Almost Two Weeks with Constant Ringing for Unknown Reason — And I've Always Avoided Loud Noises

Hey!
I’m 29, male and on 9th of November I noticed I had a constant high pitched ringing in my ear, and it hasn’t stopped since. Just wanted to share what I’ve been through in detail since then, so might be long.

So yeah on the Monday I noticed the ringing, I can’t remember exactly when, I do remember saying to my girlfriend over Skype ‘Jesus my ears a ringing’ and then just carrying on thinking it would pass. It didn’t.

Some context: I have never like loud sounds so always been careful with my ears. I RARELY listen to music through earphones, twice a month maybe I might think about listening to some music on my walks, but usually, I like the sounds of outside more. I am anti social and have NEVER been to a concert or even a night club/gig, and been into a pub or similar a handful of times in my life. I do game, but again, my headset is always on a moderate level, and if I’m using a headset I’ll usually play a maximum of 2 hours before turning off, probably closer to a hour though, during the last couple weeks before the tinnitus though I’ve mainly been playing FIFA though, and I DONT use a headset for that, I legitimately play it using the monitor speakers at 1%, really, because I know I’ll be on for a while. My TV is never over 10% and my iPhone speaker usually around the 50%-60% range on YouTube.

One thing I’m not sure about is, either the night before, or maybe the night I noticed, that night I had a dream that I was in a war and a grenade went off at the side of my head and I got shell shocked, and it really annoys me that I can’t remember if it was the night before, because that’s my luck, getting tinnitus from a dream...

So yeah I sat at home the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and there was no break from it, on top of the sound I was experiencing headaches, close to a migraine, which at times would be dormant until I stood up and moved and would then pulse until I sat down again. I also have no appetite at all, and for me that’s a big thing, my usual thought throughout most days is what am I eating next. I also had dizziness and this feeling of floating or being taller than I am and I just could not concentrate on anything! Also, external sounds made it louder, so I couldn’t drown it out. I also experience the sensation that my pillow is made of concrete when I’m in bed and it can feel like the back of my head or side of my face is being crushed by it’s own weight into the pillow, depending if I sleep on my back or side. I am a side sleeper but have tried to sleep on my back more recently, but usually end up on my side, even though the ringing gets louder on my sides.

On the Friday I had enough and called my doctor who told me to come in Monday, and I sat back down and decided to try and forget about it until then, but the fact that ANY external sound, even my TV at 5%, caused it to get louder, just broke me and I began to sob, and it takes a lot for me to cry.... so I grabbed my jacket and walked to A&E.

I have MASSSSSIVE white coat phobia, meaning I am TERRIFIED of any doctors, dentist etc... so hopefully this sums up how done I was... but yeah, I got to A&E and talked to the lady on the desk, she had my address from when I was 9 years old, that’s how long I hadn’t visited a hospital through fear... but yeah I booked in and took a seat in the waiting room, I was sweating heavy, from fear, so much so I had to go to a toilet to splash my face and dry my hair with paper towels... eventually a nurse came out and took my heart rate and blood pressure, which were both EXTREMELY HIGH, although they said this could be the white coat syndrome. I then took a seat in the waiting room again, feeling a little more used to my surroundings and a little calmer and waited for the doctor.

Eventually he came and I explained my symptoms, I did not mention the word tinnitus because I didn’t want to put words in his mouth. He looked inside my ear, very roughly I might add, and said they looked not so bad, there was a little fluid behind each drum I think he said but nothing major, he also noticed in my mouth I had a bit of a rotten tooth at the back and said I should get that looked at too. He gave me some antibiotics (Amoxicillin) and some ear spray, I can’t remember the name, and sent me on my way.

This was at night so the following morning I started my 7 day dosage of what he gave me, and there was no change, eventually Monday came and on the doctors advice from A&E, I still attended my appointment at my local GP, who also looked into my ears and said the right one was a little red and swollen (I’m not sure if that was from the first doctor being so rough, because he didn’t mention any redness) and advised me to keep taking what the other doctor gave me. She also checked my blood pressure and again it was EXTREMELY HIGH, so she’s booked me a follow up for the 4th December to have that looked at again because if there is no change she may want to monitor me for 24 hours. She also never mentioned the word tinnitus, and so I left.

On the Wednesday I managed to get myself into the emergency dentist to have a look at the rotten tooth at the back, but because of the location of the decay, they weren’t able to pull it and refereed me to a specialist who may have to cut into the gum to get it out, there was no pain or swelling around the tooth though. My appointment for the specialist is on the 14th December.

Yesterday I took my last dosage of the antibiotics and the spray, which I don’t think did anything noticeable. One thing I have noticed is that it has gone from a high pitch tone to more of a high pitch static or fuzz? But still, it increases with any sound and nothing truly masks it. I’d say crickets do the best at almost covering it, but the noise of crickets eventually makes me head feel pressured, listening through my phone speaker on around 20% volume. Last night I found another sound that kind of helped, after waking up at 3am and being unable to fall back to sleep till after 7am, and that was a random sound of a cat purring on Spotify, which seemed to help me get back to sleep, for an hour or two, before waking up again.

Yesterday I also read up on tinnitus and neck injury’s etc and remembered in the 2-3 months before it started, I had two occasions were I had severe pain in my neck, to the point were o couldn’t move my head from side to side, for 2-3 days until it faded while on Ibuprofen. But feeling around I have a very sensitive spot on the back of my neck close to the spine that if touched firmly, is uncomfortable.

Today has been rough, I decided to try and keep myself busy and just potter around the flat, doing random things, had a warm bath with salts and muscle soak.... just trying to distract myself but my head was always 50% concentrated on the noise, then I came into the front room to watch some TV to get my mind off things, turned it on, it was still on 0 volume from yesterday, turned it up to 5% and the tinnitus got louder and I burst into tears, I can’t escape it, it’s like it’s fighting for my attention, and I’m on the verge of going to A&E again but I don’t want to put any unnecessary stress on the NHS at this time and I am trying to stop myself and just telling myself to ring my GP on Monday and try to get an appointment there...

But for now, I’m sat in a silent room, listening to my base line volume because anything else boosts it, feeling like shit, two weeks ago I was so happy, I bought myself some new shorts to go on long walks in that I was planning to start from that Monday to get into shape, but instead that happened.

I have listened to a frequency app and at about 11,000 to 12,000hz is when I stop hearing anything above that.

Does anybody more experienced know what kind of tinnitus mine sounds like?
Thank you.

 

Hey, sorry to hear you’re going through this. Sounds like you have reactive tinnitus which is tinnitus that increases when exposed to external noise. Coming up on 10 months for me, but if you look around here, you’ll find some experience a reduction in reactivity over time. I’m not one of the lucky ones. I have an extreme form in that it’s ridiculously loud and so piercingly sharp that it makes me constantly fatigued. I only have it in one ear, and it gets louder with any noise - TV, road noise, basically everything.

Anyway, are you able to get your hearing tested via an extended audiogram? Most ENTs only test up to 8000 Hz which doesn’t tell the full story. This could determine if you have high-frequency hearing loss which would explain the tinnitus. If hearing loss isn’t present on an extended audiogram, then maybe you could see if you could meet with a physical therapist, upper cervical chiropractor, TMJ specialist, or someone like that to rule out any physical issues. You mentioned neck pain, so that might be an indication of some larger problem that could be treated. If you end up testing your hearing, I would urge you not to test any other hearing tests aside from an extended audiogram. It’s up to you, but there are many cases here that worsened due to additional tests such as tympanometry, OAE, ABR, LDL, etc. Play it smart, especially since your ears are now compromised.

Feel free to reach out anytime. Being a severe case, I understand how bad this condition can be. Again, it can improve over time. If it doesn’t, there are therapeutic treatments in the pipeline right now that should be released in only a few years. Help seems to be on the way. Check out the research thread, especially for FX-322. Science is a wonderful thing.

Wishing quieter days for you.

 

I hope you will stop doing the above. You might consider resuming after several years, but you need to heal and stabilize first.

This is a wonderful development. It means that it is fading, and should continue to fade, assuming you won't hurt yourself again. Eventually (might take 1-3 years) it ought to get to the "can hear it only in quiet rooms" stage.

After months/years of healing, you ought to eventually get your life back.

These apps have given tinnitus to people, or had given people serious spikes that wouldn't fade. You will want to be a lot more careful about these things.

You will want to make sure that you don't hurt your ears during this period of vulnerability as your body is healing. You will want to avoid taking ototoxic drugs, avoid microsuction or syringing (performed when you need to clean wax out of your ears; a manual tool should be used), and not let your dental hygienist use an ultrasonic scaling tool on you (a manual tool should be used). For more details, see

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

I have severe reactive tinnitus as well.

Everyday I get disappointed that I woke up the next day and didn't die in my sleep. I actually feel like I hear mostly tinnitus now because the tinnitus drowns out a lot of things since it's so reactive. Like it's been a year since I've heard exactly what a fan is supposed to sound like or water running. I pray there's help for us all.

 

May I ask what caused yours? Unilateral or both ears?

 

Jack,

My story is almost exactly yours ... started out of nowhere ... for no apparent reasons ... always taken care of my ears ... hearing stops around 11-12 kHz.

Also have white coat syndrome ...

What freq is your tinnitus. Mine is at edge of my hearing - around 11-12 kHz.

I have had tinnitus since 2016, some 4 1/2 years now. For me, it neither got worse or better. I don’t have any advise except to understand it as a sensation - not sound.

For some, it can go away. But if you are unlucky like me ... and many here ... understand it’s a sensation that your brain can live with.

it can suck. I knew I love silence even before tinnitus. Now I crave it ... but I don’t let it kill me....

Life is about making the most of what you have ... and living your fullest with what you have as long as you live ....

 

Hello Bill,

2 months have passed. My tinnitus continues and now I can hardly bear it. I'm thinking of taking antidepressants and sleeping pills. I am very stressed right now. If I take them, will I hurt my ears?

 

ADs aren’t exactly risk free, I’ve seen stuff claiming it makes tinnitus better and other stuff saying it’s worse or no difference. Reality is that everyone’s different. But millions of people go on them every year and are fine. So if you feel like you need to then go for it.

 

Is your tinnitus relentlessly at the same level?

Check out:

http://hlaa-sbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Ototoxic_Brochure.pdf

You'll want to look for any drug you are considering taking (and don't forget that sometimes the same drug is sold under different brand names) on that list. You will also want to use the "search" function on this site to see whether there are any horror stories involving that drug on this site, which can happen even if the drug isn't on that list.

Personally I've had a good experience with Amitriptyline. A doctor prescribed it to me, but months later I learned that it can cause tinnitus in some people (despite studies that show that sometimes it can cure tinnitus). This just goes to show that a drugs on that list won't necessarily cause any problems...