1 Month with Tinnitus — Unbelievably Scared, Brain/Head Tinnitus

First of all, English it's not my native language, so sorry for all the mistakes in redaction.

I am 25 years old, and about a month ago I heard very loud music in my car for several days in a row. Then the ringing began. The noise has been changing in these weeks -later I will talk about it-. When the T began, apart from the exposure to noise, I was in a time of great stress.

I've never been more scared in my whole life. I have never felt more vulnerable, desperate, unprotected and helpless. I have never felt the panic of living in a mind that ringing 24/7 and I can't stop it. I have no control.

I have visited ENTs and I have no hearing loss, in fact, it is above the average of my age - at least in the range below 8 kHz. Everything seems to be correct.

My noise started being more noticeable in the right ear and in the entire head. First sounded like some type of electric very high pitched intermittent sound. It seemed to me that I had "layers" of fluctuant high-pitched frequencies rather than flat tones. I could almost feel it. It's hard to describe, but I could feel this extremely high pitched electric zapping inside mi right ear and brain, mixed with other undescribible sounds. After two weeks, those electric sounds seems to have faded a little, decrease volume and has moved to background.

Now I have more like hiss and white noise type, a static ssssshhhhh background noise. Like a badly tuned radio or something. A metallic static-hissing sound. More in the hight pitched spectrum than the low one. That sound doesn't seem like it's coming from my ears, but inside my head.

I do not know if it's a good sign that the sound is changing. But I feel as if this new sound has been established in my brain. As if it were inside, blocked in my auditory memory and nobody could take it out. I do not know if I still have hope that all of this would disappear. I feel lost and scared. I want silence back. My whole life has been turned upside down. I can’t relax doing anything, I don’t ever feel comfy anymore, I hope that this noise in my head could go away.

Thanks for reading.

More data that may have some relevance:

I have been taking antidepressants for 5 years. I stopped them immediately when I read that they could be worsen or cause tinnitus. It's been only 15 days without taking them.

 

Try to get your hearing tested from 8 kHz-16 kHz. That may find your hearing loss.

 

Are there any test that do this? I've asked around a lot of ENTs and audiologists here in Sweden and nobody has even heard of it.

 

Yes there is, but, if I discovered that I have hearing loss for example in 16 kHz, what would that help? And how could it be determined that there has indeed been a loss and not that I was like that in the previous situation? Anyway, I have been told that I can do that test but it would only be just information.

 

Just asking for my own sake. I have bruxism, allergies, have had bad colds, visual snow syndrome, neck and jaw pain/tension, and I have used headphones a lot. If I could rule out acoustic trauma as the cause of my tinnitus, I would feel more hopeful about being able to continue making music which was my only joy in life. Hearing loss over 8000 Hz would make me think headphones was the cause of my tinnitus for sure.

 

Oh, I understand. I'm so sorry for your suffering I think regular ENTs do not practice that test, but here in Spain I went to an Audiologic clinique that seems to do that type of test... The name is "GAES", maybe you could try to find something similar in Sweden.

 

Thanks, I'll search for info on the test Well, not being able to do what you love sucks but then again that's the reality for most people on earth anyway. I hope I can find something else that I enjoy

 

Hey acute,

Did you stop on doctors advice or because forums said T can be worse with medications?

If not from a doctor, you should be careful stopping a long term medication, especially antidepressants, cold turkey. You may feel a lot worse off than what the T is causing.

 

I've been dealing with a hissing sound in my head for about 2 months now and it's absolutely insufferable, did it get any better for you or do you still have the head T?

 

I’ve had “head tinnitus hissing” for 14 months. It’s horrible. Can’t find anything to mask it. Supplements are useless. Meditation -blah

 

How are you doing these days?

Are you taking any meds? I saw somewhere you are taking benzos? How soon after the onset of tinnitus did you start taking them? I got tinnitus from stopping a benzo type drug. First two months were the worst but after staying off it for 2 months it halved in intensity.

 

Thanks you for checking up on me.

I feel really bad. But I've been feeling this bad for 7 months now.

I think I started taking benzos 3 weeks after my tinnitus onset.

Do you think benzos may have caused my tinnitus not fading? Did you think taking benzos has affected my recovery or possible healing? I know this is only speculation...

I think I can't get off of benzos now. I take it in the morning, in the afternoon and at night. If I don't take it I have panic attacks.

I've seen in your profile that you took Ambien... I take it at night.

 

Did you taper off benzos? I take zolpidem and clonazepam. I never believed benzos could cause tinnitus. Maybe it takes a long time for your brain to get back to normal? I thought it was all due to HF hearing loss, not benzos.

 

Hi there acute, I just wanted to come here and say I am in a very similar position as you. I am your age, and also think I got this due to loud music. Hearing the same type of sounds again. I have never taken antidepressants, but honestly wasn’t far off from doing so and wasn’t super emotionally stable prior to getting the T.

If you every need someone to chat to, I am definitely here. I hope things improve for you soon, even if it’s the tiniest bit of improvement.

 

@acute even do exercises like this from YouTube:

How to get rid of Tinnitus naturally

SHOCKING TRICK FOR RELIEF OF TINNITUS...SPOON...

Maybe a coincidence but i noticed small positive changes after 3 or 4 days of doing the first one.

 

Sticking your thumb in your ear and causing suction doesn’t sound like a good idea at all... I would be cautious.

Could be placebo.

 

Hi there @Yuuls. I'm so sorry for the late response.

I'm going to contact yoy via PM.

 

@acute hey I just wanted to say I’ve had Tinnitus for 11 months now and not sure what caused it. But I have a low level buzz in my left ear all the time and sometimes I hear a little noise in my right ear. But if I get a spike I hear it in both ears and in my head... and ughh I really hate those days. I hoping my T goes away because I do have very low days now but would love to find out what really causes this head Tinnitus. If you ever need to talk I’m here.

 

I totally get how you feel you’re one of the few people I feel has described my kind of tinnitus you’re not alone and if you ever want to talk !