16-Year-Old with Tinnitus

Hi,

I am a 16 year old boy and I have had tinnitus for about a month now. I went to my doctor about it but she wasn't much help. She believed it was down to ear wax as there was a lot in both ears (I have always had issues with wax in my ears).
I went to have my ears cleaned by a nurse with water, but nothing was coming out, probably due to the fact that I wasn't oiling my ears like my doctor told me to. I've always been an anxious person and now I feel cursed with T. If the cause of my T isn't earwax I am very unsure what it could be. It all started one night when I was going to bed and I noticed my ears were ringing, I was a little bit worried and I decided to fall asleep, but, next thing in the morning it was still there. I used to listen to music loudly with headphones, but I've never been to a really loud concert or a party which had music blasting extremely loud. It literally feels like my T happened over night, and now I am extremely worried, it feels like a big quality of life was taken from me. The ringing seems to switch ears at times and feel like its in my head. The ringing isn't too bad, I don't notice it when I am outside, but it is causing me a rather lot of stress.

I feel like I should try and contact another doctor, or retry to have my ears cleaned. Could this ringing go away?
What do you think I should do?

Thanks for reading.

 

Welcome to TT. The positive is that your T seems mild as you can't hear it outside. What you should do is masking it whenever you feel bothered by it and get anxious. Try the TT masking sounds from its 'Don't panic' thread or search masking on TT and you will get many ideas. Your T is very new and you are young. So yes, it has a high chance of going away or fade especially if you stay positive and calm. Stress is bad for T. Get busy with living and do fun hobbies so your mind is distracted from paying attention T. Take care and God bless.

 

Thank you! I'm trying to stay positive and calm

 

Go see and ENT. He or she can get the ear wax out. Based on your description it is highly unlikely that your T would be permanent unless you have been blaring the music through your headphones for a while. Try not to worry and be careful with the headphones. No more than 50% volume is the rule per my audiologist.

 

Thanks for the advice I have decided to see my doctor again and try to have the earwax cleaned out. Today I woke up and felt it was getting better, I haven't really noticed it too much today.

 

You're young so it could definitely just go away. It's really hard to tell case to case. I had tinnitus after a concert when I was 17 and it went away after about a day and a half. I've since had it happen for 3-5 minute spans since then. It wasn't until I was 26 and hit my ears hard with headphones one day that it came back and stuck.

It's a very random issue I wouldn't worry too much bud, it oftentimes goes away... strangely enough, once I got it permanently (at least, it's lasted this long) I felt like it was gonna stick around for a while the moment I noticed it. So far I haven't been wrong! Funny how your brain can work like that.

 

Did your doctor ask for the full audiological evaluation to be done? That the first thing that should be done.

And please limit the headphones usage.

 

No, he just told me to get my ears cleaned properly this time and see how I go from there. And I also have been limiting my headphones volume to 30% from day 1 of the T.