6 Weeks In, Still No Relief

Hey everyone I'm new to the forum but have been suffering with T and also a feeling of fullness and sensitivity to many noises in my left ear for the past 6 weeks. I'm having a very very hard time and I have also had pretty bad anxiety and ocd before my T occurred. I was at an outdoor shooting range with a buddy and when I took my earplugs out he fired his gun at least 4 times before I could plug my ears. Ever since that moment I have had a constant ringing along with the sensitivity to noise and a muffled/fullness in my left ear. I feel like I have been in a constant panic and can't get my mind off of the ringing as it is so loud. Does anyone have any tips on dealing with this and being able to get back to a normal life? I feel as though I just cant cope with this. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, please help...

 

Try hyperbaric oxygen therapy if you can , it will help with noise traumas less than 3 months old.

 

Welcome to TT. With you new T caused by acoustic traumas, members here often recommend to get a treatment course of prednisone as soon as possible. You can go to your doctor/ENT to get this prescription. If they don't want to prescribe it, perhaps you should print out some positive posts from this thread to show them and hopefully you will get the treatment fast.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...dexamethasone-others-oral-and-injections.348/

I have ultra high pitch dog whistle T plus severe hyperacusis a few years back. Like you, I had great doubt that I could get back to a normal life again and I thought I could never cope with this long term. But never say never. I am now living a normal and absolutely enjoyable life. So good life can be back. You are now in the most difficult initial phase of T suffering and your nerve is under the influence of the limbic nervous system. As such every T sensation is monitored constantly as the brain thinks T is a threat, and you also feel much worse than it is when in this 'fight or fright' mode. You also will have many negative, distorted thoughts about T & the future. Don't worry it will go away and you will think more normally given time.

By reading the success stories, you can learn the insights how to get better and you will calm down knowing T is not an end game. I made the mistake of reacting too negatively at first and I paid the price. I listed some points how to get better. for brevity here is the link. Take care & God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/from-darkness-to-light-how-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

 

Hi JR, I'm sorry to hear about your T and what happened to bring it on. I've had mine for a good year now with the fullness in the ears/dizziness to boot. It turns into a vicious cycle/circle with anxiety and Tinnitus. I'm not a big advocate of benzos, (even though I'm currently taking clonezapam) but if you are not taking anything currently for your anxiety, I would see your doctor about maybe getting a prescription, even for the short term. Also try to stay as busy as you can. I've read in various posts in this forum that if your T hasn't been there for too long, it would be wise to try and see a specialist? These are just my thoughts. I'm probably not being much help here. I'm sure others will respond to your post here and hopefully give more advice. Please hang in there my friend and know that you're not alone .... God Bless..... Rich

 

Depending on your location you might want to enroll in the AM-101 trial for the treatment of acute tinnitus, especially caused by trauma to the hearing organs.

More info can be found here : http://www.tinnitus-study.info

 

Hi JR86, you are currently going through the stage we all have been through when T first occurs. And it's horrible I know. But please believe us when we say it does get better, it just takes time. First and foremost you must tackle that anxiety so if you need some meds to calm you down, go to your doctor and get some. Once you are calmer and more in control this will improve a lot.
And remember there's still a very good chance your T will resolve itself. x

 

Thank you all for the support and helping me realize that I'm not in this all alone. Trying to explain my situation to the Dr. is difficult as they make me feel I should just overlook it as there is not much they can do. I was given Zithromax 2 weeks ago when I saw my Dr. because he feels that it could be sinus related but that did nothing. I have a follow up with my Dr. and I will ask about prednisone because it was noise induced. Do you think 6 weeks is too late for prednisone? I am hoping to see an ENT soon I'm still waiting for the referral from my Dr. just to make the appointment for a specialist so I hope having to wait so long wont make this even worse? The anxiety is definitely making it so much harder Ive been on Prozac even before this happened and was feeling better but this extra anxiety is making me feel so much worse and always on edge/panicky. Thank you all so much for listening and giving me the hope that things will get better, as you have all been in this situation and know how horrible it really is. God Bless

 

Hey @JR1986

How are you doing? I think you spoke to me earlier!!

I just really want to echo what the guys above said. Mine started 6 weeks ago. About two weeks ago after sleepness nights, constantly panicking, not eating for days at a time, worrying that every sound was my T getting worse.... etc etc I am completely fine now. Oh yeah, I still have T, but I only hear it either when someone mentions it OR at night, but even then I am able to ignore it and it never bothers me.

Mine was strange - started off like a jet engine/loud static and changed over time to a high pitched noise ( not louder, but just different ). Each time it changed, I would re panic.


Want to know something though? Your life is made a misery just now because of anxiety, not the T. It took me ages to work it out but I cracked it one day after something weird happened - When my T got REALLY loud, I panicked and just went into severe fight or flight mode.... and when it died down ( but was still quite loud ) I felt much better and was happy that it was not THAT loud. Does that make sense ? Do you see what I am trying to say? Your perception of the T is what needs changed.

Like any phobia, I suggest you expose yourself to the T. Go into a quiet room and let yourself hear it. Feel the adrenalin kick in and remind yourself that its all a trick on your mind ( thats all anxiety is to be totally honest ).

This is what I did. I removed the fear and 5 weeks later.....

Its now at the point where I was offered a clinical trial placement - I turned it down because I dont have the time. I say this not to boast, but to get you to understand that this is all mental and you will, given time, feel very very differently to how you do now. I just looked back at my post on here from last month and it looks like a different person. Talking about how I will never be able to live with this, I hate my life etc etc. What nonesense - anxiety is a f***ing killer!!

Once your brain stops seeing it as a threat, it will focus less on it allowing you to ignore it for days at a time and ignore it instantly when you are reminded of it.

Get this under control, give it time and you will be fine.

Trust me.

If you need to chat, you know where I am.

Keep your chin up!

Chris

 

I also wanted to say :

Live your life how you normally would. DO NOT stay in and moan and feel sorry for yourself. This will make it much much worse.

Live your life exactly like you did before - drink alcohol ( in moderation ) go meet girls, drink coffee, go to parties... everything.

This will help you get over it and get back to normality - trust me.

Oh - and do not look up horror stories!

 

Hey Chris you have been really helpful and supportive and it makes me feel better being able to talk about it. You are right on about my whole perception on it and being depressed about it. After talking to you today was the first day in 6 weeks that my mind actually let me relax and not focus on the ringing. It was only about 30 minutes and the ringing was still there but I was relaxed and felt normal again! Even thought it was such a short time it helped me to realize that I can manage this. It is hard again when my mind goes back to the negative thinking, but I really feel like I haven't done anything to enjoy myself except today. As you said I need to go back to doing the things I used to. This has made me feel almost disabled from living normally and I'm just tired of it. Then on top of that I'm harder on myself because this is all my own fault.

 

It will get better but the first say 3 months can be kind of rough panic and anxiety are the norm for the first few months people on here are right on when they say keep busy with your life it will help you get through the first and worst part of T. Masking is good to do. Try to sleep good if you can .Maybe take melatonin or sleep meds for a while. Don't be hard on yourself take it easy. It will get better Chris . I Don't get on here to much anymore but good to talk to you and sorry you got T hope it will go away for you . Uncle Vikin

 

hi @JR1986 , just wanted u to know that you are not alone at the moment. This morning my T went to the roof again and the anxiety and panic i felt brought me to tears.. I, 35yrs old, father of two beautifull sons, crying in bed of self misery.. Now, after an Oxazepam i'm more calm. We have to go trough this, we must!!

 

Sorry to hear your suffering @MonkLN. T habituation journey will include many, many setbacks. T will frustrate you by spiking again and again while you think you have been doing well, giving the impression that you can never shake the devil, and hence the mounting stress. This T bully will try to create the vicious cycle of stress --> spike --> stress and perpetuate the suffering. Don't fear this pattern and try not fall into the trap. It is ok to cry about it, as this is a natural stress release. But don't believe the liar T that you can't overcome this. You will. I have been where you are, that each spike would sink me back into a mental black hole. But I kept on repeating positive affirmations, like 'T is harmless, it is annoying but I will get used to it over time'. I also use mental imagery during the bad spikes that I am like a drill worker in a mine having to face some loud noise day in and day out for long shift. It is an imperfect analogy of course. But it helps to calm me down. At least I am not working 1000+ ft underground risking mine collapse or gas poisoning. I guess whatever means we can come up with that can minimize the impact of T on our lives will be good for us to live with T. Don't lose heart. You will get through this and come out on the other side like many posters of the success story.

 

@MonkLN We must and will get through this and thank you for your support, do you know what cause your T?

 

I really don't know, stress maybe. I remember that i just woke up on holiday last year that there was a strange sound in my ear. It was mild and i was used to it very soon. Untill may this year. I experienced my T louders for several days until i broke down in the weekend of may 7th. Had some bad weeks but after maybe 6 weeks the sound didnt bothered me as much as in the beginning. Untill 2 weeks ago, it feels like im in may again. Struggeling trough the days. I know i'm not alone and it will get better, i keep telling that to myself. It's hard, but we have to be strong for the people we love and love us!

 

@MonkLN I have been having a horrible time with my T this week as well. To top it off I finally had my appointment with the audiologist and the ent and he made me feel even worse. Turns out I have pretty severe hearing loss in the higher frequencies, at 3k my hearing nosedives to the bottom of the chart. Im hoping this doesn't mean that my T never drops down. He also told me that my hearing would not come back and the ringing might never go away.

 

Hey jr , have you heard of trying hearing aids , I have had it since sept 4 2015 and real high pitch too

 

Just saw this old thread as I'm now in a similar position: T for 6 weeks and seriously down. To be fair, it has backed off a lot in the last few weeks, and I'm now only suffering occasional anxiety rather than the constant stuff I had before. But I can't sleep at all without pills, which is a problem: all this sleep hygiene stuff and meditation just doesn't seem to cut it. I do hope it will go still but feels like it won't. Very sad and angry.