After 21 Months Almost No Ringing; Ears Feel Achy All the Time — What to Expect Next?

Yeah, that's a good strategy. I think the only strategy, unless tinnitus or hyperacusis has a very obvious and fixable physical cause that shows in image testing.

For me it's baffling the change in hearing quality over the years, and the fluctuating hearing quality, meaning hearing fatigue, struggle to hear all words when there is background noise etc.

I will provide an example of how things change: all my life I was able to listen to overlapping and competing sounds (speech) and understand all of them. This means I could be at a restaurant and talk to my friends and hear bits of conversations from other tables, or I could focus on the table next to us and pick up most of what was said...

At home I would be able to listen to a movie on TV and at the same time to something someone was saying. This thing, that was natural for me all my life, is no longer possible. Now I only understand the loudest sound, be it TV or someone speaking to me while watching TV; the other sound somehow goes in the background and I don't understand a bit of it, sometimes not a single word... weird...

Well, all that is gone... now I even have to concentrate to understand people if there is any background noise.

 

@Vassili, I think the hardest thing is not be sure whether the change in sound (eee to hiss or to static is a sign of recovery or not). A lot of self doubt, mine seems to be changing every couple weeks, generally I’m perceiving it has high pitch hiss, seemed to be more annoying and noticeable. Sometimes tonal e. I’m trying to not focus on it (challenging) and distract myself.

I would like to think that I’ve habituated to a certain extent but there are days where it’s tough since some days it seems better in quiet rooms and other days it isn’t. Trying to stay positive.

 

My first reduction in volume and headache levels was after 10 months.

 

Hey again @Vassili, hope you're doing well these days

Wanted to ask a few Qs as I'm still fairly new into this, going on almost 5 months now.

After my microsuction acoustic trauma my tinnitus and hyperacusis was catastrophic but it settled down from a 10/10 to a 2 or 1/10 to a point where I didn't care and felt normal etc. This was only like 4 weeks after.

Anyway, I was protecting quite a lot with foam earplugs and those big Peltors that suck the ears quite often and I noticed I brought hyperacusis back along with TTTS and a slight muffled and clogged or pressured ear feeling. Sounds felt a bit dull particularly in my left ear. I became paranoid of course. Did you have any of those symptoms and they ebbed and flowed or did they come back?

Had to take 9 day course of antibiotics and Prednisone for my lungs. The Prednisone was for 5 weeks and I feel that's kinda spiked me a bit more. I'm just praying it all settles again. Struggling some days more than others mentally.

Did you ever have meds that spiked it or just in general with your tinnitus where it got remarkably better like mine, then it felt worse and you had new tones? I have this high pitch tone mostly in my left ear and then it goes to brain and right ear. I also get some zaps, which I never got before. Praying it settles because I was doing so well.

Trying to manage the hyperacusis again to and get that under control. I want to fly out and stay with my partner this summer and not give into fear and have faith more. I don't want my life to be over.

Best wishes

 

@Vassili, how are you doing now? It’s been another 7 months?

 

Vassili is a champion.