I’ve noticed that when I drink coffee for several days in a row, my earwax becomes increasingly liquid. This continues as long as I keep drinking coffee, and it returns to a normal consistency maybe a week or a little more after I stop drinking coffee.
When I drink coffee, I also sometimes hear a very high-pitched ringing in one ear or the other, lasting for just a few seconds. This might happen once every few days - but almost never happens to me during periods when I’m not drinking coffee.
The questions: does anybody else experience either of these two phenomena? Is there a connection between the two? What causes them?
Caffeine consumption is associate with tinnitus. I don’t know if ear wax is related, but my earwax varies from hard to very soft periodically and when it’s soft it seems to coat my eardrums making me almost deaf. So I’d like to stop that from happening. I guess I could give up caffeine for a while.
IANAD:
Blood pressure can be a source if tinnitus.
That said, consult a doctor. There is more than one cause of tinnitus. You’ll need a doctor as assess the causes and come up with a treatment plan.
This could also just be a result of drinking hot liquids. Does it happen with decaf coffee, or tea? Does it happen with cold coffee drinks?
I get these. One ear gets quiet for about a second and then the ringing tone starts. It peaks after about a second and then slowly fades over about 10 seconds. Hearing ability for that ear takes about 30-40 seconds to fully recover.
This happens anywhere from twice a week to once a month. I have not been able to detect any correlation with any other activity or consumption.
While I (fortunately) don’t get tinnitus, I do note a correlation between caffeine intake and my blood pressure. Visiting the doc the other day for my annual physical, I had skipped breakfast and my usual coffee. My blood pressure numbers were a lot more “normal” than they are when I’ve just had my morning coffee. (Yes, I did have some water earlier that day.)
OTOH I can’t help with the earwax correlation. I drink coffee so regularly I can’t see any connection there.