Advice Needed

Hi,

I'm posting this here because I'm not entirely sure what else to do. About 3 weeks ago I was lying in bed and my ears started to ring loudly. This continued for a few days and then dropped in volume significantly. It continued to decrease for roughly a week, and has since then stayed at a pretty constant level. The tinnitus itself changes all the time. It will go from ringing to buzzing to beeping to static throughout the day. Occasionally I'll have one sound that lasts for a few days, but for the most part it changes a lot. This makes it very hard to tune out, because I'm constantly hearing new sounds. Occasionally it turns into more of a feeling then a sound, like I can hear the air around me moving. The volume changes throughout the day too, sometimes it is the loudest thing I can hear, even with the TV up loud, and other times I have to strain to hear it whilst sitting in the my car with the engine off.

I'm not entirely sure what caused it but I know it wasn't noise damage, as I'm 20 years old and can't say I've ever been exposed to significantly loud noise, and have always taken steps to protect my hearing when listening to music etc... However, when the ringing started, I was suffering from an extremely bad cold, and couldn't breathe out of my nose at all. My ears were blocked and full of pressure, and I developed ETD. The cold is now gone and my ears seem to have cleared up, although they may still have fluid in them, I'm not really sure. I'm also on antibiotics, and although tinnitus is listed as a potential side effect, it isn't an ototoxic drug (confirmed by ENT specialist). To further complications, I damaged my jaw from constantly trying to pop my ears, and it still clicks occasionally, although the swelling has subsided. All this occurred during a period of considerable stress.

I've spoken to various people with tinnitus and a few doctors (ENT and GP), and all of them seem to think that this is temporary and will be reversed when all of these factors have been addressed, but seeing as I have seen no significant improvement in around a week, I'm hoping for an outside opinion. Also, I seem to have a pretty odd form of tinnitus. It's been suggested to me that it isn't tinnitus at all as it sometimes mimics sounds that I hear, and constantly fluctuates in tone, volume and type of sound.

I was wondering if anyone could give me their opinion on all this. Do you think it will go away? What do you think is the most likely cause? And does anyone else have tinnitus that fluctuates this much? Does this mean anything? What do you think I should do?

 

Hey sorry for the onset of this problem. You've already have been to the doctors. And I don't know the cause of your T, but I if it were me I would definitely ask them if they might prescribe a steroids like Prednisone just on the hopes it might help.

If they are wishy washy about it, then I'd push them. My ENT said it was really the only treatment there is and needs to be done in the first 30 days. And it only is effective (in the main) if there is hair-cell or nerve damage, but I have my doubts it would cause a problem for the other cases. If they say 'no' ask them if it is negative for other causes.

Good luck, and keep coping and...time may reduce it, I hope.

 

I would try steam inhalation and maybe take Sudafed to help clear your tubes and see if that helps.
If you listen to music with headphones or earphones keep the sound on the lowest setting.
Love glynis