I have also had episodes of extreme eye dryness. Furthermore, I got floaters whose onset matches my tinnitus onset. Additionally I have very mild sporadic joint pain. I'm HLA-B27+.
Altogether, this is quite obvious evidence for autoimmune arthritis or some related autoimmunity. I know this because I do autoimmune genetics research in a top lab. I've gone to a few doctors and they never even suggested the possibility of me suffering from autoimmune disease, which is scary.
I'm in the process of being diagnosed only because I explicitly decided to go to a rheumatologist myself. The rheumatologist facepalmed when he heard the whole story.
I suspect a significant proportion of tinnitus phenotypes are mild autoimmune ones.
I'll be curious to see what you learn.
In my case, years before my tinnitus onset, I started having a lot of discomfort on my right ear (my tinnitus is mostly one-sided, just like my floaters).
Firstly, my right ear started getting clogged with wax really frequently. Then, I developed extreme sensitivity to cold. So, cold air would give me acute ear pain.
Immediately before and after my tinnitus onset I had mild vertigo quite frequently.
Ever since I developed tinnitus, my ear feels full and clogged.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HLA-B27
Specifically, check out the section on disease associations.
And
Why do you assume the medical provider you saw was a "summer intern?"
it happened to me last month. Hearing hasnt returned after 6 weeks, so it's looking like permanent deafness.
The clinic I went to thought it might be an ear infection and gave me antibiotics. Didn't start the steroids until 8 days in. The audiologist said the effective treatment period for SSNHL is 2-4 weeks, with best results within 48 hours.
Is there anyone else who have experienced the same issue? It struck me after a (very bad) night sleep combined with too much caffeine. I became almost deaf in my left ear when I woke up and was replaced by the tinnitus after about a week and has plagued me ever since.