Brand New — Hope This Isn't Permanent

Hello everyone,

I found this page through google.

I think I have gotten Tinnitus and I'm not sure exactly the cause. I have been wearing earplugs for a few years to help me sleep because my wife snores very loudly and I can't get to sleep with it. About 6 days ago I woke up with a sharp pain in my right ear, and ever since then there has been a constant "bzzz" like a high pitched hertz noise in the middle of my head. It won't go away and it's driving me nuts. I stopped using my earplugs since and I feel like I'm going absolutely wacko because it's annoying me beyond belief. I have tried using music to drown it out but it never goes away. Thankfully I work from home but it's making me extremely irritable and I can't seem to just ignore it.

I've tried Flonase for a few days, and I have been trying to rinse my ears out with salt water in case it's earwax impaction or something. I'm desperate at this point.

Is it an infection? Did I somehow damage my ear? Am I going to have to deal with this for the rest of my life? What's the deal?

I've made an appointment with an ENT and they want to send me to an audiologist first, but I was told when I was making the appointment over the phone that because "ringing in the ears" wasn't serious that I wasn't made a priority. My appointment isn't until May 3rd just to see the audiologist!

Is there any hope for this to go away from what it's come from? I feel like being deaf would be better than dealing with this ringing for all time.

 

Hi @Rewire

Are you aware of any head or neck trauma that you might have suffered as of late (whiplash e.g.)? Were you exposed to a high level noise? Were you listening to loud music for extended periods of time via headphones? A stressful life?

It could also be caused by an earwax buildup and blockage since you were plugging your ears for years (the best case scenario).

There might be many underlying causes for tinnitus. It's good that you have scheduled an appointment with an ENT and audiologist. However, in case of tinnitus the sooner you act the always better (i.e. a combination of a steroid course and intravenous vasodilatation infusions might rid you of tinnitus caused by acoustic trauma, that is if you get the treatment within 3 days after onset of t.) - at least so I was told by like a 4th ENT that I saw.

IMO our biggest hope lies in the research focused on actually treating tinnitus as opposed to coping strategies.

You might want to check out sections: Research News, Treatments & a Panic Guide on this forum.

Best of luck,

Jiri

 

Your ENT wanting you to see an audiologist first it a good thing. They will be able to tell you how the ear is functioning and if there is any hearing loss which could hint at Tinnitus.

I am more in the camp that people need to learn coping skills along with trying to treating underlying issues that can cause Tinnitus. There is no stopping those things from occurring in parallel. There is also connections with stress and Tinnitus so if you can control that there is no downside. It's called radical acceptance in the DBT handbooks. You are still very early on though so don't lose hope!

 

I'm about to have my three week anniversary in a couple days. All my audio tests came back normal, the ENT said my ear was functioning property, but a slight high frequency hearing loss in one ear, but still within normal limits. I got the old "you'll learn to live with it" advice and sent on my way. It'd actually started getting a little more bearable until today, but especially tonight (it's 1:59am) its keeping me up. I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. I was starting to feel a little better with it but now it seems like it's coming back. I guess the best thing I can hope for is a good days & bad days situation. I'm seeing a 2nd audiologist in about 8 hours another opinion. I'm fortunate in that I work from home as well, but like you, it's making me a little edgy. My plan personally is to just get myself as healthy as I can and try to cope with it.

 

I have been obscenely stressed lately. My business isn't doing great and so I haven't been able to pay myself in 2 months now. I have a decent amount of savings but it only goes far.

No trauma that I'm aware of. I do IT for my work, so there's not much room for physical injury.

I'm hoping it's earwax. I need it to be earwax. Developing this is not helping my stress.

 

Perhaps you should go to your regular doctor, if you can get a quick appointment - they can check for wax, infection, etc. I went to an urgent care center once, to have my ears checked, when my ENT was not available.

The stress is the worst part of this, and makes symptoms worse, so try to find ways of relaxing.