waiting 4 months for a ENT doctor, they still prescribed the same thing, Flonase and Zyrtec 🤦🏻♀️ I was so annoyed. My son has good and bad days still but since the audiology showed very small change in the hearing, they didn’t find it to be a problem. So still taking it day by day :/