A Month of Tinnitus Suddenly One Night

Hi everyone,

I've been reading everyone's post on this forum and its made me feel better, so thank you everyone for our experiences and support.

So I'm 25, I noticed a high pitched squeal with some slight hissing, kinda like a tv on an untuned station. It was weird because I noticed it suddenly while in be one night. I hadn't been to any loud events recently. I went to a loud night club 10 months ago and karaoke 4 months ago. The only real explanation is maybe the viral infection I had just before the tinnitus onset, but I can't be sure. I was coughing like crazy for two whole weeks though.

Since then I've also noticed a new lower pitch 1500hz sound in my left ear, which makes masking difficult because I have to have sounds on both the high and low pitch spectrum. I haven't been able to function properly for the last month or so. It's noticeable in quiet rooms, around 45db as measured by my iPhone. At night though sometimes it gets loud.

I'm just so sad right now. I'm in my second to last year of finishing med school and becomin a doctor. I was studying so hard before and in my last exam the examiner said he could tell I would become a good doctor. I try and treat each patient like they were my family coming in to seek help. Suddenly, this came along and threw a wrench in my plans. I couldn't sleep for the first couple of weeks, I have no motivation anymore and I haven't touched my books since. I wake up in the mornings and think to myself, this hardly seems like a life worth living where you can't even have peace and silence.


I'm just finding it hard to cope, and emotionally I haven't been able to make that leap of accepting that this is probably going to stay, which is probably hindering the habituation process. I don't know what I did to get this. I blame myself sometimes for going to loud venues I'm the past but I know I can't change that now.

I did find Fish's story to be inspirational though, because of the similar age and just knowing that I'm not alone in this. Still confused what caused this. I'm also scared I might fail med school and get kicked out because I haven't been able to sit down, concentrate and study.

Feeling really stressed and lost right now.

Sorry for the whining. Just needed to vent a bit.

Meecat

 

Try a prescription for Ativan. It will take the edge off.

 

I got a prescription for temazepam from my doctor, I only took 1 though. I woke up with louder than ever ringing and have been afraid of taking it again. I'm getting by right now by playing music at night. I can still hear my T but I try and focus on the music and it helps a bit. I will try and burn Jim's nature tracks and give them a go.

 

Hi Meecat,

I don't know if this will help but... I really believed that I wouldn't be able to do any complex work when I first got T.

One day I just sat down & tried anyway. I couldn't ignore the T as it was screamingly loud and it still bothered me like hell but I did manage to work after about 20 minutes of trying & I was really surprised.

What I'm trying to say is that I think, for me, the T made me believe that I wouldn't be able to do things that I could actually still do.

Just open the med books, take it easy, play something in the background that almost masks it if you can & read. You never know - you may still be able to concentrate after a little while.

Good luck.

 

ps. when you qualify perhaps you could specialise in tinnitus treatments

 

Hi click. I suspect you are right. I have this fear that if I sit down and really concentrate, I might make my tinnitus worse. I know it's a stupid belief, but when I concentrate I tend to really tense my body and drown out outside sounds.

I have thought about graduating and doing research into tinnitus, maybe trying to find a damn cure for this. Right now, i'm just trying to get through the day without having a mental breakdown that I'm going to have to deal with this thing for the rest of my life, which is a really scary thought.

 

I kept reading how others found that it became easier to cope with time. I thought 'well it might have for you but it won't for me - I need my brain!'.

All I kept thinking was that I can't live with this. Others may be able to but I can't and that I must need 'clarity of thought' more than them. I've always needed to be able to think clearly and logically to work and just to function in the world. So I felt as though it was the end. If I had to exist with this in my head then existing wasn't worthwhile. I didn't want to 'cope' and I didn't want to have some disability - I just wanted 'me' back again.

It's a few hours off 6 months for me and it does get easier after a while. You really won't feel the same way you are right now for the rest of your life. It didn't suddenly 'click into place' for me- I went to hell and back before I found myself gradually being able to 'cope'.

I'm so glad that I didn't do anything drastic. Somehow I kept my business ticking over for the first few months and now I can work properly again. Most days it doesn't feel as though I'm 'coping' - I'm back to being me.

Reading posts on here from Erik, Dez and Karl & others really helped me. Hang in there - talk to someone about possibly getting extensions for your work - because if you feel better in a couple of months you will be so glad that you did.

 

ps. and open those books... just leave them in front of you & give yourself no pressure. You may find that you're working again soon! Concentrating never made my T worse.

 

Hello Meecat. My best sympathy for you.

If this will cheer you up, things really do get better over time. In the beginning T controlled my life. It was the first thing I thought about going to sleep and first thing I heard in the morning. I could not imagine how is this possible to get used to it, but now I am almost 3 months in and while it's still a big problem to me, I have more or less returned to my regular activities I have been doing before this all started. I think it will get even better after some more time. If you find my first messages on this forum, you can see it's mostly gloom and doom, embarassing. Now my attitude really has changed.

I had huge problems going to sleep in the beginning. Fixing this problem is probably the most important, when you are well-rested, T is often lower in volume and less of a problem for you. There are two things that work great for me - I have an old mechanical clock that does this tick-tock sound and I always focus hard on it when falling asleep. The second thing I use only when my T is louder - I have a 30 minute rain sound mp3 on my phone. I put it on low volume next to my pillow and it allows me to sleep peacefully. Try things out, I am sure there is something that will help you!

It is very difficult to find the cause of tinnitus but you definitely should try. I have spent almost two months running from one doctor to another and well... I am not 100% sure but there are few possible causes I am trying to treat right now. Do you spend a lot of time reading books or using computer? This is getting more and more common among young people, that we damage our spines. RTG revealed I have hypolordosis, a condition that can block the bloodflow to head, causing vertigo, numbness and also tinnitus. You are a student of medicine, I am sure you know more about this than me

There is no universal cure for tinnitus but there is a plenty of things you can try! Stay strong!

EDIT: And remember - no, it is not going to stay. Even if nothing helps us now, there will be new advances in medicine and I am sure something will work eventually. 20 years ago AIDS was a death sentence. Now people survive decades with this condition! Recently the cure for one type of cystic fibrosis was invented. Would anybody believe this is possible?

EDIT 2: by the way, I also get a second, low-pitched tone often. This is always before going to sleep, after I spend the evening doing things at my computer. It is gone when I wake up the next morning though. I thought I would share this.

 

I get that sometimes too Fish - I work at a computer all day and, if the T is audible, I often notice there's a different pitch which goes when I leave my desk - weird.

 

Wow, thank you for your very supportive messages. I feel like i'm really not alone in dealing with this.

@click, you mirrored the exact sentiment that has been going through my mind. I'm kind of a perfectionist which makes it hard to put up with this sound. I feel like I need to have a clear head to think and do work. Sometimes I feel like 'whats the point in studying hard, no matter how hard you try to improve your life better the T will always be around to sully it'. I'm sure this emotion will go away with time, but its hard not to feel like that right now. I will try and open my books today, maybe i'll put on some rain sounds in the background to help.

@fish, my low pitched tone is similar. It's very faint during the day. It's very finicky though and sometimes competes with the high pitched tv sound for centre stage. Sometimes when it becomes louder, the high pitched sound diminishes and sometimes when it fades to almost nonexistant, the high pitched sound becomes much louder. It's like they have personalities of their own! I didn't know about the new CF treatment, but that sounds exciting. We're currently living in an age of medical advances and I really do hope one day, hopefully soon, we'll be able to offer patients a definitive treatment for tinnitus. Also, you are right about the neck problem -- I study a lot and I do programming as a hobby so neither of them help my neck. I know from reading journals that C1-C3 especially have input into the Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus, which is the first area into which the cochlear nerve enters the brain. I will see if it is possible to get some kind of scan, maybe fix it possible.

 

I can't do it, every day seems like torture. When I'm tired it just hisses away. Hiss hiss hiss, is this what the rest of my life is going to be like. I almost don't want to live anymore, I'm so sad. It's like one night you go to sleep and suddenly your life changes so suddenly, I'm so exhausted mentally and want my old self back. I don't know how you guys mange to cope, you must be very strong. I can't imagine getting my old life back and being my old happy carefree self *sniff*

I'm sorry for my rant, just feeling so mentally weak right now

 

Rant away - that's what I do!

I don't know about everyone else here Meecat but I wasn't strong. I changed overnight from a healthy balanced human being into a complete physical and emotional wreck. I was going insane because I couldn't stop the noise.
My three sons didn't know what to do. One came with me and listened to the GP telling me 'nobody ever died from tinnitus' - the stupid woman was no help at all. They told me to try to 'ignore the noise Mum - just get on with normal life'. I couldn't tell them that I was seriously considering ending it all - but I was.

I thought that anyone who could cope with T must be stronger than me because I sure as hell wasn't coping - I was just existing and trying to get through each day.

You probably need someone with you - I did... 24 hours a day. I think you should try and get some help just to get through the first few months. I was too scared to take any drugs but many people on here have found some helpful, especially for sleep.

Just find some way of coping - drown it out with a hi fi playing at one end of the room and purple/white or pink noise at the other end & hang some ear buds behind your ears as well with rain noises playing (all softly .. not too loud!) - keep downloading new 'nature sounds' and find the combination that helps the most for you. Go out - meet up with friends - maybe you won't want to but just do it.

You have to believe us I suppose. I know it's easier to say than do - we all do - we've been through what you are going through & we know exactly how you're feeling.

But most of us have come out the other end so much better and there is no reason why you won't do the same.

Beginning to believe that it will get much better than it is right now.. may be the key to getting through the bad bits?

 

When my T is very loud I put the ipod on and listen to classical music loud and then I am able to read. I can't hear the T and when the music has no words I can concentrate on what I am reading. Try it. I have T for a year and it got better. I was going crazy also. It improved with cutting out MSG and tea and spicy foods. Take lots of vitamins-fish oil, primrose oil, nattokinase, 5htp. They all make my T lower. And homeopathic drops from Newton called Graphites and Ear ringing.The more stressed I am the worse it gets. I think my blood pressure goes up so the T goes up. I also get neck massages and ROM on my neck and that seems to help so it may be coming from my neck. Who knows? Don't give up. You can make it. One day at a time.

 

My sister-in-law had a viral infection last year also for a few weeks and never went to the docotr. Her ear started making noises like a trumpet for 6 months and then one day it was gone. Hopefully that will happen to you. Read the blogs. Someone said that the med amitriptyline helped. I was thinking of trying it.

 

Hi Click and Cookie, thanks for your replies. I'm just taking it day by day at the moment. Some days I cope better, other days I feel like breaking down and crying.

Cookie, that sounds like heaven. There's nothing else in the world I want more at the moment than to just be able to rest my head on my pillow and hear just my own breathing and heartbeat. I'm up to around the 2month mark and it hasn't subsided. It's changed a bit here and there but largely its about the same. Cross my fingers though~

My GP suggested amitryptyline. At the moment i'm trying not to take any medications if I can help it. I have a bottle of temazepam but I have only used it once. Hope you guys are doing better than I am at the moment~

 

Hi Meecat,

Good to hear you're getting through each day.

It will get easier for you - in time... it may take weeks or even months.. but it will get easier.

Mine has screamed for the last 3 days - REALLY annoying & I started to get scared again which hasn't happened for a while now (it's nearly 7 months now since mine began).

Then this morning I woke up & after 20 minutes it was so quiet I'd not have known there was anything wrong if I hadn't already experienced tinnitus and 'knew I had it'. Still can't hear it and it's been over 4 hours now.

It's so unpredictable & there seem to be so many different causes/solutions but hundreds of people have had it for long periods and it's still gone away eventually.. so there is real hope.

Hang in there & tell yourself you're doing well just for coping - because you are.

Jane

 

How are you Meecat? Is it any easier to cope?

Let us know how you're managing - even if it's just to moan

 

Hi Click.

I am coping, day to day kind of thing. Mornings are the worst, that buzzing static sound. I am kind of going crazy.

I'm still not emotionally accepting that its forever and that I have it. I keep thinking about the past and how happy I would be just to have that silence again. All this seems too surreal.

I think I am going to fail my exams. It's in 2 weeks. Too stressed by this and I feel tired and exhausted everyday.

I don't know what to do. I know I don't have a choice but to habituate. I just can't see myself being happy anymore.

Sorry for the moan, you really shouldn't encourage me!

Thanks for asking and caring though *hug*

 

hiya,

The only thing that would have made everything alright for me at the start would have been someone telling me that it would definitely go away - disappear forever - and that I just had to wait.

I haven't accepted that I have it forever. I still want it to go away - more than anything.. I just want it to go & I still believe that it will... but I think that it will take quite a while.

Mornings are worst for me too. Some nights it still stops me from sleeping - especially if I wake up.. it's trying to get back to sleep that's hard. I put a dvd on and hope that it will lull me back to sleep. Invariably it does .. eventually!

Describing what it's like for me, after nearly 7 months, makes it harder for you I think. Because it seems as though all I'm telling you is that it will probably still be there in 7 months time for you.

It's so difficult to try & explain why it does feel better after a while. But Meecat it really is different. You don't feel the same way about it. It doesn't bother you as much. You really can concentrate & get on with your life after a while. Try to believe that - even if it's hard right now... you will be happy again.

Those exams are important but won't they allow you to take them again next year? Perhaps it was the stress of working so hard & once you start to relax the T will go away? Loads of people do have T and then it goes away - completely.. and it doesn't sound as though yours was caused by damaging your ears. That's why I have hope for mine too.

Something bad has happened to you - nobody can deny that - but by next year your T may well have disappeared and even if it hasn't I bet you will be back to your old self again.

I'm not taking any drugs either - I don't have much faith in doctors (sorry!) or drugs. Can't even bring myself to take vitamin supplements - they make me feel weird. You need a few props to help you during these early days - to sleep I use a pillow speaker when it's bad - why not try one for when you're sleeping?

And feel free to come in here & moan whenever you like.

 

Can T go away after one year--you think? I have had mine for a year now with TMJ but I still have issues,the jaw is better but the T is still there. I get so frustrated, I don't take any drugs either.

 

Chicken - this is a quote from another board. It helped me a lot a few months ago - I printed it out and used to read it when I was really scared...


"I have been speaking to many people and read stories of people who got rid of their ringing in the ears . I wanted to put everything together for you.First, I must mention that I was able to find less stories of recovery from tinnitus on the internet. That's when I thought it may be forever. But then, I came across people in real life. It was astonishing to know that so many people I know had gone through this, I didn't even know. How could this be? Then I thought, if we completely got rid of the noise overnight, a very few number of us would ever come back to the board tomorrow, because you want to forget. That's why, reading the stuff on the internet is going to be always more depressing because people come here when they feel bad and lonely. In real life, stories of recovery are more common and we need to remember that.

1-4 people I spoke to were in their early 50s. All told me that they woke up one day with ringing and it went away in one year.

2-Our neighbor had stress related tinnitus, after she lost her mother. Her doctor put her on prozac and ginko. she was almost back to normal, but 6 months into it she started having panic attacks and went back to square one.It took her over a year and she completely got rid of the noise.

3-A family friend took an overseas flight. When he landed his ears were ringing. He said he got really depressed and used a lot of anti depressants. He doesn't know whether it was the loud engine or the pressure change that caused it. His ears rang for 2 years and he fully recovered.

4-I know 3 people in the army whose ears rang over a year after they left the army.

5-I saw stories of at least 5 people on the internet whose ears rang for at least 6-7 months after a loud concert. In addition to that 2 friends of mine healed in 1- 1.5 years. I came across a story of a fellow forum member who healed in 2 years. In his post he also mentioned another friend of his who also had recovered in 2 years. All of them are noise induced tinnitus.

6-My friend's mom had stress related T after she lost her husband. She said her ears rang for 2 years and then she fully recovered.

7-I am not even writing stories of so many people who recovered in less than 6 months.

So, if you come to this board as a newbie, and if you are feeling depressed, afraid and if you feel you can't go on... Stop for a moment and take a deep breath. It will get better and you will heal. We just need to accept that we are going to go through a difficult time period for a while.
Cheers"

 

Click,

I am so greatful for your message. My birthday was Saturday and I couldn't have received a better message from someone I really don't even know, but I do, you see, we have something in common. Now when I get scared, I will read your message to me and breath better. So many comments don't even make sense to me. Yours did.

 

I know what you feel Meecat! I too have an exam to take next Feb 6, 2013. I'm studying now and it seems too distracting and difficult. Good luck to you...

Happy Birthday Chicken!!!!

 

Really glad it helped Chicken.

I used to look at the print out of it almost every day. This morning I had a look to see if I still had it - it was still in my bag.. it's creased all over & the ink is smudged because of crying (one really bad day I'd just held it all night). It helped me so much to put things into perspective. I'm so glad that I haven't had to look at it for ages.

 

I have to say that Click's post was the best. After reading all those scientific posts, they make no sense to me, it gets very frustrating because I try to think is that what's going on, does that apply to me, I don't even understand most of them. But Click's "clicked" so to speak.

Karen, are you just habituated or did it really get better? And, how did yours start? Mine is TMJ related. I always wonder about others in this Forum. I am so excited for you.

 

Meecat,

please dont give up on us now, we need you the most, get back to your studies, and do something to yourself and to all of us sufferers of the BIG T.
it is your chance to do something about it.

I've been reading everyone's post on this forum and its made me feel better, so thank you everyone for our experiences and support.

So I'm 25, I noticed a high pitched squeal with some slight hissing, kinda like a tv on an untuned station. It was weird because I noticed it suddenly while in be one night. I hadn't been to any loud events recently. I went to a loud night club 10 months ago and karaoke 4 months ago. The only real explanation is maybe the viral infection I had just before the tinnitus onset, but I can't be sure. I was coughing like crazy for two whole weeks though.

Since then I've also noticed a new lower pitch 1500hz sound in my left ear, which makes masking difficult because I have to have sounds on both the high and low pitch spectrum. I haven't been able to function properly for the last month or so. It's noticeable in quiet rooms, around 45db as measured by my iPhone. At night though sometimes it gets loud.

I'm just so sad right now. I'm in my second to last year of finishing med school and becomin a doctor. I was studying so hard before and in my last exam the examiner said he could tell I would become a good doctor. I try and treat each patient like they were my family coming in to seek help. Suddenly, this came along and threw a wrench in my plans. I couldn't sleep for the first couple of weeks, I have no motivation anymore and I haven't touched my books since. I wake up in the mornings and think to myself, this hardly seems like a life worth living where you can't even have peace and silence.


I'm just finding it hard to cope, and emotionally I haven't been able to make that leap of accepting that this is probably going to stay, which is probably hindering the habituation process. I don't know what I did to get this. I blame myself sometimes for going to loud venues I'm the past but I know I can't change that now.

I did find Fish's story to be inspirational though, because of the similar age and just knowing that I'm not alone in this. Still confused what caused this. I'm also scared I might fail med school and get kicked out because I haven't been able to sit down, concentrate and study.

Feeling really stressed and lost right now.

Sorry for the whining. Just needed to vent a bit.

Meecat[/quote]

 

There are so many comments, threads regarding how to cope, treat and research regarding T on this Forum. But, when I read a thread like Youri Maroun's and Meecat's, I find them very unsettling. They are young and have no idea how their T started. How does one diagnose/treat that? Then I read where someone is doing a trial on a mechanism that works with the nerve and it is making her worse. Where do we go from here?

 

What a lovely board. Mine started in May 2015 and since then been reading nothing but similar stories of how I am feeling today. It's refreshing to read the proper real-life successes. You're so right that most people only write on these boards during their panic moments and never post their recovery stories. Thank you.