25 Days with Tinnitus (So Far)

Dear All,

I have seldom found the motivation to post or write anything for the last 23 days, this is how debilitating my experience with tinnitus has been.

I always believed listening to music using better than average (let's face it, very expensive) headphones and IEMs at low volume would keep my hearing protected from severe damage, I couldn't have been more wrong. While headphones themselves did not cause my tinnitus, they certainly contributed to weaken my ears against possible acute noise exposure.

On May 24th, my life (as I know it, at least so far), changed. I was walking along the noisy streets of Paris, not paying much attention to what was around me, when a heavy truck, blocked by traffic, standing at roughly 50cm from my left ear, thought it wise to express its driver's discontent by using its klaxon.

This ensured my left ear was exposed to (at the very least) well over 100 dB for about one second.

I noticed a faint noise in my left ear, barely noticeable at first and thought nothing of it. Everything was fine, until the next Monday came, then hell happened.

The faint, barely noticeable noise had tranformed into a raging, hiss accompanied with a very loud high pitched noise that sounded very much like a dentist drill grinding on a tooth (which I later identified both to be in the 14 kHz range and which covered everything in that spectrum up to 50 dB).

This is when I started panicking and took an appointment to the ENT, unfortunately, the earliest I could get was on June 1st, until which I had to suffer in silence, since that day, I have not gone outside anywhere without ear protection (earplugs or earmuffs) and I have not listened to any headphones/IEMs whatsoever, I probably won't for the rest of my days.

June 1st came and the noise was still there, as loud as before, and had been for days, the impact was so debilitating I could not even read more than a few sentences at a time.

The ENT prescribed prednisolone, 60mg (I weight 57kg) for 7 days and a bunch of products and medication to clean my Eustachian tube, with little to no effect. I took the course of prednisolone, which helped tone the tinnitus down a bit, if only slightly.

I couldn't find rest, had trouble sleeping and took Bromazepam in small doses (and later switched to higher doses of Prazepam) just to take the edge off, with little to no success, despite knowing full well how adverse the side effects of such medications are.

I went as far as to go through a MRI on June 11th, followed by yet another ENT appointment, only to have it not find anything conclusive, I also visited 2 other ENTs which were about as clueless about tinnitus as the first one I'd seen; it appears to be a trend in the profession, other than perform an audiogram which showed perfect hearing up to 8kHz (but of course nothing at higher frequencies) and give me such prognosis as: "it may pass" or "if you still have it in 2 months, come see me", there was no advise or relief they could or would bring.

I became desperate, started looking online to find anything that could bring me relief, unfortunately most of what I'd find were horror stories, of people who were stuck with tinnitus for the rest of their lives. The anxiety, gloom and depression went up to drastic levels, until I started to envision taking my own life, I had thoughts such as "this is no life", "I can't go on like this", "anything to make it stop!", I wasn't far from taking that irreversible step, until I forced to calm myself down and though "this isn't me", I then started to cry, for hours until I got calm again and thought of my family how I would get through this and not let my condition overtake me.

By the way, it turns out, in France, the supposed 24/7 available suicide hotlines, well, they don't appear to take your calls on Sunday, I tried calling a few of them before I started going through what would be a suicide attempt.

I am not sure if tinnitus alone brought me to such depression and despair, or if the meds also had something to do with it, but since that day, I stopped taking all anxiolytics. What I do know is that I have never had a depression event in my life, or suicide thoughts of any kind, until I had tinnitus.

Eventually by day 20, I started adopting another mindset, I knew the tinnitus was likely going to stay with me for the rest of my days and the earlier I stopped being in denial and accepted this, the faster my habituation would be, which at that point was my (and still is) my only hope.

I also managed to get more prednisolone prescribed from my GP, which I resumed from day 14th of the trauma (at 40mg per day) as I've read online that it is (slightly) effective up to 30 days after a trauma, this is despite the fact that corticosteroids weaken the immune system and cause more anxiety/panic attacks, but I was willing to take the tradeoff if that had the slight chance of permanently lowering my tinnitus, if only by a little.

During all this time, I could not take a single sick day, so I kept on going to work, despite the noise and the depression, my work pace took its toll from my inability to properly focus.

3 days ago the tinnitus noise finally lowered to acceptable levels (from barely noticeable at times to cicadas in the ear), it doesn't ever fade though, I can still ear it over background noise most times if I focus on it. It goes randomly from a slight hiss to very noticeable cicadas, but I can finally read, think and get enough sleep (though I later found that Magnesium citrate helps getting asleep, unfortunately it would not prevent the occasional waking up during the night, or the very loud tinnitus in the morning, something that drastically improved my quality of life. Of course it is too early to tell if this is just a temporary relief from the prednisolone, some kind of early habituation or if my tinnitus is actually improving, I don't hope I won't have to use prednisolone to remain a functional human being for the rest of my life, or this will get old, really fast. Time will tell as I plan on stopping the treatment by day 30 (so June 23rd).

I took the opportunity yesterday, (probably one of my best tinnitus day, better than today at least), to test my hearing at higher frequencies, it turns out I can hear from both ears everything at low db up to almost 16 kHz, so at least I am not suffering any noticeable hearing loss (even though I am quite certain either my cochlear or nerve sustained some form of irreversible damage that is the cause of my tinnitus).

I also found the tinnitus to be reactive, the more noise there is around, the louder and more noticeable it gets, finally since yesterday I have slight pain that randomly appears to follow the auditory nerve starting at the temple, I am not sure how this will go. I also found out that I have mild hyperacusis in the left ear since my tinnitus started as well, I hope it will subside as well.

I no longer have suicidal thoughts, not since I can read and focus again and the noise became manageable. I have an optimistic mindset and will attempt to live a normal life and further habituate and not let my tinnitus dictate my way of life. Unfortunately, I am also a realistic person and I know while my tinnitus may still improve, I will still most likely keep a mild version of it and have to protect my hearing for the rest of my life, I also don't believe drugs such as FX-322 or other inner ear/cochlear hair/stereocilia regeneration treatment, the only true cure for noise induced tinnitus, are less than 10 years away from commercial availability, I therefore know habituation and going on with life is the only expectancy one can get, it is less than ideal, but I deal with the cards I have been given. If later on, a true treatment becomes available and we no longer stand in the dark ages of tinnitus management, I will undertake it, habituation or not, assuming my tinnitus isn't gone (I don't have much hope there, but only time will tell).

My tinnitus went from atrociously severe (something I would rate as a 7/10 or 8/10 depending on my stress levels) to mild (something I would objectively rate as a 2/10, sometimes 1/10 in my good days), so there is room for improvement, I just hope it won't relapse and knowing the hell I lived, will do everything in my power to make sure it does not get worse, I now know it is better being obsessed by safeguarding my ears, than being obsessed by the incessant noise.

Sadly there is no one side fits all solution or cause to this. This is a very debilitating condition and most people have no idea how much of a handicap even a mild tinnitus (let a alone a severe case) can get, we are talking very sudden drops in serotonin levels which leads to depression, sleep deprivation, suicidal thoughts, inability to focus (other than on the noise itself) on everyday tasks... That is until habituation, which in severe case of chronic tinnitus can take years (2 years on average), that is years of pure hell (I am not exaggerating this one bit).

It might seem like rehashing information to most of you, but:
In conclusion, PROTECT YOUR EARS!! All it takes is ONE, single acute noise trauma over 85db (that's not much, it's about slightly higher than a daily commute level in some major cities) to lead to a life of hell.

IF you are exposed to an acute noise trauma (especially over 100 dB), even if you don't feel pain or sudden hearing loss, GO TO THE ER and DEMAND Prednisolone, it has to be taken within the first 24 hours of exposure, don't wait! This is unfortunately something I understood after the fact.

You only have 2 ears, keep them safe, no matter what. Avoid listening to music on commutes if you can, if you really have to, privilege good quality noise canceling headphones over earbuds, avoid night clubs and the such like the plague, people have experienced hearing loss in those WHILE wearing noise protection!

Hopefully my condition is not permanent. If it is, I am already resigned to go through the lengthy habituation process. I would not wish the tinnitus curse upon my worst enemy.

Remember, you only have 2 ears and most forms of tinnitus (especially the noise induced ones) and hearing loss have no cure. Either your body heals from the trauma (if it isn't too severe), or you are stuck with the noise for life and will have to habituate to it. This may sound alarming, yet it is a realistic onset and awareness of the condition, especially in this day and age where we live surrounded by loud noises, must be raised.


Is my life over? I used to think so, not anymore, I will get through this, no matter how bad it gets, there is always hope, it will get better, even if the noise itself does not, there are people in much worse condition than I who are enjoying life to this day, and I intent to do the same.

This is somewhat as much as a testimony as well as an introduction, I hope I was not too abrupt about it, and I wish you all the best. I will be sticking to these forums, reading on research and success stories as well as any treatment venues there might be.

 

Do you have ear pain? I am on 120 day and still have it.

 

I do on my left ear, since yesterday or so. It seems to be randomly triggered, I don't need noise to cause it, it literally courses through the audotory nerve for one second, then it's gone, then it goes back at random occurences, it can stay pain free for hours then I get a pain spike. It isn't too painful so for now I just ignore it and hope it passes, especially as it only occurs for a second each time and the intervals in between spikes are somewhat long (from minutes to hours). I did find that pressing on the nerve or the temple causes a slight bit of pain that seems related to what I am experiencing.

It hasn't been too long since it started (the pain that is), so hopefully that's just temporary. I also have mild hyperacusis on the left ear, which I guess is accentuated by the fact that I don't go out anywhere without earmuffs.

 

My pain is same - randomly triggered for 1-5 seconds.
Can you show photos of your hearing test results?

 

Sure, I have my audiogram at home (I am currently at work), I will take a picture when I get back.

UPDATE: Nevermind, I actually had a pdf copy of it here, I just attached it.

I have a slight hearing loss in the inner ear that can only be detected using bone conduction of -25 dB at 2kHz (ish) , but my tinnitus isn't anywhere near that frequency (it's at about 14 kHz).

 

What do the square brackets (blue) mean?
Do you have test results from 8 Hz to 14 kHz (16 kHz)?

 

The square brackets are the bone conduction tests, using a bone conduction headphone (used in order to bypass the outer and middle ear), the others use regular supra-aural headphones;

ENTs and Audiologists are so out of phase that none of them is capable of producing any hearing tests/audiogram at frequencies higher than 8kHz, they only test the threshold of the regular human hearing spectrum for speech (so 200Hz to 8kHz), even though the human ear can actually listen from 20Hz to 20kHz and could have sustained damage well above their testing range.

I had to self test, using sounds at various frequencies and low db to know if I had acute hearing loss at higher frequencies. Unfortunately I do not own bone conducting headphones myself to perform more accurate tests.

If only ENTs and/or Audiologists knew what they were doing and were more interested in performing proper diagnosis than selling you hearing aids, they would be performing proper tests throughout the entire hearing/audible spectrum.

 

We are indifferent to doctors.

As far as I know bone conduction from 8 Hz is not measured. Only air. I have good audiograms up to 14,000 Hz, but I still confuse the noise. I cannot say that it has become quieter during this time, of course, it changed from a high squeak to the sound of sand. But it is there and I hear it especially well in the morning, perhaps because of the constant use of earplugs.

 

Thanks for the well-written post OP. You have a very sensible and mature attitude for someone only 25 days in to this condition. I wish you all the best.

 

I am 17 days into this condition and am already feeling 100% better than I initially was. Part of the shock we feel is purely due to the fact that a drastic change has occurred in our head. That’s enough to warrant the response you and I had. But in all seriousness, if your T is mild and you can sleep, read, etc., it’s safe to say that you will become 100% normal again. Just last week I was on this board fearing that my life would forever change (I’m hardcore into music, and play guitar, collect records, work in a noisy phlebotomy center, volunteer at a local Dr’s office). I was giving into weakness, which not sleeping for a week made me prone to do. We still have our life and our health. I truly feel for those with severe cases of T, the inner strength needed to face that day to day is admirable, not in a cliche sense but in the truest sense. Seeing comments like “If I had mild T I would consider myself cured” was a reality check. You early into this like I am, and chances are the noise will fade to an even milder tone and could dissipate. I’ve found that me relaxing and not being alarmed was the cure for my intermittent anxiety episodes. Stay strong.

 

Like you, I am somewhat new to having this. Our stories actually sound pretty similar - listening to music a bit too loudly, the prednisone, being exposed to a very loud sound for a short amount of time (mine was a fire truck in Times Square for 4 seconds at probably at 100 dB). What I have found 3 months in is that it does get better. I am starting to habituate to it a little bit, with the ringing going down to a slight hissing, which I have read is a great sign.
I am pretty sure that yours will continue to fade as well, considering the rapid change in your levels of tinnitus.
I wish you all the best and feel free to reach out if you need someone to talk to!
- Belle

 

Well, I had a huge spike in my Tinnitus which woke me up last night. I am staying positive though and treating this as more of an annoyance than anything else.

 

In the end, I just understood that there was nothing to gain from all the tinnitus self-indulged negativity, and that I had to see this from another perspective in order to regain my life. It's been really hard at the begining, but I am coping much better now.

 

Hi. I've been with tinnitus since middle May and my story is very similar to yours. Loud headphone blast for about one second. Unfortunately I didn't thought much of it and continued to listen for a couple of days. Then one morning tinnitus made its appearance and I just knew what has happened. I was given a week long dose of prednisolone but it was at least one week after the onset of tinnitus. Again, the ENT did not give too much hope but I guess its the honest and professional thing to do, given the circumstances. I don't have pain but certainly have some hyperacusis in the left ear. Also its reactive, so it rings loud in some noisy environments. I'm hoping at least the reactiveness fades so I can enjoy my hifi system again (at moderate levels of course). Like you, my audiologist test came with no hearing loss up to 8 kHz, but I have found it extremely difficult to find my tinnitus frequency, since it is not a clean tone.

For me, the rewiring tinnitus channel on YouTube has been very helpful, especially the tinnitus based meditation technique. To be honest, I think my tinnitus has remained at the same loudness level but sometimes I perceive it louder or softer, depending on how much attention I give it, so maybe monitoring it all the time is not such a good idea. Stay strong.

 

Prednisone can be pretty nasty drug so I caution everyone before they jump to it for every “noise trauma”.

@kelpiemsp has posted before that magnesium glycinate has been sHow to be just as effective as prednisone. I can’t find the study for it now. Perhaps he can drop the link.

I hope you learn from this situation how important hearing protection is in loud environments. Don’t forget about this as your tinnitus continues to fade. Consider yourself VERY lucky to have gone back to mild. Many of us don’t get second chances let alone third.

 

I know, that's why I am tapping it out, I took 20mg today, will take 10mg tomorrow. On a sidenote, my T drastically increased as soon as I decreased the Prednisone :\

 

Well, I am officially one month in, so I thought I might mark the occasion by sharing some progess.

Ever since I stopped Prednisone, my T has gone from mild to moderate, it's something I kind of expected, but knowing the side effects from Prednisone, I chose not to take any ever again since it won't have any lasting improvement anyway so I might as well do away with the medication alltogether.

I keep having a positive attitude and mindset and do my best to simply ignore the T and go back to my tasks, knowing it's an annoyance more than anything else, I succeed in focussing enough to forget about my T roughly 30% of the time, the most upsetting thing for me right now is that it still wakes me up at the middle of the night in between sleep cycles and I get random spikes every so often multiple times a day.

I am currently going on with my life, acting as if the tinnitus isn't there (other than actually browsing these forums) and not letting it rule my life, I am mostly successful in that endeavor, even though starting to do so was rather hard, the more I did however, the easier it became, and the more I realized that tinnitus, while being the annoyance it is, is more of a paper tiger than an actual threat.

Do I hear the noise? I sure do!
Does it annoy me? It sure does!
Does it impact on my focus/concentration from time to time? Indeed it does
Does it prevent me from getting a full night sleep? Most definitely.

Other than that though, its impact is limited, so long as I chose to act as if it isn't there, I am in control and it isn't, that's what matters.

I do keep protecting my ears while outside, because so soon after a noise trauma, I would be a fool not to, that's obviously not something I intent on doing for the rest of my life, even though I'll have to remain careful and not indulge in very risky/noisy activities. That's, at this point, the only thing I do different.

I will eventually habituate, I know it's not a cure, but there is no such thing, so I might as well accept that fact and deal with it, it'll take time, I am not counting on a miracle here, but at least I know that once I do, my tinnitus will stop being the constant annoyance it currently is, and my life will be back to what it once was.

It will be a long ordeal, but I am confident I will go through with it and with time, things will improve. If someone ever shows a promizing cure down the line, I won't be turning it down, but I don't expect one anytime soon, if ever, and to me waiting 10+ years without a cure, or not ever getting one, amount to the same thing, I have a condition I need to manage now, not 10 years from now, so I'll just act accordingly.

 

I love your attitude mate, I'm 6 months down the road and still struggling a bit with moderate tinnitus.

 

Not sure of your age. I'll live with hope and die in despair. Be optimistic. Maybe they'll stumble upon a medication that helps promote hearing or have a side effect of lowering or curing tinnitus?

 

I am 34, so I still have life before me, but, realistically speaking, the most promising drugs are on their initial trial phases and most likely won't turn up within the next 10 years, and other supposed promising drugs/treatments turned out not to be.

I am not pessimistic by any mean, but I rather stick to reality.

 

I get you. It has been 30 years for me. At times I pray the lord take me. There appears to be a lot more people getting tinnitus with 'unknown' causes. My reality is to hope.

 

Just wanted to say, I sympathise with your story. Thank you for posting - it was a good read, you write well. It helped deal with my own tinnitus. I’m on week 8...good luck!

 

You’re post in itself is inspiring! I really admire your attitude in dealing with this and you taking the time to share your journey with us!

I have had Tinnitus for a year and a half now. My tinnitus has gotten a lot better at around the 8 month mark. I still get debilitating loud days every week but the mild days are more frequent than before. I hope to one day habituate to this. Still waiting...

 

After many ups and downs, I have been tinnitus free about 2 hours ago! It just happened, and I somehow just took notice, I still had the noise this morning!

Now I just hope it's a lasting peace and not just a few hours respite.

At this very moment, I can't hear my tinnitus, the constant annoyance is now gone, in over 2 months, I never thought this was possible, even if it gets back, there's hope it'll be gone for good eventually, and if it is, I'll have learned my life's lesson and will keep my ears safe for life, I've known hell and got back from it, that's one experience you don't forget.

 

Wow that is amazing. I really hope it last and it's gone for good. You are very lucky if it does. I'm 5 months in and it's still loud. Let us know how things continue.

Was your tinnitus somatic in any way? Could you change it by moving your neck all the way left or right or by opening your jaw wide?

 

that's what they want you to think. that's how they want you to feel

 

You can't even hear it if you cover your ears?

Has it disappeared without you noticing or you noticed as if the "switch had turned off" at the time of tinnitus stopping?

Your tinnitus was mild or could you easily mask it in environments?

I can't even imagine this moment.

 

Congrats on the success at getting rid of your tinnitus, and hope it stays away. Also, thanks for your insights into what worked.

 

It's suddenly "gone". I can hear it very faintly IF I plug my ears or wear earplugs and earmuffs, so it's technically "still there" but I can't hear it in a silent room right now, so unless I am explicitly looking for it I don't notice it's there.

Gradually this morning it went from my typical moderate tinnitus to something less pronounced, so, since my tinnitus is typically all over the place (though mostly moderate but it can lower to mild and get spikes to severe), I thought "hum... it seems to be one of my good days" and didn't think much of it, later on in the afternoon I was absorbed in a conversation with my colleagues and I didn't pay much attention/focus on my tinnitus at that time, until I noticed the noise was actually gone! I didn't know when exactly it happened, it didn't seem like a switch, I just eventually noticed it wasn't there, mostly because I was busy all day and didn't pay too much attention to it (I was starting to get some form of habituation after 10 weeks of constant noise in my head).

About my tinnitus, it wasn't mild at all, it's usually moderate, it sometimes gets mild but not very often and it often gets spikes which can (rarely nowadays) go all the way to severe, although I do believe my moderate base level gradually got weaker but the change was so slight and progressive that I did not notice.

Nothing could mask my tinnitus as it was at 14kHz so it was not covered by any external noise and no external noise would be covered by it because the frequencies don't overlap, I had no measurable hearing loss as a result, (at least nothing below 8kHz), the shower is the only thing that masks it.

I still have some impression of "fullness" in my left ear (the one I had/have tinnitus on), so I am on my way to recovery, but not quite 100% there.

I will tell you if it is back tomorrow, right now I am enjoying this rare moment of silence.

 

It was somatic as it would get louder if I clenched my teeth or yawned, my tinnitus is definitely noise induced though.