This is Going to Drive Me Crazy

My Tinitus started about 3 weeks ago without any known cause, no loud sounds, it just seemed to be there one morning after waking and its still here 3 weeks of sleepless nights later.

I went to my ENT doctor and he tested my hearing and said that all was fine, he then prescribed a 5 day treatment of infusions alas with absolutely no benefit or improvement. After that he seemed to be at a loss as to what cause of action I could take.

Since then I have looked extensively online to see what my options are, all I know is that I must do something before this tone in my head drives me nuts.

Being a techie I was interested to know what the frequency was of what I could hear so I downloaded a tone Generator app to my Computer and I now know it is about 11.4 KHz and is maybe just a little louder in my right ear but is definately in both ears

A friend suggested I looked into this High Pressure chamber theraphy and actually went for a consultation. 15 sessions in the chamber would cost about 4000€

It seems that all the clinics that offer Treatment will only treat you privately.
I was told it is not that the Medical insurances do not want to pay but it is the German law - Tinitus is considered a symtom and not an illness.

 

Hi @Anthony Hunt, sorry to hear that. What kind of infusion you were given?

 

Hi Anthony,

Sorry that you joined the club here.

I have also got the infusions without any effect.
Did no HBO since I doubt it really helps, only maybe if you have a diving accident (so something with pressure).

There is a lot of research done in T field and we hope they will find a drug for us. Do a research on retigabine, trobalt, keppra and flurpirtine here.

Since your T is high-pitched, try masking with cricket sounds until you get used to the sound.

 

Hi Martin,

Many thanks for your reply, I'm also saddened that I've have grounds for joining this Club :-(
Hoverever I'm really glad I did. To find myself amoungst fellow sufferers brings some comfort.
Having only joined today I am still working my way through the wealth of Information in here. I wonder how People manage with this condition for years and years and heres me complaining after just 3 weeks.

I agree with you about the HBO Treatment, From what I have read I can imagine that it would have a high Chance of success if my T was caused by a loud noise together with associated Hearing loss.
However my ear tests have shown that my Hearing is fine.

I will certainly look at the drugs you listed.

I played the 11Khz tone I can hear to my Family on my tablet and they all screamed for me to turn it off except for one friend who is also in her 60's who couldn't hear anything at all

 

Hi Carlo,

The infusions were mainly cortison plus something else I cant remember the Name of

 

Stay strong, Anthony. It's a manageable condition. Did you take a look at this: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/panic/?
The boys here on the forum do a wonderful job, and you can find a lot of good advices. You don't have hearing loss, that's a good point. Here in Italy the front lines when T appears are steroids; sorry they didn't work for you. In my case prednisone lowered consistently the sound. If it can be of any help, I have cyclical courses of supplements (magnesium, vitamin B complex, vitamin C and E) and they help. Then, if T won't disappear (and it's possible) let habituation do its job. It's the best med.

 

Hello Anthony,

I did a course of Prednisone intially and it pretty much wiped out my T. However, once off the 8 day taper, it came right back. I have used it on occasion and it does lower the T considerably. However, the side effects and the fact that, it is only a masker, not a cure, I decided to go off it many months ago.

I also had a cortiosteroid, Intratymponic injection done, but I waited to long and thus, had zero results.

I have unilateral T with hearing loss at 70db from 2K-8K. so, my high end is shot. Thus, the high pitch T that I have. I do use a hearing aid/masker, which does help a bit.

I am doing acupunture with Chinese herbal medicine, which helps and also, just started taking Vincopene. I'll see if that helps or not.

Steer clear of so called "Tinnitus cures" advertised online. They're a scam, with no benefit in helping T at all.

Since your T is new, maybe it will resolve itself over the next few weeks? Don't give up hope! read the "success stories" and know you have friends here to help you.

God bless,

Sailboardman

 

many thanks for all your Support and good advice.

The drug in my infusions was Pentoxifyllin, trade name is TRENTAL
If you Google it it has ABSOLUTELY no Connection to the treament of T that I could find so I wonder just how good is my ENT doctor or is it just a way for him to earn a few more bucks for doing the infusions. This sort of Thing makes me a Little cross and disappointed. I already have Little faith in doctors anyway.

 

Hi Anthony
Sorry to hear that you got T to. Mine drives me crazy to I hope and pray that it goes away every day.

There are a lot of nice people here on this site that know what everybody is going through. They all help each other out. My god bless you and help you to.

Oh by the way they don't know what caused my T either.

Vicki

 

Your above paragraph brings a smile to my face. I did the same and everyone in the family screamed, covered their ears and 'no one bother to tell me to turn it off' because they all ran away as fast they could. LOL.

I hope your T will get better. New T usually takes some time to settle down. The body also needs time to get over the initial trauma and to get used to the new alien sensation. It will get better. Believe it. I had ultra high pitch dog whistle T and severe hyperacusis. My H turned all normal sounds glassy & piercingly hurtful to my ears. The ears felt like being drilled all day by every sound, including TV, driving, washing dishes, restaurant noises, social conversations etc. Even the soft voice of my wife hurt when spoken too close. I had to withdraw from all social contacts. No eat outs, no movies, no concerts., no parties. I had to wear ear plugs to block noises, but the plugs also made my ultra high pitch dog whistle T so unbearably dominant. T & H were like two mutually exclusive tyrants. H forced me to like quietness, but T would kill me with quietness. T forced me to like other sounds to mix in but H would also kill me with these sounds. There is no lesser evil among the two beasts. Then on top of that, I also had relentless anxiety and panic attacks triggered by T & H, because I was someone unfortunate to have suffered from anxiety & panic disorders for decades before T & H. So with all the bad symptoms and sensations, I never thought I could survive for long. I never thought I would recover from this 'hell' of a living.

But never say never. I am back to living a normal and absolutely enjoyable life. My H fades over time but T still screams the loudest & high pitch. However, my body is hardened to the ringing and it doesn't give a dime to T. The same sound used to turn me into a wreck. No longer! In fact with T no longer perceived as a threat by the brain, it just got faded out of consciousness most of the time. Time & positive attitude have done some miraculous healing. So hang in there. Your T is very new. Be patient and have faith that you will get better in due time. Take care and God bless your recovery.

 

@billie48 Did you do any treatments for your T & H?

 

Well, I saw a few ENT/audiologists, had gone to the tinnitus clinic in Vancouver, had tried hearing aids, had bought some programs off the internet, but most of all I just followed the advice from the T veterans, such as Dr. Nagler and others. I read Dr. Nagler's Letter to a Tinnitus Sufferer and followed the advice to challenge or counter all my distorted thoughts. I also bought a CBT based book to understand what cognitive distortions are. So you can say I have done quite a bit of self help CBT plus reading a lot to understand what tinnitus is. If you wish to read more about the things I applied to help myself, please check it out in the success stories. It is titled 'From Darkness to Light...' and it was written a while ago so it is probably in the 2nd page of that forum. If you have any question after reading it, you can tag me there and I will try to answer it.