Any Advice for Me?

I know this sounds like the standard "me and my problems" post but I'm just wondering if anyone else has had this and what the future might be like. I'll try to keep it short.

My ears have always randomly rung, usually more often after listening to loud music with my headphones, but the ringing was random and subsided within a few seconds. Never thought much of it.

Well, 4 weeks ago the ringing randomly came, in the left ear, and it was loud. Much louder than my usual ringing, to the point where it temporarily deafened me. I felt a lot of pressure in that ear, too. I didn't listen to any loud music recently. It wouldn't go away, and I fell asleep figuring it would work itself out by the morning, but I was severely stressed out about it.

Well it didn't, and I started freaking out. Started googling, trying self-help videos, breathing exercises. I couldn't cope. It wasn't even a high-pitched ringing at the time, but mid to higher-pitched sounds sounded like they were accompanied by a shrill tone, the same that you'd hear if you rubbed your finger across a wine glass. Like these frequencies were "broken". I heard it's called "reactive tinnitus" but some people don't think it exists. It does, and I have it. And my fridge was making a constant noise that triggered it, and made things a lot harder to deal with.

Went to my GP and got my ears cleaned out, still ringing. Went again, and they gave me Hydroxyzine for the anxiety I was having - all it did was make me drowsy so I took a nap, and I woke up wanting to kill myself. Went to Urgent Care later on, they said it was fluid in my Eustachian tube and I'd be okay, and gave me Prednisone/Flonase/Claritin-D. That gave me a lot of false hope. Took it, and all it did was make my head feel even more pressurized. I've known to have allergies occasionally but my nose wasn't even blocked and it still isn't, just head pressure. I stopped taking all three and I'm still not sure whether to take them again. Went back to googling, just more horror stories and that one guy with the "glass ear" who was in constant pain. I still stress out about that story.

Then I went to the ER for suicidal ideation - I was barely getting sleep, couldn't eat, wanted to just die peacefully, many of you know how it is. The doctor at least listened to me - he gave me an MRI and checked my ears - he thought there was "bubbles" in my Eustachian tube at first, but after the MRI came back negative, he said he must have been mistaken. I started to panic again. He told me I should feel lucky I have my health. I wished I had a tumor, at least they could have removed that. After that it's been constant panic attacks whenever I think about the future.

I'm on week 4 with T. H comes and goes, usually depends on how much I allow myself to think that I have H. I always feel better as the day goes on. I have high blood pressure, am overweight, have had heartburn my whole life, had a lot of ear infections as a kid, listened to loud music, had diabetes type 2 for a while but managed with diet to make it go into remission. Overall my health hasn't been good, but I'm wanting to do everything I can now to fix that.

So my questions are:
- Anyone else have "reactive T" and mild H that came out of nowhere? Or just these two in general? Do things improve, or get worse over time?
- I'm eliminating salt from my diet, almost completely, to calm my blood pressure. Any other diet tips, maybe get my blood nutrient levels checked?
- I wake up at 3:00 AM every night with tingling in my face and left arm. I try not to freak out about it, but is this concerning?
- I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten good sleep since this happened. Any ways to induce good sleep and make my subconscious mind stop freaking out about this very real, very uncertain, very scary thing?
- Is this just about my emotional reaction or is there something probably wrong with my ear, or both? How can you be "positive" about something like this?

Thank you for reading this, I've been through hell, but I hope all of you are having more good days than bad.

 

As my good pal Michael says - No more headphones! Those things are not good for your ears at all. Your tinnitus is brand new and you are stressed out over it. It is perfectly normal to feel this way. Having a better diet/health for sure can be helpful with your tinnitus.

I highly suggest that you talk to someone about this issue and share your feelings and how you feel. When I got tinnitus in 1988, I would speak to my mom and ask her questions about what was going on. Therapy can be helpful, also just try to remain calm. I know you are stressed, but each day can give you strength to carry on and move forward.

Being calm is very important, when it comes to tinnitus. If we are angry or super frustrated, then the tinnitus can feel worst...

The people on this board, including myself are here to support you

 

Thank you, I appreciate that. I am trying my best to stay calm. My ability to notice the ringing gradually goes down throughout the day and resets in the morning; I'm a lot better toward the end of the day.

I hope that eventually it won't bother me anymore. I get lightheaded a lot and I think the constant panic attacks have taken a toll on me, even though now my appetite has came back and I'm not pacing around the house trying to talk to myself to calm down anymore. I'm worried that I might have just pushed the feelings in the back of my brain because I can't handle not being able to control something like this, and they resurface toward the night in the form of poor sleep.

 

It takes time, to handle something like tinnitus. It took me a long time, to get a grip on this matter. I struggled just like everyone, but always kept moving forward. Tinnitus can take a toll on anyone, mentally. It is not an easy thing to deal with. Over time, one can be better able to understand it. You are lucky that this site exists, and people that have dealt with this issue, reach out to you.

Take it day by day and try not to dwell on this matter too much, it's not easy..but you can do it

 

Get your doctor to prescribe amitriptyline. It is non-addictive. When I took it during my acute stage of T, I was able to fall asleep, and I would wake up the next morning without feeling drowsy. After you take it for several weeks, it might start helping with your anxiety, as it is an anti-depressant.

Check out the studies described on
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/
(pages 1 and 2)

Many people seem to experience T beginning to get quieter one-three months after onset.

You may want to look into taking NAC, magnesium, and B12 (search this forum, to find more information).

You might also look into HBOT treatments.