Almost Six Months and Struggling Again

Next week it will be six months since I first got T from loud music at an indoor concert. After the first few weeks, it lowered in volume to a point where it only really bothered me in an almost silent room and when trying to sleep. After several more months, I could still hear it in quiet rooms and in bed, but it no longer bothered me. About six weeks ago, it was so quiet that I often couldn't hear it in a quiet room, and typically wouldn't hear it for several hours in the morning. At this point I was really happy, and certain that it would go away eventually.

Unfortunately, that period only lasted about two weeks, and it went back to previous levels. I wasn't exposed to any noise, but was experiencing some stress, and assumed that it could be because of that. For the last two weeks, however, it's grown steadily more bothersome. Sounds that used to mask it, like the fridge or a fan, are no longer enough. Sometimes I can even hear it when I'm walking outside and there's no traffic. The strange thing is that, when I plug my ears, it doesn't actually sound louder than before (I think), it's just that it's much more noticeable for some reason. Perhaps the frequency changed to one that's more difficult to mask, or maybe it's just more reactive, I don't really know. Along with this, the feeling of clogged Eustachian tubes has also returned (but not as bad as before).

I know that there are lots of changes, especially early on, but I'm worried that this increase is a result of something I'm doing. I've been eating healthier than ever before, with several cups of raw vegetables and fruit per day, all meals I cook at home, practically eliminated alcohol, no more than one cup of coffee per day, and taking magnesium, NAC, and multivitamins. I go to the gym three times a week (in the morning when it's quiet, no more than 65dB) to lift weights, but taking care not to strain my neck or over-exert myself. I've also been playing tennis several times a week as a replacement for running (which I really want to get back to, but have been too worried about damage to the inner ear). I've also given up headphones and earbuds, and certainly haven't been to any clubs, concerts, or even bars for that matter. These are all things I've been doing for several months now. The only thing that changed recently is that I've been sleeping with the A/C on because of the heat (whereas I previously slept in silence after I found that white noise during the night spiked it the morning after). The last two nights I slept without the A/C, and didn't notice any difference.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? Surprisingly, the current level doesn't really cause me any stress or anxiety, but I really don't want to continue the increasing trend of the past two weeks. I'm really just looking for people with more experience of this journey to tell me if I should be making any changes.

 

Have your ears checked for wax build up and try steam inhalation to help unblock your tubes.
Try off load stress and hope that helps you.
Love glynis

 

Tinnitus can change because of many reasons. Loud sound and illness did it for me, some meds can bother tinnitus as well. Stress is a huge trigger for tinnitus as well...

Tinnitus is a challenge and all of us on this board, know it. We are here to support you, so you are not alone

 

Thanks @glynis, I'm going to give the steam inhalation a try. My ears are always open when I wake up, but then start feeling clogged at some point throughout the morning. I don't really know why this is. I hope that this recent increase in T is just because of clogged ears.

Thanks for the support @fishbone. I'm just worried that it's changing because I'm doing something wrong. When I first came across this forum, I read a lot of success stories and got the idea that I'd be doing much better by six months. Now, however, it seems to be growing louder for no reason as far as I can tell.

 

I feel the exact same way at this very moment @Casper

I've been taking better care of myself, eating better, taking my supplements, exercising, avoiding or limiting caffeine and alcohol, haven't exposed myself to loud environments. But as of 2 weeks ago, after months of doing really well with T & H, not sure what I did or if I did anything but now have a major setback. Higher pitch tones, additional tones, ear sensitivity, ear pain in both ears .. ugh ... just frustrated.

But I'm trying to stay positive, telling myself that you can't control everything, spikes will happen. Just hoping they don't stay permanent, and that T & H will settle. I keep reading that our ears take forever to heal (or habituate), I just keep telling myself that.

Stay strong.

 

I understand where you're coming from. The first time I saw an improvement in my T, the fullness/clogged feeling and random aches/pains also disappeared. I was so relieved, because I thought they were gone for good. Now it seems like all those symptoms have returned, and I have no idea why.

The only real good news is that you and I are both still fairly new to this, so there's a chance that we'll see significant improvement in the future. Unfortunately we don't know when that will happen, so in the meantime we just need to do our best not to cause further damage and maximize the chance of recovery by following a healthy lifestyle.

 

I forgot to ask if you are dealing with ear sensitivity @Casper ? Right now, most noises are bothersome to me like dishes hitting each other, squeaky brakes, some people's voices, etc ...I feel like every time I hear those types of noises, it's almost always a setback. That's what it feels like. Hard to avoid that right?!

 

Hi @Jenni8619, in the beginning clanking dishes would get me every time. Even the ventilation pipe that runs over my desk at work was unbearably loud. Also, whenever I would be around low-frequency noise (like driving, kettle boiling, or computer fan), I would hear a high-pitched intermittent whistling coming from the source of the noise. I think this has greatly improved over time, but I'm still somewhat nervous around loud noise and try to avoid it when possible.

Do you know what caused your T & H?

 

@Casper

I've had a mild T in my right ears ever since I was a child, probably due to an ear infection but can't confirm that. But T hasn't bothered me in over 25 years.

Until February of this year .. it was brutal, no idea what caused my T & H, but now I have T and ear sensitivity it in both ears. I woke up one day with higher pitch tone, plus other tones and then had ear fullness and pain for about a month. The only thing that I can think of is I did have some dental work done in February, and was dealing with some anxiety, so maybe one of those factors could have triggered it? Or it could be me being around bars when I was younger, but paying for it now. Who knows!

The month of May was good, felt like maybe I habituated because my T & H were not bothering me until about 2 weeks ago. It's gotten a bit worse. Not too sure why. I'm really hoping it's just a phase and it will settle down or even better heal

How about yourself!? What's your experience, sorry if you have to repeat, I don't believe I've read any previous posts of yours.

 

I'm super careful about my eustacian tubes: i use a steroid mist that i send up my nose, 2 shots daily. if my tubes plug up, i'm in real trouble. if i get real trouble with them, i use ONLY ONE OR TWO! doses of stronger spray, such as oxymetazoline or some such. oxymetazoline is dangerous because if you take it too much, you get a rebound effect and you are worse than what you started with, so i only take maybe one dose per month, only, if required, but use the Avamys daily religiously.

 

That's so unfortunate, that it just came out of the blue like that For me there was a definite cause, namely after I went to a concert one night. The sad thing is that I didn't even want to go, but went as a favor to a friend. While I was there I could tell that it was excessively loud, and wanted to leave, but didn't (in hindsight, I wish I could go back in time and drag myself out of there). But, in addition to that, I used to listen to music with earbuds and headphones for several hours every day. Even though I always kept the volume at a reasonable level, it's possible that that also contributed.

Strange, it's also been the past two weeks that it's been growing steadily louder for me. I've had this before, where it would go much louder for no reason at all, but it never lasted more than three days or so. During troubled times like these, I sometimes read the stories by members who have been dealing with this for a year or more. You'll notice that they generally say that progress is very much non-linear, i.e., there are long periods where it gets worse before it eventually improves again. All I hope is that this is just an unusually long period, and soon it will return to "normal" (or maybe even improve!).

 

Hey @object16, how long have you been dealing with this issue of blocked Eustachian tubes? Is ETD also the cause of your T?

 

Don't forget that ototoxic medications can also cause hearing loss, not just hearing damage or exposure to loud noise.