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First of all I am not a native English speaker so forgive me if there are any grammar mistakes. I'm posting this in case my experience helps someone else.

One night in October last year, when I lay down to sleep, I heard this high pitched noise coming from my left ear. I did not pay that much attention and went to sleep. The following morning, it was gone. Then again, in last November (after one month since the first experience) it came back, and this time it is here to stay. It was a pretty high pitched noise, and only in my left ear. After 2 days, I went to see an ENT. He said that my left ear was full of wax and need to be cleaned. Actually he did a good job by cleaning both my ears but some hardly stuck wax was still in my left ear. He gave me ear drops. I went home and used ear drops as per his instructions.

After two weeks, I revisited him again. He told me that my ears were clean and not to worry about tinnitus, and reassured to me that it would go away after 2~ 3 week time. The tinnitus was always there 24/7. In the 4th week I started to panic and then anxiety, depression and fear kicked in and started to have sleepless nights. I was sleepless for 3 straight nights. My wife was also started to worry about me but there was nothing she could do to help me.

Then, I started to google about tinnitus. I read a lot of horror stories and realized that there is a very good chance that this thing is going to stay with me for the rest of my life. At first I thought my tinnitus started due to hearing loss because I am a great home theatre enthusiast. I have a dedicated home theatre, and have been listening to movie sound tracks at ear shattering levels for more than 20 years. Assuming that it might be a hearing damage, I immediately stopped watching movies, drinking coffee, eating chocolate and cheese intake. By the 5th week I was totally devastated because I could not focus on my work anymore, lost appetite, could not sleep properly, could not enjoy with the things that I used to do and became a recluse in my own home. I thought that my life was basically over. I do resistance training regularly and box 50 minutes for 5 days a week. I am 52 years old, sexually very active, and in great shape. All these things I used to do came to a total halt. Tinnitus totally turned my life upside down.

In the 6th week I decided to visit another ENT. This time the ENT asked me to do a hearing test, and to my surprise the results came back fine. That was a great relief for me. I said to myself “wow! My hearing was fine and the tinnitus was due to some other reason”. Anyway that ENT put me on Xanax XR as I told him that I was having severe anxiety, depression and fear. He told me not to worry and it will go away. Starting next day, I realized that Xanax was really helping me with sleep and anxiety. I was able to sleep like a baby for 2 straight weeks. By 8th week, my tinnitus was started to reduce in volume. There were 2 different sounds; it was either pitched noise or crickets.

In week number 8, I stopped taking Xanax because I was afraid that I would become tolerant. I started to listen to sounds of nature at night while sleeping. It helped me a lot. Tinnitus was there all the time but it was not interfering with my life any more. What I had was somatic tinnitus. I was able to increase the volume by turning my head, clenching my jaws and applying pressure to my head etc.

In the 1st week of January this year, my wife took me to another ENT to find out what was causing my tinnitus. There, the ENT asked me to do another hearing test, and the hearing results were fine but he found out one critical point during the test. He told me that I have ETD (Eustachian Tube Dysfunction) there was no pressure in the left ear. The ENT told me that the tinnitus was there because of ETD, and not to worry, and once the ETD is cured, the tinnitus would gradually faint and eventually disappear. That was a great relief for me. My confidence was very high. Starting that day, the fear and anxiety started to fade away because I was fully confident that I could get through this. I stared my normal life again. I started to watch my movies, drinking coffee, regular exercises etc.

The ENT prescribed me a nasal spray and told me that it would take 2~3 months to get the ET back to functioning status. Again I was delighted to learn that my hearing was okay. I went back home and started to use the spray. As time goes by I realized that the volume of the voices in my ear was gradually reducing. By the end of February, the crickets were gone, and left me with only a faint hissing. In the 1st week of March I went back to see the ENT again. The hearing test was done again and found out the ET was back to fully functioning state. I could not describe how joyful I was at that moment. I went home again and kept using the spray. By mid-March, the faint hissing was still there but during the day time I did not notice it at all. I only heard it in bed at night. My faint tinnitus completely disappeared two weeks ago.

Thanks to Tinnitus Talk. I came here and learnt a lot. Here is my advice to new tinnitus sufferers. Don’t just sit there thinking that your tinnitus would go away on its own. You have to visit one or two ENTs to find out what is causing your tinnitus. This is very important. In my case, I am pretty sure it was my ETD. Don’t always focus on your tinnitus because it will definitely make it worse