A Tinnitus Story (Triggered by Subwoofer) [Trying to Find the Root Cause]

Hi everyone. This is Emrik. I find this forum EXTREMELY helpful. I really mean it. This is THE forum where I could find some peaceful advice and friendly members. So, I thought, I can share my story just to feel that I could talk to someone about my pain where the listeners understand.

On January 12th, 2017, I was testing a new Subwoofer from Bose. I was so excited. When I was setting up my home theater system, I wanted to make sure that my new subwoofer is working. So, I searched for a high bass music from youtube and played. Also, I increased the volume. Oh, that was the time I wish I knew!! . The subwoofer made my head shaking a bit. Maybe for 1 minute, I was listening to it. After that, I did not realize that I was attacked by Tinnitus. The next morning, I could hear the high pitched sound. I was wondering, why it is still there. Anyway, I searched the internet and wow, what the hell !! I learned it is called Tinnitus. And THERE IS NO CURE. Ironically, I found the medical pages where it says, Tinnitus is suicidal. As if, People NEEDS to Suicide.... I can't explain, how helpless and paranoid I started to become from that moment.

I passed my first and second day, and No, it did not go away. I started searching Google and ... oh no, more and more horror stories. I was thinking, I will loose my job, I will be broke and if I won't be able to sleep and spend some time by myself, what is the point living.

One night, I could not sleep, because of the high pitch sound, I was more paranoid and I could hear more sound. Then, I started jumping, crying, screaming with fear and I started holding my loving family members as if preparing to terminate my life because, according to the internet, THAT WAS THE WAY. (I know, I acted stupidly. I know, the fear that it won't go made me act stupid.)

My family members forcefully took me to the Emergency in the local hospital. I did not want to go because I already learned that doctor has no cure. But, my family members could not understand why I was saying so. The asked 'Do you know more than doctors ?' Of course, there must be a cure. Anyway, the doctor in the emergency was annoyed to find that, I went to Emergency JUST FOR T !!. She said, we cannot do anything about it. You will have to just live with it. Yeah, I knew that a doctor would say so. Because I read on the internet.

Okay, then, I found that there is a Tinnitus clinic in Montreal. I went there, they found I had a high-frequency hearing loss. But, other than offering rTMS and some sound therapy (which did not work on me), they could not offer anything solid. I went to ENT, and ENT doctor said, I have my ear perfectly fine. My Tinnitus can be gone if I calm down and get rid of stress (he noticed that I was almost crying with stress). Anyway, I did not find any useful result from ENT either. I sought help with 2 different GP. GPs are awesome. They can directly tell that, you can die with Tinnitus. Tinnitus can never go etc..etc..

I read that Anxiety and Stress can cause Tinnitus. In Montreal tinnitus clinic, the director also told me that. But, who does not have some level of stress and anxiety !! He said subwoofer is not the cause of my tinnitus. The cause is something else. I got more confused. I understand that the answer to the question 'Will my T go away' depends on the cause of my Tinnitus. But, no doctor is helping me to find out exactly what is the cause of my T.

Recently, I found this forum where someone was saying, T can go away by 1-3 months. Now, that is my only hope. Every day, I try to convince myself that my T will go away by 1-3 months. I came across a thread https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/is-there-a-chance-my-tinnitus-will-go-away.5972/

That thread is really inspiring me as I see, many members are saying that it can go away by 1-3 months. Only after reading some positive conversations in this forum, I could calm myself.

In this forum, I found another member who also got T from Subwoofer, and I was very excited to find that Subwoofer can be a Cause of T. If that is true, then, just for a few moment of Subwoofer may not cause permanent T. But I am sooooooooo scared to ask that member directly if his T went away or not. IF he says, NO it is still there, then, I will get a big shock, which can make my T worse.

It is almost a month. I had few days when I was doing better, I did not notice T and I passed many moments when I completely forgot T.

Everyone talks about sound masker, white noise, black noise etc... but no colorful noise helps me. Rather, those noise makes me more frustrated as if I am disabled. Also, I feel like, my T competes with those noises and become louder so that I can hear my T over those stupid noises.

Recently, I have some moments when I do not notice T, then I feel hurray, my T is gone. Oh!! as soon as I think so, T comes back. . Now, I can realize that, it can be possible to completely CURE myself of T, if it were possible to simply ERASE the part of my memory where I know about T. Because, The moment, I remember that I have T, that very moment, it attacks me and go louder.

Yes, I was exposed to some loud music several days ago, before the day when I was attacked by T. I was standing by Big speakers in a TV shop where the music was really loud. Not sure, if that started the condition for T and finally it was triggered by the subwoofer.

I do not have any habit of listening music in loud volume using headphones. And very few times in my life, I went to Night Clubs.

Now, I dot not know what to do. I know, everyone's case is unique. Based on my case, do you have any good news for me? Is there any chance that my Tinnitus will go away? Do you have any advice that can help?

 

Cause is clear: your subwoofer and high frequency hearing loss. No need to search for another cause.

As for T going away, nobody will be able to tell you. It might go away, it might not. Best advice is to avoid loud noise (above 85 db) for the next couple of months. You are only one month in, it's normal that you are still anxious. However as you noted, you will get more and more moments you aren't aware of your T.

About the reactivity with other sounds: this should get better with time. After my last acoustic trauma my T spiked when someone talked to me, now I can endure car horns etc without getting a spike.

 

Thank you @Rubenslash for your reply.

Do you think Gingko Biloba can help in my case? Some say Magnesium helped his T go away. Some say Camomile Tea helps. As everyone's cause is different, I am not sure, for my case, any of the supplements/herbs can help.

 

Welcome to the forum. Sorry for the pain and struggle you have with your new tinnitus. T is bothersome at times but a new T can fade away or disappear over time. The fact that you are into this for only one month and you already can forget your T at times is a very positive sign that either your T will fade or that you can habituate to your T. The exposure to the subwoofer and for that matter amplified music is a form of acoustic trauma. People can recover from acoustic trauma. Read the success stories you can find many examples. Perhaps you can also get some prednisone steroid from your doctor asap to see if it will help. But don't panic nor despair. You can get better. Try to get some masking if T bothers you. If it seems to get your T louder, you may have some mild hyperacusis but even that will fade with time. I have both ultra high pitch T & severe H initially but the H just faded and I have habituated to my T and most of the time when I am engaged with things T got faded out from consciousness by my brain. So today I live a normal, productive and enjoyable life. I wrote my success story and list some helpful strategies. Don't worry too much and don't stress out. Things will get better. Take good care. God bless.

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

 

I am sorry to say but don't expect these supplements to make your T disappear, they won't. I mean, some supplements help if the T is caused due to deficiency in that specific supplement but yours is noise induced.

However, magnesium can help to reduce stress and could even take the edge of your T. so it's certainly worth trying, just don't expect something magical to happen. Otherwise we wouldn't be here

 

Not sure if any supplement will help with acoustic trauma caused T. Members here often recommend prednisone steroid asap for acoustic trauma. For Gingko, there is a success story which says that German pharma grade Gingko has done the trick for the author.

 

Last few days, I could do much better, I mean, I could hear the sound whenever I remembered about T. But today, the whole day, I was hearing it loud, I cannot control it. Feeling very much frustrated. It is almost intolerable.

Can you give me a link where I can buy it from online? Will they ship USA or Canada? moreover, should I give up hope on Gingko as my one is caused by acoustic trauma?

As my T is caused by acoustic trauma (sounds like, subwoofer triggered T is called acoustic trauma), don't I have any hope? Can't I do anything to help myself?

 

It will be good to try different things for a while because this will give you power. In the end though nothing works and when you accept this things will work out for themselves. The noise will cease to be important and other suffering will take its place. Buddhists call it Samsara.

 

I found a site where the author is saying about some medications with confidence (including Gingko biloba). Any thoughts about it ?

http://alsearsmd.com/2009/10/tinnitus-treatment/

 

Tanakan is pharma grade Ginko here in France. Try to check the name it has in other countries.

Don't expect it to completely eliminate your T though

 

There is a success story with discussion on this. Try to read it up and you will see where to buy this.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/my-tinnitus-is-completely-gone.16169/#post-190887