Tinnitus

Hey everybody.

I'm a 23-year-old guy and I wanted to post here because I think there's many people on here who understand what I'm talking about and have a lot of knowledge about this.

So here's my situation;

I think I've had some sort of tinnitus for quite a while already, but it was always very mild and not constantly present, I believe. I'd mostly just hear it if I paid close attention to it and other sounds around me would easily cover it up/filter it out or something.

6 days ago my tinnitus suddenly severly increased. I since have a very high screeching beep/sound going on non-stop. It's driving me crazy and I've not had proper sleep for days, sleeping is almost entirely impossible.

Today I went to see my doctor about this and this is pretty much what was happened:

He asked me whether I had been listening to very loud music or had done or been anywhere else where I could have damaged my ears. I told him this was not the case. He then asked me whether I have had a cold. I told him that I was a bit unsure about that, that I think that I might have had some sort of a head- cold in the days that it increased a lot, but it might have been a day AFTER it increased a lot.. And it would have been a very mild case of head- cold since I'm even unsure whether it was one. Anyways, he said this might be the result of blockage due to for example that head- cold that I'm unsure about having had.

He asked me whether I have it more on the left or right side. I said I'm unsure about that, that it's hard to say but that I'm leaning towards thinking it's more on the left and he then checked my ears. He said he could see some fluid behind my eardrums in both ears, but more so in the left one. He said this MIGHT cause my tinnitus or the increased version of it.

He prescribed me some sort of nose- spray that will work on my membranes which would have to result in clearing out blockages I guess and would somehow make the fluids in my ear to go away and hopefully reduce or take away my tinnitus.

Now I'm really curious to what you people on here think about this.. I honestly don't have very high hopes that this will take away my tinnitus or even reduce it because in a way I just feel this is due to something else.. And it's very hard for me when I think that this is going to be permanent.. Since it's such a high pitched screeching beep that's making it impossible for me to sleep.. It's also impossible to ignore it, even when I'm distracted and just going about stuff..

So what should I do? Where should I go? He told me I have to give it 5-10 days time for this nose- spray to fully work but I don't know... I really have so little faith in it to begin with.. Ofcourse I'm trying it but.. I don't know.

So I'm pretty new in the world of tinnitus. I -again- am very curious what people on here think.. Does it make sense? Could my tinnitus reduce?

When I read about tinnitus you always read that in most cases doctors/ENT specialists etc. are unable to identify a cause and that there is no cure, no treatment that will entirely rid you of tinnitus and this makes me so anxious.

In how many cases are they able to identify a cause? Can it come like this and just go away or should I just prepare for the worst?

Greets.

 

6 days is really soon yet. Maybe a spike? I dont know but i have mild T also like you described, and almost any sound covers it up but i assume if mine increased drasticly a week from now i would be wondering why also. And that beep your talking about is it like a morse code? If so I have that to its just like be be be be beeeeeeeep! Have you taken any otoxic medications? And on a scale from 1-10 what was yours before and what is it now? I cant believe that you had a mild case and it turned severe that quick... But for now i would just listen to your doctor and take that nose spray cause it could do wonders! Maybe something is blocked.. But did you see a GP or ent/ audiologist? Give it time and if it doesnt help ask your doc for some anti anxiety meds to calm you down and help you sleep for the meantime.. Thats the first thing to do when something like this happens cause you may not be able to control the T but your reaction and anxiety can be under control. But dont get your hopes up its still early and could go away. How did you get your previous mild T.. Noise induced? And what did it sound like before? Youl be okay!!!!!!

 

Altho it's soon I already doubt it's a spike since it's literally constant, I think that if it were a spike it would vary a bit or already have gotten down a bit? It's not like morse code no, it's a one tone beep just going and going. The only 'medication' I've taken in years are aspirines, melatonine and little homeopathic pills that are made from valerian and are to go against nervousness etc. The melatonin I haven't taken around the time it suddenly increased, the two others I have but always very much within the ranges that is adviced.

If I had to put it on a scale I'd say that from 1-10 it first was 2 and now went up to 8. I have not yet seen a ENT or audiologist yet, just my GP who said he saw fluid in my ear and gave me this nose- spray to try that I have little- to no- hopes at all in. And I also believe I'm not using it right so I'm going back tomorrow for a bit since they told me there'd be a lot of sneezing going on in the beginning of using it because your membranes will react to it, after 2 days of usage, I have had none such reaction so I'm guessing I'm doing something wrong.

I don't know how I got my mild tinnitus.. I simply just did I think. Maybe from using headphones a lot. I'd say that's the only thing I could come up with that might have started my mild tinnitus.

I truly hope so much it'll go away or severly reduce again but I'm kinda preparing for the worst honestly. I'm having a very hard time with this.

 

I also have a crackling/clicking sort of sound when I swallow a lot of the time. Also sometimes when yawning. I don't know if this might indicate something about Eustachian Tube Dysfunction in my case, I don't know what kind of tinnitus it would bring forth.. Whether it's possible for this to suddenly increase your tinnitus into a very high pitched screeching beep. And whether it's treatable, the dysfunction.

 

@Sven043 it really sounds like you have ETD.

In April, my left ear cloggued up and my T went from mild to f*** loud... the doctor could not see fluid but she assumed there must be fluid she couldn't see behind the eardrum and it explained why I had muffled hearing.

I used a nasal spray and antibiotics and it cleared within 5 days. The T stayed loud because I had some kind of allergic reaction to the antitiotics. In the past 6 weeks, it has slowly being going back to baseline.

 

@apumpkin thank you for replying. I'm going back to my doctor tomorrow because I really want to end up with an ENT or somewhere they can look at it some more.

Was your tinnitus a very high pitched, screeching kinda one? Or was it different?

How to know whether it's ETD? I have clicking/crackling in my ears (mostly left, where the tinnitus is most- if not all) when I swallow. When I have a yawn or inside burp sometimes I feel a air pressure kinda feeling/sound in my left ear. And my nose is pretty much blocked always, one hole that is, always is shut.

I'm happy to hear that yours reduced. I really hope so much that one way or another I'm going to get rid of it.. But I'm fearing the worst to be honest.

Was there any more in your case? Since you used antibiotocs. Did you have some sort of infection going? Did YOU have ETD?

 

my tinnitus has never been high pitched... always like shhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

The symptoms you describe really seem to be related to ETD.

When my left ear cloggued in April, like I said, I went to see the doctor (not ENT)... she didn't see fluid so she assumed that the fullness must be coming from the sinuses. She prescribed me antibiotics and said it would clear everything (she suspected a sinus infection but I had no pain in my sinuses...)

Like mentionned, the ear fullness went away with the antibiotics, the problem was that I am allergic to that antibiotics. So it increased my T A LOT... my T could be heard above the shower... I had other symptoms too (vertigo, stomach aches, panic attacks)... The other symptoms went away but the louder T remained. I saw my ENT doctor. I did an audiogram (while on the antibiotics, I felt like I was going deaf!!). My hearing was back to normal one week after discontinuing the medicine.

The louder T decreased and is almost back to baseline. The ENT doctor mentionned he had seen cases of allergies to that antibiotics but never permanent. He said it would go away between a few weeks and a few months depending on how fast my ears would recover. After 6 weeks, it's almost back to normal!