I've battled Lyme disease for about 10 years and viral infections for about 3. I've had success dealing with the latter by using elderberry, lomatium and olive leaf. It has seemed that if it's not one it's the other (acting up) and recently I've been trying to focus on my lymphatic system, which I believe to be most affected by the viruses. I believe the specific virus to be EB because I got a full body rash after being put on an Antibiotic when I initially got sick and the doctors suspected mono. I also had clinically diagnosed v. meningitis about 2 years ago. So, I have at least a few different strains. Along with the Lyme, I had a regular old bartonella test my doctor ordered at the same time as the LD tests come back POS. As you can imagine, sometimes I don't know exactly what it is I'm even dealing with.

So a little over a month ago, I started to make my own tea from things I had taken previously in capsule form. I made a tea with echinacea flowers, dried elderberry, lomatium, fresh olive leaves, papaya seed, my own super fresh / super strong Black-Walnut tincture I made last fall and 1 small drop of poke tincture. As well, the first 1-2 batches of this tea I used andrographis, but it was SO bitter I cut that out. I didn't use an enormous amount of any of these herbs when making the brew. And I only took 1-2 oz. of the tea in a glass of water at a time.

About 2 weeks after taking the tea, I was vacuuming with earplugs in, and heard a strange Morse code type electrical sound in my one ear. I was trying to figure out the source for some time until I realized it was coming from my own head. I've had tinnitus on and off throughout the Lyme years, so figured it would go away but it hasn't for going on 2 months now. I did some research to try and find out if anything I took was ototoxic. I didn't really find anything except I found out that certain sources said the elderberries should be cooked for at least 45 mins - hour because they are toxic (contain cyanide). I only cooked mine for 15 minutes the first few batches but it was only a small hand-full of dried berries, not even 1/4 c. I never got any other symptom of being poisoned.

I went to my doctor to ask her if she thought the ringing could have been caused by taking the tea... I brought up the possibility of if I had accidentally poisoned myself with something ototoxic in the herbs. She felt that was not a possibility, but was concerned that the ringing was only in ONE ear. She said that can happen with tumors. She wanted me to take a hearing test, which I was totally fine with, until I found out they do a test called "tympanometry" which I read about on a forum where many people has an awful experience with this, calling it "ear raping" and that many actually DEVELOPED tinnitus from this procedure. Since I already had issues in one ear I figured I didn't need it in two!

So, I never got the exam. Recently, I wondered if I do have a tumor. I have had swollen lymph nodes on one side of my body for 1-2 years. This happens to be the same side as the ringing ear now. I had emailed my doctor about this LAST winter and she just said it's probably viral and to wait. Well that was well over a year ago. I've always suspected the lymph nodes were due to infections but recently wondered about the C word since ringing in only one ear can be a symptom of a brain tumor.

My only other thought on the matter after reading around CureZone is that I might have stirred something up by taking the Black-Walnut (for the first time I might add). I may have "pushed" something deeper into my ear nerves?

Any other insights??? If so, what can I take/do to address whatever it is that is going on with me? Please help me sort out this mess.