3 Months in with Tinnitus and Made Some Early Progress — Can I Rule Out a Medical Cause?

Hi everyone!

Been lurking on this forum for some time, and it's been a great source of comfort and practical advice, particularly the success stories. I finally created an account to share my story (so far!) and pose a question.

Part 1: Introduction

I'm male, 34, in New York City, and my tinnitus started 3 months ago. I don't know what caused it - it started a month after getting a breakthrough COVID-19 infection at a rock concert (double whammy!), but my brother developed near-identical symptoms about a month before I got COVID-19, so who knows. The tinnitus started overnight as an ultra high-pitched, un-maskable ringing in my right ear, with a sort of random, scratchy swirling/pulsing on top.

I went from denial, to panic, to the same hell of sleeplessness, anxiety, and despair that so many others have described here - at worst, I really believed my life was over. No detectable hearing loss, ENT told me there was no cure, blah blah blah. The only silver lining was, that my poor brother had gone through the same hell before me, on top of a history of depression, and yet he was still standing. Talking to him gave me a toehold of hope.

Thanks to a low-dose Ambien prescription from my doctor, masking sounds, cutting out caffeine completely, heavy exercise to tire myself out, and a LOT of emotional support from my brother and wife, I was able to resume sleeping, then gradually go off the Ambien. I forced myself to keep going to work, and it was incredibly hard, but I got to where I could focus for enough of the day, that my job no longer felt in jeopardy. I threw myself into daily meditation, CBT, and psychological adaptation. During this time the Oto app, daily meditation, and Dr. Bruce Hubbard's lectures also helped.

On the one hand, I've seen clear evidence of habituation in specific areas of my life, especially sleep and concentration. I also experience frustrating setbacks and spikes - which, from reading this forum, are to be expected just 3 months in. I'm hopeful for a better future, but there's still a lot of uncertainty and pain. Which brings me to my question.

Part 2: Question about treatment

The natural thing to do at this stage is, to commit to a strategy of slow habituation and psychological acceptance over months and years, which I fully believe in and accept. BUT! I've also discovered some clear patterns to my tinnitus, which make me feel I still haven't ruled out all possible avenues for treatment.

Has anywhere here experienced the patterns below? What's worked for you, or what have you tried and ruled out?

As I mentioned about, my right-ear tinnitus has two main components, a base tone that's always there, and a swirling/pulsing/buzzing overtone that responds to specific stressors during the day, then (usually) "resets" in the morning. Those stressors are:

• Heavy exercise - I once did some chin-ups, and my tinnitus went from about a 6 to an 8 immediately. Long runs have the same effect.
• Jaw pain - there's pain on the same side as the tinnitus due to a jaw misalignment. I already saw a dentist and got a mouth guard, and that seemed to help reduce the tinnitus slightly in the morning.
• Flying on an airplane always kicks up the swirling/buzzing by a couple notches
• Carbs, especially on an empty stomach. I once ate a grilled cheese sandwich in the afternoon, after skipping breakfast and lunch, and BOOM! Instant T+2.
• Alcohol, if I have enough of it.
• Stress, of course. Work or life stress makes my tinnitus louder, period.

My ENT threw in the towel within 2 minutes, but I can't help but feel, is there a medical cause and specific steps I could take that he's not thinking of? Or is it time to move on, be grateful, and accept the rocky road to my new normal?

Thanks for reading!

 

We're of similar age and my tinnitus set in during December too. No COVID-19, however, but I had gotten the booster two weeks prior to onset, and the flu shot one day prior. I've been through the same stages of grief you describe, and have found a lot of value in the Oto app too!

It's interesting that for many of the triggers you describe, I am the opposite.

Have you been to see an audiologist? If not, try to find a practice who specialized in tinnitus. In NYC there must be a dozen very good ones! I am on the cusp of giving hearing aids a go. My hearing loss isn't sufficient to warrant them for hearing per se, but I am willing to try to see if I am in the 20% subgroup who benefits significantly.

Evaluating the efficacy of hearing aids for tinnitus therapy - A Positron emission tomography study

Will be interested to track how you fare over time if you continue to update. Cheers.

 

Interesting that your tinnitus set in 2 weeks after the booster. My brother and I both got the Pfizer booster, and I've wondered if that explains how we both got such similar symptoms around the same time.

Visiting a good audiologist sounds like it couldn't hurt. The symptoms do sound consistent with high-frequency hearing loss.

I will post again if there are any new developments!