Brand New to This Nightmare... Perhaps Someone Can Share a Positive Outcome...

hi everyone. My name is Steve. I'm 38, work in sales, which does carry a fair amount of stress, and other than a few extra pounds, have always been healthy. 3 weeks ago, I was headed into work and had such ear congestion and pressure that I felt I would crash my car. I literally was next to an urgent care so thought it was smart to stop. They examined me and said I had a nasty ear infection. They prescribed 10 days worth of amoxicillin and Flonase for my nose. The pain and pressure were gone by day 3. I finished up the round and found myself awaken on Super Bowl Sunday with the ringing. It's been awful at night, tolerable during the day with lots of distractions. However I'm averaging 3 or 4 hours of very unrestful sleep a night.
I went to my primary who said that he was not sure why they would prescribe an adult male for an middle ear infection. He said he suspects it was viral and needs to take its course. He put me on Xanax for rest and anxiety relief. I'm up after 3 hours now but hope to fall out soon. He also sent me to an ENT to examine me bc CT scan shows chronic sinusitis. ENT did a full allergy test today and results are I'm basically allergic to everything. He also looked and said I have fluid in the inner ear and to keep the Flonase going and Benadryl at night. He also feels the ringing will pass but set me to see an audiologist for a hearing test next week. I'm trying to stay positive and believe them that this will cease. Has anyone here personally had this or known someone similar where the ringing subsided?? Do you know if it comes back? Thanks for anything to help ease my mind and I'm sorry to all who have suffered so long. I've read some posts and my heart breaks for you. Thank you for allowing me to join and for your time. Look forward to hearing any responses...God bless

 

Oh also, it seems to be in both ears. Is that normal? I've read posts of people who are one ear only. I'm really scared and trying not to be anxious however the lack of sleep is messing with me,,,thank you...

 

Hi welcome to forum you are new to t so your body and brain are trying to adjust given time your t should subside or hopefully go completely.
meds short term are helpful just to take the edge off and help you to get some rest sleep is very important.
I would try to get some exercise to get the endorphins going too,the first few months are difficult but given time you will adjust.
take a look around the forum for tips and treatments that may help, all the best with your recovery.
and yes it is normal to have it in both ears.
God bless

 

Sleep is the key in my opinion. Best to search through this forum to see what people are doing to rebuild their sleep. Lack of sleep can have so many negative effects on your body and make your T seem so much worse. You may also want to see a dentist to see if it is related in anyway to your bite or possibly clenching or grinding at night. Did they make any suggestions for your allergies? If you are able to put it out of mind during the day this early on I think you will be able to make a good recovery.

 

If you have an ear infection currently, then the tinnitus is most likely going to go away as soon as all that clears up. You're still very early on so it's really not something to worry about. In fact the best thing you can do at this point is just trust that it will go away eventually and just try not to care about it in the meantime. Just ignore it and stay occupied.

-Mike

 

Thank you Shaun. My Dr. said he prescribed me alprazolam as he said this will help with the ringing and the anxiety I'm experiencing. I took one last night and didn't really sleep at all. He is mixing in something else meclizine HCL 1/2 to 1 tab, up to 3 times daily to help with the anxiety. I have never been a pill popper but i'm desperate for sleep and relief. is this true that the alprazolam will help with the ringing too?? He said that this is a prescribed pill for this to bring ringing relief...i pray it's true

 

Thank you Kevin08, I haven't thought this route but I will absolutely check into this. I have had some dental issues in the past. As I said above to Shaun, my Dr. has put me on alprazolam for the ringing and the anxiety and mixed in meclizine HCL to help with the sleep. Do you know about these drugs at all? I've never been on many prescriptions in my life and do not want to be on these long term...

 

Michael2013, you almost made me cry with your post. this is what I've been telling myself b/c it's so early on. I've been doing the occupation thing during the day and it works. there are times where I have to stop and try to see if it's still there. i've been taking a lot of vitamin C, mostly airborne; as that and the flonase have seemed to keep my sinuses open. the Ear infection symptoms cleared up with the antibiotic but the ringing started after that ended. Since it's viral, you think there is still some infection in there? The Dr. said after the fluid goes away, he feels this should stop. I have the audiology hearing test next week. I have the results of my allergy tests on Monday and they said we will have a plan of attack then since there are so many allergy triggers for me. not sure of the measurement chart but i'm at a minimum a 7mm on some, 9mm on most, and 15mm on grass. I also pray this isn't hereditary as I never want my children to suffer.
if you all don't mind me asking, do you know how your tinnitus started??

 

I had a crazy ear infection when I got my T. I still have T 7 months later however it is less aggressive. The first month my T was a high pitch Ttttttttttttt sound. Now its just a whoosh sound., still annoying at night and I hate putting in ear plugs as it just amplifies the sound. My Ear MRI, Audiology test, DPOAE tests all came back normal, but I had to get a lumbar puncture because of high CSF volume that showed up on head mri .. LP decreased the volume of my T a little bit.

 

@Lever151 I had the same experience exactly a year ago. Funny enough was the Super Bowl night. Mine was ear infection plus a cold 3 weeks after.It took five months of my normal life.Quited my job and had suicidal thoughts every 5 seconds.I was miserable but there as a light...Today after the help of my family my girlfriend and my God im back for good!Do i still have the ringing?YES! But it doesnt consume me anymore.Does it bother me? YES! But I am grateful to be back to my normal life.

You will get better i promise. It seems that you have good doctors taking care of you and good meds for anxiety.

God bless you!

 

I take alpraxolam (Xanax) ...I used to take .50 3 x's a day but now I am tapering off. It really helped me sleep and helped my anxiety. I tried a sleeping pill - Ambien--but I'd wake up after 3 or 4 hours. Try taking the alpraxolam exactly as prescribed--if it says 'as needed' ask your doc what the most efficient dosage for you is.... It will help you sleep. It may help with the noise. I wasn't one who had my noise reduced by Xanax but just getting rid of the fight or flight reaction is great.

Try to stay positive--you are so new to this that there is a good chance it will just resolve by itself. Do not make it your main focus. Try to just live your life. I know it's difficult and frustrating but just try to get on with things.

 

I agree with Kathi that being positive with definitely help with your habituation. Your T being so new, it may just fade over time. Even if it stays like many here, we still live a normal life because when you habituate to T, it doesn't matter if you hear it or not. It is just treated as part of your being and not a threat. As such the brain can fade it out of consciousness when you are busy with things, as you say you already have such moments. This is a good sign. So stay positive and learn the insights from others how to live with T normally and peacefully. There are so many success stories on this site and other forums to tell us that T, if not curable, is definitely livable and life can be back to normalcy. It is not an end game. Stay positive and give it time.

 

Sorry for you...could you lete know what your acronym for LP is? You said it decreased the volume??

 

Lp is lumbar puncture. I had high intracranial pressure after head trauma.

 

Thank you Kathi. I'm trying to do that; it just causes so much anxiety. I've been praying and reading and doing what I can to stay positive. I have ENT appt tomorrow as well as primary visit. Audiologist on Wednesday. Do you all think I have overreacted too quickly on this? Tomorrow is officially one week and I've tried getting a team dr approach to this. I just pray as my PCP said that once the fluid subsides it should go away. Thank you!!!

 

Thank you for your advice and positive thoughts. I really appreciate it!!!

 

Oh ok, I hope you aren't in pain or Anything. I will always pray for everyone affected by this forever

 

There is no such thing as overreacting--it is scary and alien to have a noise in your ears or head. We are here for you and hopefully, your tinnitus will resolve. Good luck at your doctors and keep us up-to-date.

 

Hi @Lever151 - Welcome to Tinnitus Talk!

I'm so sorry you're going through this -- if it's any consolation, this is pretty much how my Tinnitus started. I was severely run down throughout much of October, dealing with mostly GI issues and an extremely stressful time at work (though otherwise, I was fine and had no symptoms), and then I awoke one morning in early November to the bilateral ringing. After a lot of research, many tests, and countless evaluations, I was able to confirm that some sort of inflammatory infection is what caused it. And here I am, three months later, with it still persisting. I've done a lot of research to try and figure this thing out, and it's challenging because these sorts of infections, when they catch on, as adults linger for many months. But there's good news.

1. I've been told that Tinnitus caused by inflammatory and infectious issues does resolve, but it may take quite a while. Inner and Middle Ear infections can't really be detected by ENTs and doctors, unless if the infection is localized directly behind the ear drum (and in most cases, it won't be), so they will only see collections of fluid in one or both of the ears. This fluid waxes and wanes with time, and you'll soon learn that certain things - like a hot steam shower, taking anti-inflammatory meds (like Advil Cold & Sinus), and plenty of sleep will lead to lower volumes.
   
   
2. The proper treatment for Adult Otitis Media is a 7 day course of Amoxicillin (500 mg three times a day with meals), and a 10+ day course of Prednisone (50mg daily, tapering down to 10 mg daily). Definitely consult your general practitioner about this. On the second or third day of this treatment, you should notice considerable relief -- and possibly outright resolution in one of the two ears, at least. However (and this is the bad news), the relief you experience will probably be short-lived because inflammatory infections of the inner and middle ear are persistent, especially because they are viral (and so the Amoxicillin is largely prophylactic to counterbalance the decreased immune response that Prednisone causes, not to actually combat the viral ear infection, alas). This is generally the smoking gun proof you need that you're dealing with some inflammatory or infectious condition - and it's usually caused by viruses contained in allergens, I am told.

Please let us know more about how you're doing. I'll be keeping you in my thoughts!

 

Thank you Kaelon...to update everyone. I was having a good day. There are still times I find myself searching for the noise during the day, which I take as positive. I had a Dr. Follow up today. My ENT discovered I'm severely allergic to many things, so many that he said I qualify for a shot treatment program which gives one shot every week for 2 years, then 1 shot every other week for 1 year and in essence this will cure my allergies. I left there feeling positive. I got to my PCP appointment and he told me to take the Meclyzine 3 times a day and Xanax at night. I had mixed up the dosage. Then he tells me I've lost 10lbs in a week and asked me what is going on. I broke down and told him how difficult it has been. He made a few calls and got me an MRI done this afternoon. My Dr is an amazing man and can tell how this is affecting me. I was happy to get the MRI but wasn't sure what it will show. I suffer from maxillary sinus cysts and he believes there is a direct correlation due to my chronic sinusitis and newly discovered allergies. I got the MRI w and w/o contrast. So here I lay at 3 am with a bad flare up listening to a hairdryer on YouTube. It's bringing some distraction but has made it a difficult night. Do you think it was the 40 minutes in the MRI machine that flared it up?? I'm praying for relief and that it does go away.
If anyone else started their T from a viral infection did it reside, lower, fade away?? Kaelon have you noticed a difference?? I'm praying the MRI can show some nerve compression or blood restriction so I know what is causing this. I have cried more this past week than I have since my Dad passed away. Sorry to complain as I know I have it for a short time compared to many. I can only pray that I stay as strong as you all...God bless you all and hears another prayer for relief for you all...goodnight, I pray...

 

@Lever151, your allergies and sinus issues are, without a doubt, contributing to your Tinnitus (though they may not be exclusively responsible -- since you didn't have an episode before your infection, though, I'd say it's a good bet that there's a causal relationship between the two). The mechanism that very few ENTs actually understand, is that the sinuses when they become congested will actually cause inflammation in the openings of the Eustachian Tubes. The Eustachian Tubes allow pressure to be equalized between the middle ear and the outer vestibular airway passages. It's a tiny lumen - about the size of a hair follicle - so it's not meant for draining. But, that's where the problem starts: when there's inflammation in the Eustachian Tubes, middle and inner ear infections cannot properly resolve. It becomes a vicious cycle that can last for many months.

In all honesty, yes. My T has gotten much better since the initial onset. For me, on weeks 7 and 8, I started noticing a big difference, thanks in large part to the Prednisone + Amoxicillin I was taking. But like I said, this was generally short-lived. I got Tinnitus spikes the weeks afterwards, and because of how dangerous long-term prednisone can be, there really hasn't been much people can do for me other than just waiting out whatever is causing the inflammation to hopefully resolve. In some cases, if it's a neuromuscular conflict (like tightening of the Temporomandibular Jaw joint), there is no real resolution that is quick and it takes quite a bit of physical therapy.

In my case, I got over fight-or-flight around weeks 9 and 10. I have learned that what happens here is that the brain starts to train itself that Tinnitus is not an alarming situation, and it shouldn't amplify a heightened anxiety response. So Tinnitus starts evoking a response from the limbic system, and the body starts to shift tinnitus to a parasympathetic reaction mode. You know it's there, but it's not causing you serious alarm and you're not being driven into a state of anxiety or panic about it. I started moving in that direction around my third month of Tinnitus, back in January.

My Tinnitus is still here. It is often loud. It isn't causing me a lot of alarm, but it does continue to annoy me. I know how to influence it -- how to help with the inflammation, and that causes the Tinnitus volumes to go down.

I am going to share my perspectives of Tinnitus, in hopes that it will frame everything for you and grant you some serenity. So I apologize for the length:

This is really the important thing to accept (and it's not easy): Tinnitus is not a disease; it is a symptom. Because it's a symptom, that means there's an underlying cause that is triggering the reaction. Unfortunately, the medical community -- even extremely experienced neurologists and ENTs -- knows very little about Tinnitus, because (when it's subjective) it's a highly personalized response. Different people have different neurological triggers that manifest as Tinnitus, and there is no one-size-fits-all response on how to treat it. Because of this, it's also very difficult to ever identify the root cause of Tinnitus and the most medical professionals can do is guess, wait and see, and then try again. There isn't a lot of patience for Tinnitus in the medical community for this -- it's often seen as a wild goose chase -- and so patients are rather dismissively told to just "learn to live with it."

The consensus in the medical community, which has grown to be accepted by those of us confronted with Tinnitus, is as follows, in my experience:

• Tinnitus changes very rapidly during the first 3-6 months. This means switching from one ear to the next, varying considerably from day to day, waxing and waning, and taking on and losing certain audiological characteristics. This is pretty normal. This is why most people generally say that, given time, your Tinnitus may hopefully resolve itself. This is pretty true: for most people who experience sensory trauma that have caused their tinnitus (like severe noise exposure), the body's natural healing and coping mechanisms can suppress and/or defeat Tinnitus. However, there's no uniform story as to how this resolves and there's no hard-and-fast timeline involved here. Some people will resolve within a few weeks, others it takes months. However, the consensus is clear: people who have Tinnitus for more than six months as a general rule tend to find their experience enduring, and it does not just spontaneously resolve, unfortunately.
  
  
• If it is objective (meaning, the doctor can also hear it when examining you), then there is hope that the cause can be identified. Cause here is usually circulatory or vascular in nature. If it is identified, medical science today may be able to treat it. This situation -- both identifying and treating it, if identified -- is extremely rare today. But this form of Tinnitus usually manifests as "pulsatile Tinnitus" -- a whooshing, clicking, thumping, hammering sound that is in sync with your heartbeat. High pitched Tinnitus does not ordinarily fall into this category.
  
  
• Subjective tinnitus (meaning only you hear it) is, usually, not a caused by a single thing. Rather, there is a symphony of factors that accumulate over a long period of time that bring the brain to a period of stress where Tinnitus is manifest. The common stories are: periods of high stress, continued sleeplessness, poor diet and exercise, and finally, some precipitating health event or problem that becomes the "last straw that broke the camel's back." Because of this, most subjective tinnitus rarely has a single factor that needs to be resolved. This lesson was the hardest for me to learn, because since I am dealing with inflammation, I thought to myself, "surely, if I get this inflammation under control, my Tinnitus will resolve." It didn't entirely, and it comes and goes, waxes and wanes, over time. I have read that this is pretty typical of people who suffer from inflammatory and infectious conditions that push Tinnitus to the edge.
  
  
• Most Tinnitus is incurable. There are many remedies and treatments out there, but pretty much all of them are ineffective and tend to be successful only for people matching a very specific profile. Most of the research into Tinnitus being done today addresses damage to the hearing organs (specifically, the cilia of the cochlea) as the source of the neurological malfunction that expresses itself as Tinnitus. This is sensible, because the most common cause of Tinnitus is, in fact, hearing loss and in most cases, the high pitched sound that people hear coincides with a position in an audiological curve where hearing begins to be impacted. But it ultimately doesn't help people who are dealing with Tinnitus that is multi-factorial, and unfortunately, most Tinnitus is, in fact, multi-factorial and not purely audiological in origin.
  
  
• Tinnitus, as a symptom, is often joined by other symptoms -- like hyperacusis (extreme sensitivity to everyday loud sounds), dizziness (especially when congestion and inflammation of the vestibular system is a factor), feelings of fullness in the ears, and paresthesia (tingling sensations that come and go). Ultimately, these other symptoms are neurological manifestations of the body trying to deal with the unexpected nature of Tinnitus. Most of these symptoms resolve with time, even if the Tinnitus remains.
  
  
• The best "treatments" for Tinnitus are generally regarded as either Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (abbreviated TRT) or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (abbreviated as CBT). TRT and CBT accelerate the habituation process by teaching the mind to push its reaction to Tinnitus out of the limbic system and into the parasympathetic system, so that it doesn't cause you alarm. Even if people don't undergo one of these therapies, the human mind generally will habituate itself within 12-18 months (most people begin major steps in the habituating process at months 3 and 6, for what it's worth). Habituation ordinarily means that you don't know your Tinnitus is there because the mind has learned to tune it out, and you can enjoy a semblance of silence again. However, if you search for it -- and if it spikes -- you will hear it. This is an imperfect treatment, because the underlying neurological malfunction remains. But the body (and the mind) have learned to ignore it, so the end result is generally the same. The good news here is that habituation is possible for everyone, always. Some people will take longer than others; some people can habituate within a few months; for others, it takes years. There's a lot of theory crafting on this site about what helps/harms habituation, but again, don't read too much into this because everyone is different. Anxiety, however, does play a role in keeping Tinnitus' heightened response in the limbic system and some people here opine that remaining anxious about Tinnitus delays the habituation process. It's best not to obsess over this, because it will ultimately happen in time. But it requires patience.

The biggest hurdle in this process of confronting and overcoming Tinnitus tends to be denial. People, including myself, start their process by approaching this like any other acute circumstance: "Something awful has happened to me, so clearly, I need to do something dramatic to reverse this awful thing." Therein lies the problem -- Tinnitus is not an acute condition; it is a chronic symptom of a long-term and complex, enduring process. For some people, these are vascular and circulatory processes that cause pulsatile tinnitus; for other people, these are inflammatory and infectious conditions that have reached a breaking point; and, for even others still, it is an enduring consequence of trauma to the auditory system. None of these have quick fixes, though obviously, we hope and pray that people who are new to Tinnitus will find their symptoms spontaneously resolve. Even though much Tinnitus, when it is early, does resolve; most Tinnitus, because it's chronic, will endure. And so, our ability to defeat Tinnitus is derived from our capacity to control our body's response to it.

I will be keeping you in my thoughts!

 

Thank you for the detailed response Kaelon. My sister lives in Milton MA. I use to travel to Waltham quite a bit for work prior to changing companies.

You have helped more than the ENT who handed me a pamphlet on tinnitus and basically said good luck. My PcP is a very caring Doctor and is going piece by piece. He said he will try to help me solve the underlying cause. He also said it was early onset and feels it will resolve with time. I pray he is right but should it not, with my faith, my family, and people like you and the others here, I feel ill be ok. I have experienced the hyperacusis you referenced but that has calmed with the decrease in anxiety. Audio test tomorrow so I'll pray tonight, get good sleep (I pray) and find out if my hearing is damaged tomorrow.

I'm so tired but sleep is so difficult. I'm noticing sloppiness at work too.


I pray for you all again tonight as I try to fall asleep...

 

I too have been suffering with T over the last month. As I sit here and right this I am very depressed and tearful. I usually a strong man but this issue has broken me. I feel cursed. My T began with a sinus infection over the holidays, I was prescribed antibiotics and prednisone. Long tory short I felt fullness in my right ear, I was referred by my pcp to an ENT who diagnosed eustachian tube disorder with hearing loss gave me Amoxicillin 500 MG for 10 days and nasal spray. 2 weeks later nothing has helped I still have congestion in my right side and fullness in my right ear. Went to the ENT 2 days ago and he said let's put a tube in to help release the pressure. Well the hissing is still there in the right ear and the T has now transferred to my left ear. I keep apologizing to my wife and daughters for putting them through this. They have been caring warriors for me, but I feel this curse will ruin my family life, my job. I am trying to stay positive but to no avail. Like Lever151 I have trouble sleeping, I've been using zzzquil and it has helped to sleep but I don't want to be taking it every night. I've lost 10lbs over the last week and don't have an appetite.

 

sorry Felix that you are going through such a tough time.i have pulsatile tinnitus as well as reg. T .Ive had it for close to a year and a half.i know what you are feeling.early on I went through the same thing.i was convinced I was going to lose everything.my family ,my house,my job and my friends and just about anything else that mattered.i also had extreme trouble sleeping which made everything even more unbearable.well here I am 17 months later im doing pretty darn good.things got better with time.thank god I made it through those early months.amazingly kept everything I thought I would lose.i sleep great.dont even need a fan.just keeping busy helps so much with this condition.and you are only a month into this.theres a good chance your T will go away.and even if it doesn't things will get better.try to stay positive even though that may seem impossible right now.thanks billy43

 

Thanks for you encouragement Billy, to hear that you are doing better now is very encouraging. I will try to cling to your words as I struggle through this.