Can a Cold Cause Tinnitus?

[eldudebro]

Just a question that's been swirling around my head since my T arrived.

Back in May I had a bad cold, I was pretty stuffed up and my sinuses were ravaged for about 10 days. As the cold abated I had these weird sensations in my ear, like a low rumble, almost as if the back of my head was vibrating.

This cleared up after about another 7 days and I went about life as normal, until the last day of July arrived and the Tinnitus arrived out of the blue.

Is it possible this cold I had damaged my ear somehow? I had never previously had any tinnitus experiences in my life, apart from the "fleeting T" lasting a few seconds that everyone is supposed to get, and even then, this was very rare for me.

Just trying to make sense of the situation I now find myself in. Could almost laugh if it was indeed a common cold that did it for me.....

 

[Enrique]

Hello eldudebro,
To answer you question, you most certainlycan. My father acquired T after a cold. He actually lost some of his hearing as well. Not to scare you but this was about 20 years ago and the T is still there although he is fully habituated to it, even sleeps in silence. Do your ears feel stuffed? If they do I would recommend you get your hearing tested. Otherwise, I have heard people having T for a while (like up to a month or so) after a bad cold. Take care of yourself.

Just a question that's been swirling around my head since my T arrived.

Back in May I had a bad cold, I was pretty stuffed up and my sinuses were ravaged for about 10 days. As the cold abated I had these weird sensations in my ear, like a low rumble, almost as if the back of my head was vibrating.

This cleared up after about another 7 days and I went about life as normal, until the last day of July arrived and the Tinnitus arrived out of the blue.

Is it possible this cold I had damaged my ear somehow? I had never previously had any tinnitus experiences in my life, apart from the "fleeting T" lasting a few seconds that everyone is supposed to get, and even then, this was very rare for me.

Just trying to make sense of the situation I now find myself in. Could almost laugh if it was indeed a common cold that did it for me.....

 

[eldudebro]

Hey Enrique.

Yes I did have a hearing test. Just last week. The affected ear, my left one, hearing is all within the normal hearing range. All frequencies tested were 5-10db, apart from 4k and 6k which were 15db. My right ear was 5-10db across the chart.

The only other cause I can think of over the years is from noise from clubs and gigs when i was younger, (i'm 33 now) and ipod use when commuting to and from work. Even that I find a bit hard to take, I know people who are forever bombarding their ears to a higher degree than I ever did. I suppose everyone is different though and some people may be more genetically likely to acquire it. My mother has T, which may sound horrible, but i'm glad she does, as it give me someone to relate to and draw strength from, as hers doesnt bother her at all. She even sleeps in silence, whereas I can't bear to be in a quiet room at the moment

 

[Enrique]

That's exactly how I feel. Taking the positive out of a bad situation is that one of our parents have T. My mother and sisters don't understand how frustrating and irritating this can be. My father understands but doesn't let me show remorse. Although I know he means nothing but love, he can be tough at times and in the situation with T, I am glad he is. When I feel like I can't do this I think about how he deals with it. For 20 years I did not know he had T and it is intrusive T where he can hear it over fans, etc. I'm glad you also get strength from your mother.

As for your hearing tests, someone told me 15db is enough to get T. My righ ear has the same loss (which is my good ear) and it has T but I really can only hear it in complete silence. How loud is yours? My left ear has a 35db loss in the 4 and 6 khz and tinnitus is crazy!

 

[eldudebro]

My T is masked by the sounds of a fan, water running etc. I can pick it out when i'm watching tv at a moderate volume, and in quiet rooms i can hear it clearly. Not much fun!

Just hoping the road to habituation starts soon and my brain loses interest in it. When I go in my kitchen and stand next to the fridge, the noise it makes means i can't hear the T. I'm never aware of the fridge unless I stop to listen to it, at least before the T arrived this was the case. I'm clinging to the hope that my hearing system is on high alert at the moment as as I calm down, T will calm down with it....we shall see.

 

[Enrique]

Yeah, try to stay busy with other things. I would say mask as much as possible so your not focused on it. Good luck and if you make any progress let us know!

 

[Marlene]

My husbands T started after the heaviest of head cold in 1985,had T straight away ,still got it to this very day.
To this day I don't know how he's stayed so layed back with having it,if I mention mine he will say his is high or low ,he's considerate to mine being irritating ,like today ,plus me having bad ear infection .

 

[eldudebro]

Since 1985. Wow. I'm only 33 and the thought of living with this for the next 30+ years is a terrifying proposition.

My mother came down with T a good few years back due to constant ear infections. Guess we are just the unlucky ones.

 

[Marlene]

My T I had it faint ,was in the background ,bit like Karen on site says her was.A virus kicked mine off big time going on 9 years now ,so these head viruses you get ,aren't always over in 2 weeks .Winter time I got mine ,same as husbands bug .Advice I give to people is dose up on Vit C from September right through winter ,that was first year ever I'd not done that regular ,( why to this day I don't know why I didn't )take Vit C ,then I went picked virus up ,now I'm left with all sorts of problems along with the change in my T .It ended up knocking out my immune system . So I'm back on The Vits again ,as leading up to winter ,never had a cold in the past 8 years ,go figure one year missed that Vit C ,and how I'm left .So there's a tip I pass on .
How's your mum and her T .? Unlucky we sure are . Best wishes your week will be good to you ,and your mum .

 

[Aura Todd]

I have Tinitus after using olive oil drops. Wish I'd ever touched em.