Eustachian Tube Dysfunction

[bamajazzlady]

Anyone here experienced or is experiencing ETD? What are the effects of it on trumpet playing?
_________________
"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending." - Maria Robinson

[Secco]

The Eustacian Tube is primarily a gravity drainpipe from the middle ear to where it empties out into the back of the throat. So if it becomes obstructed/blocked, fluid can accumulate in the middle ear, a condition called Serous Otitis Media. This causes diminished hearing in the affected ear and is accompanied by a sensation of fullness. Also, your trumpet sound would be heard transmitting more through your bone and tissues, giving that duck-like sound.

If the fluid inside becomes colonized by bacteria, you then have a middle ear infection, or earache, much more uncomfortable than serous otitis, which is usually not painful. Such infections can involve subsequent damage to the eardrum or worse.

Is the nature or cause of your ET dysfunction known?
_________________
Kanstul 1600/Curry 3BC. and 3TF, Stomvi Flex
Kanstul Pocket
WT Flugel, Copper / FO#3 std

[bamajazzlady]

Chronic sinusitis is the cause of my ETD.
_________________
"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending." - Maria Robinson

[jegbflat]

Hi, this is an old post so my comment may not be seen; I'll give it a try. Someone asked what issues this condition might create for trumpet players. My playing (and sanity) have suffered for many years without recognizing what was happening. I am a come-back player and from the beginning of starting over I would experience HUGE differences in my (perceived) sound from one practice and performance session to another. One day I might sound full and resonant - next day small, weak, muffled; as if a different person or horn. It has been the source of incredible frustration, making no sense. Often in band rehearsal or performance I could hardly hear myself, so would blow harder to compensate and wear out very quickly. Impossible to play in tune because I couldn't seem to hear myself properly.

One day recently while practicing, I sensed that my sinuses were plugged up so I performed what I now know is the Valsalva Maneuver - closing mouth, plugging nose and gently blowing against my ears. Hearing a "pop", I could tell that I had equalized the pressure. I picked up my horn to play again and all of a sudden my sound was full, resonant, brassy, and balanced from left to right side of my head. Over time with more experimenting I've come to believe that I've suffered from this blocked ear situation for many years, possibly as a result of sinusitis.

All that frustration and discouragement perhaps could have been avoided had I recognized what was happening sooner. Anyway, if anyone out there reads this and can relate, perhaps you could let me know if there is anything that can be done to relieve the symptoms. I can't very well count on blowing out my ears every so often during performances.

Thanks for listening!

Jerry Giles

[mcgovnor]

I developed it 11 years ago.....allergies and loud jobs and head phones...then in an auto accident it was exacerbated by trauma.....recording really destroyed my ears, now at about a 10% hearing loss. ETD started it and may well have been all allergy and sinusitus. Playing hard makes it worse:)

[american boy]

When I was playing broadway shows in old and dusty theater pits,my ears would block up often and I felt as if I were playing under water.Of course the back pressure from playing didnt help.It got to the point where I went ahead and got allergy tests,and sure enough I was allergic to dust and dust mites.After getting allergy shots,it eventually cleared up.Took a few months,but it really helped

[Shaft]

Same here- Allergy shots have helped with the accumulation of fluids that used to fill my sinuses, cause huge amounts of drainage and when I would breathe i could feel and hear the wind going past the fluid in the inner ear inside of my head.

Sometimes on one side and sometimes on both. When i would play high if my lips were too tight, fluid would shoot up into the ear canal because of all of my symptoms of sinusitis and the fluid would not come back down. I remember specifically a high d in a casino jazz set on a cruise ship and the excrutiating pain and sound inside of my head as I played that note when the fluid went up in that canal on the left side.

The swelling of all of the membrane inside of my sinuses and throat have gone down since allergy shots along with all of the mucous and histamines that used to flood my throat.

Texas weather, not being around cats (asthma and a 4+ on the scratch test for me), avoiding dogs (3 on the scratch test, watery eyes and runny nose continually), getting hypo allergenic pillows which are anti dust mites (4+ also and can be found at Target), real sudafed (not the fake stuff, the kind you have to sign for), and anti-biotics when infected have all given me relief and no symptoms at one stage in this game or another.

If your tongue is always white from sinus fluid, if drainage is all over your vocal cords and you have to continually clear your throat it may be allergy related. Or smoking, seriously though, until my allergy situation was settled and until the swelling and drainage was eliminated it was nothing but annoyance, pain, and frustration.

Even with insurance, shots have cost $1,500 or more out of pocket. If you factor other incidental costs that you may spend over the years like inhalers, random doctor visits, inhalers, etc., then it is worth doing as "Claritin is like a tic tac for real allergy people that need shots",to quote an immunologist that I met. I used to take Zyrtec daily with the shots but now I do not need to. Grasses and leaves were an allergen for me as well.

I avoid cats and dogs still and a house that has had them will keep the dander for 2-3 years so I avoid those places if I can help it too. This week after being on shots for a year now I will be visiting my parents who have two cats and I will see how I do. In the past I had a good 20 minutes to an hour before mucus build up and sleeping overnight would equal half of my head being congested, wheezing, and a two day recovery.

To quote Doctor House from T.V. "It is genetic or environmental".

For me it may be both, shots help and I want to avoid what I can.
_________________
🎺

[chuck in ny]

i suspect that many people deal with clogged tube issues and more or less live with it. it's not a complicated apparatus and the medical community may improve procedures going forward.
does that ear candle procedure affect the tube, or only the ear?

[Shaft]

The candles are super cool and get a lot of wax out. It didn't help my situation as that part of the ear is physically separated from the other side where the canal goes between the ear and throat.

Incidentally, doctors would check me before my shots and say that my ears were fine, no blockage, and they couldn't see anything. This prolonged the symptoms as then nothing changed for me as I left the office. Only after shots did my symptoms dissipate.

The frustrating part was knowing that something wasn't right, being told that they were fine, and in fact the hearing and the ears were fine, but my sinuses were full of fluid and only X-rays and scopes can really see those. My dentist found them full a while back and it turns out it was the start of pneumonia so off to the doctor i went for two rounds of antibiotics and they cleared up again. Hearing wasn't affected too much as long as I popped my ears but again that is from fluid physically on the other side of the ear.
_________________
🎺

[mcgovnor]

How old are you? Any nerve damage in the ear?

[Shaft]

I'm not sure if you were asking me but I am 35. There is no nerve damage that anyone has spoken of. Hearing has always been solid through highs and lows.

These days I don't suffer from any symptoms or issues like I once did.
_________________
🎺