I have had symptoms of ETD for over a year. I had the slightest ache before Jan last year, then in early Jan I went on a night out, then my ears and head felt awful. Really stuffy, and though the stuffiness went and my hearing came back, a ringing (tinnitus) has stayed pretty much constant in my head ever since. Went to Dr and he noticed inflamed eardrum. went to another doc recently and she noticed fluid behind eardrum. My symptoms before Jan last year include mild ache, noticed waking up in the morn and perhaps going to sleep, and a couple of instances of unusual loss of balance. I have a few questions. 1. is whether this condition was ultimately caused by the loud noise in the club 2. Whether sleep deprivation and caffeine intake before the club made my symptoms worse (I had 5 hours sleep the night before and about 3 or 4 shots of coffee that day) and 3. How to get rid of the apparent fluid behind my eardrum? (I get a hearing test next week. I got checked out by an ENT last April and I had no detected hearing loss and no perforated eardrum)