A Swede in Japan

Hi everyone!

I'm Daniel, and I'm a Swede currently living and working in Tokyo, Japan. I've been here for over 10 years now and enjoying my life here. If you ever want to visit let me know!

Although I wrote that I'm a tinnitus sufferer from January this year, I've actually had it as long as I can remember. I'm now 33 years old. I'm pretty sure it was noise induced from the very beginning, but I never had any spikes or otherwise noticed it, unless I was in a completely quiet place.

Recently it got worse. You know, people in Japan like to sing a lot of karaoke after a night of food and too much to drink. I love singing and I've been lots of times. It never bothered me. This time, about two months ago after a karaoke session, I definitely noticed a high frequency ringing in both my ears. In the beginning it freaked me out because it never stopped. Of course it still bothers me but I try not to let myself get too anxious.

I have a continuous ringing in both ears with different frequencies, the left being louder than the right. I've noticed that masking it works great for me, but I try not to, if that makes it easier for me to habituate. By the way I never knew what "spike" or "habituated" meant before lurking in this forum. Now I do.

Stupidly I went to a taiko drum festival last week when my parents were visiting. I wore earplugs but I still had a bad, really loud and scary spike at 2:30 am. It really really scared the shit out of me. Luckily it subsided. Before that happened I also had a smaller spike after alcohol intake. After that I've stopped drinking completely.

I went to an ENT a few weeks ago, but aside from testing my hearing (no hearing high frequencies) and cleaning my ears, he just said there is nothing he could do. I'm thinking of going for a second opinion...

I read about some tested but non-proven alevieants like vitamins and minerals, for example B1, 3 and 12, magnesium, zinc, melatonin, ginkgo, etc. that I will try out. Anyone here for which it helped? I also want to try out acupuncture.

I said earlier that I love singing. I'm in a pretty advanced international choir. But I'm afraid to go anymore... Any advice there?

Enough about me. Thanks to all of you in this forum! I have been reading here since January and it helped me identify and be less scared of the spikes.

Hope to be able to help some of you in turn!

Daniel

 

Hey I have tried all the supplements that you listed but I can't say they really helped my t at all. You can give them a try I hope they help,

 

I sing in a choir too, plus play in a bell choir. I love singing and don't want to let the T get the better of me. When I first got T the singing around me seemed really loud, almost painful, but it has gotten better over time. I still wear earplugs when I play the bells, tho. I have noticed that my T sometimes seems worse the day after rehearsal as well as after performing; but I'm not sure if it's because of singing. This week is heavy-duty because of Easter...bell rehearsal tonight, choir rehearsal tomorrow, church services on Thursday, Friday afternoon, Saturday evening, and Sunday! So if I survive this week....guess that will be a miracle!!

 

@cullenbohannon Are you still taking the supplements? I mean, unless one overdose I assume they can't hurt. I will try for a while and see what happens. It feels wierd to go from 0 to lots of pills every day... Like I'm a supplement addict.

@DebS Please let me know how it goes. There is a concert coming up in May which I may miss because I don't want my t to get worse. Still new to me and it already feels like it jumped in volume once.

 

@DanielJP, Yes i still have them and take them, not as religiously as i once did, but i think you should try them out at the very least to have some piece of mind.

 

Thanks I will. I also have my doubts, but perhaps they have other health benefits! And who knows...