I had this problem once, and the Epley Maneuver did, indeed, clear things up in short order (a day or two).
Hi. Five months ago I lost 90% of my hearing in one ear due to SSHL (sudden sensorineural hearing loss), aka Sudden Deafness. I thought it was a clogged ear. The damage takes less than a week to complete, and treatment (large doses of steroids) after two weeks is mostly futile.
So, I advise seeing an ENT today. I went to my PCP first, who put me on decongestants for 3 days and told me to report if there was no progress. I think they knew the potential issues, but didn’t explain them to me, so I didn’t get back to them for 5 days.
Anyway, it’s a fucked up condition that has hurt my balance, made music much less enjoyable, and generally reduced my quality of life. (Paul Simon had this happen and, last I read, it caused him to stop touring — sound isn’t just lower, it’s actively distorted like a blown speaker.)
I’ve been up a couple hours now and I’m feeling ok. The dizziness is gone. I am very tired, though. Last night in bed I could hear crackling in my sinuses. Today my nose is running. I think it was sinus pressure pushing on my ears that was the problem. I will talk to my doctor about an ENT referral just to be on the safe side.
Thanks to everyone for your responses. I hope those of you suffering with the various forms of this problem continue to do well.
It hit me hard and I was taken in an ambulance to hospital. Shortly after, I was tested by an ENT consultant who told me that I had lost all hearing in one ear.
I was a truck driver at the time and had been waiting outside a collection when I thought someone had run into me from behind. I felt as if I was in a giant ball, being rolled over and over. Sick and dizzy.
nm----
I ignored a sinus infection, because my experience lately is that you get told that until you’ve had it for 7 - 10 days, you can’t have an antibiotic. So, that was enough time for it to move into my inner ear. Poor balance and double vision. I didn’t feel safe to drive, so I called off work (supervisor not happy), and took and Uber to Urgent Care.
They rushed me into a room, which was a bit alarming, and I told them I’ve had an inner ear infection before, and was pretty sure that’s what this was.
The doctor did a bunch of tests, and because I have a weird Babinsky in one foot after and injury, and low blood pressure I’ve had all my life, and wasn’t running a temp (because I’d taken Tylenol for other reasons), he insisted that I needed to go to the ER and be checked for stroke.
I left the ER with an Rx for antibiotics, an order to take decongestants, and a ticket for a free can ride home-- and a work note giving me two days off which got me to the weekend, so, four days to be seeing normally.