I don't know much about my condition at all, and am looking for advice on where to go next.
I'm in my early twenties. I've been experiencing constant, loud tinnitus (mostly in the right ear) and trouble hearing since early April. I've been to two ENT's who both ordered hearing tests that showed moderate to several hearing loss in both ears, worse on the right. The second ENT ordered an MRI to check for tumors. It came back negative for those but the report said that I have a chiari I malformation, which extends 17mm. It says there's no syringobulbia.
The report was sent back to the ENT, but all they commented about was that there were no tumors, and didn't mention a need for followup. I've been reading about chiari online, and it offers an explanation for the terrible (though fairly brief) headaches I get when I cough and exercise. I've had those since I was a teenager. I have a couple of other symptoms that it mentions, but nothing super disruptive like dizziness or balance problems, and I've had only a couple of migraines in my life.
I think my hearing loss is being dismissed as genetic (it runs in the family), which could just simply be the case, but it usually happens more gradually and a little later in life, and nobody else in my family has tinnitus or chiari, that I know of anyway. My questions for the community are:
1. Could tinnitus and hearing loss be related to chiari?
2. If I suspect that some of my minor symptoms are related to my chiari, should I try and follow up with a doctor? And if so, what kind of doctor should I see? What can they even do? Or should I just leave it alone if it's not a huge problem?
3. Basically, what is the smart next course of action?
Thanks a whole lot for reading, and any advice will be very greatly appreciated.