ETD with painful tympanogram
For context, 26M, I never had any ear problems and never experienced any pain or discomfort and I am a frequent flier. The day before a flight, I noticed pain in my ear after coming out of the shower. I very rarely use Q-tips and generally just get the water out of my ear using my finger. Doing it for my right ear - all is good, same as it's always been. Then, I got to my left ear and put my finger in. The second I tried pulling it out and it created that negative pressure/vacuum, there was a very sharp and intense pain that went away after I stopped. I tried a few more times with lower intensity of pressure generated by my fingers and sure enough, pain was always there.
I went to the ENT and told him this exact story, he checked my ears with a camera (both through my ears and through my nose) and said they look perfect except for my left eardrum being slightly irritated/inflamed, but assured me this alone should not cause that level of pain. I assured him my pain is only present when creating vacuum in my ear and I notice nothing otherwise.
He performed a tympanogram (i think). Basically used a device that checks pressure which has like an earbud at its end, which goes into the ear. It was extremely painful so I pulled away almost instantly. He said I have ETD which won't let my ear regulate pressure correctly, but is not sure of the cause. It could be due to a cold/virus/infection or just random. He ruled out infection because of lack of any related symptoms and I didn't have any recent colds.
What's crazy is that the result of the tympanogram(although painful and incomplete because I pulled away shortly) came out good as well. Type A.
He gave me some eardrops for pain, a nasal spray and Parasinus tablets and told me to just wait it out.
Naturally I didn't take my flight because I was scared of causing any permanent damage and imagined pain like in the tympanogram and not just for one second, but for 20-30 minutes during the descent (during which I would have no control and just have to endure excruciating pain)
I'm not sure what to do, I'm taking the meds but don't notice an improvement, if anything my ear feels more weird. No pain but it feels more sensitive to cold air/loud sounds and feels like there is either something there or something missing from there (compared to my healthy ear). I don't want to perform the "Finger test" again because doc advised not to and just let it heal.
Not sure what to do, this seems to have came out of literally thin air and doesn't seem to have an obvious solution? I see people on this sub just live with it forever. I have another flight in one month and wouldn't want to miss it.
Anyone with similar symptoms?
TL;DR: ETD with no general pain in ear, painful during negative pressure tests and very painful tympanogram(pulled away physically). Hearing is good, nothing muffled, just a general weird feeling there. Am I safe to fly?