- Jan 24, 2019
- 2
- Tinnitus Since
- Since about 2004
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Partial hearing loss, made worse by a minor head injury at 7
Hey, I'm Jude (22) and I was born with nerve damage in my left ear giving me a 50% hearing deficit in it. I think I've had tinnitus since about 2004 from what I can remember: I was pushed down some steps on a tricycle when I was 7 and banged my head on a stone wall, and after that I remember constantly asking if the TV was on (if you remember the small ringing, high pitched sound that would happen when you turned on one of the old ones) it didn't really bother me, and I never mentioned to my doctor it until it got worse when I was like 16 as I had an MRI to try and determine the cause of my hearing loss (they found nothing so it was useless, but my dad got to say 'oh so there is something in there!' at the head scan so worth it for the classic dad joke).
When I told my audiologist about this distracting "white noise" in my head he told me it was just head noise and tinnitus wasn't brought up. It kept getting worse- I was forced by my teachers and parents and doctor to wear my ******* hearing aid which I have always hated, and noticed when I took it out for the night I just couldn't sleep because you head was so loud.
Currently, I think I have mild tinnitus. Constant in my right ear, and fleeting and twice as loud in my left ear. It's really hard to try and self-diagnose, I've spent like the past day reading through some of the threads on here and it's described as your head trying to kill you and 24/7 torture, which is really horrible and just doesn't apply to me. Half of me thinks that because this has basically been a life-long issue for my I've just accepted it as normal but maybe I just don't have it and it is just head noise worsened by my hearing loss? But at the same time, I can remember what silence sounds like. I just haven't heard it in years.
I've heard that vertigo is a symptom as well, and I told my doctor that while I'm pretty clumsy I don't really get that. My blood pressure's good too, so she has her doubts but I do remember times that I would randomly have to stop what I was doing (speaking, cooking, anything) because my head would start screaming at me and I'd get very dizzy and thought I'd either faint or throw up.
The worst part of it to me is just that listening and communicating just takes up so much energy- getting to know new people is so hard because I just need to keep conversations short but I love being around people, I just feel so isolated and unfortunately ended up with clinical depression.
I just want to know if anyone has had a similar experience to me? Dealing with whatever this is is something that I've done all my life and as long as I can prevent it from getting much worse I'll be fine.
When I told my audiologist about this distracting "white noise" in my head he told me it was just head noise and tinnitus wasn't brought up. It kept getting worse- I was forced by my teachers and parents and doctor to wear my ******* hearing aid which I have always hated, and noticed when I took it out for the night I just couldn't sleep because you head was so loud.
Currently, I think I have mild tinnitus. Constant in my right ear, and fleeting and twice as loud in my left ear. It's really hard to try and self-diagnose, I've spent like the past day reading through some of the threads on here and it's described as your head trying to kill you and 24/7 torture, which is really horrible and just doesn't apply to me. Half of me thinks that because this has basically been a life-long issue for my I've just accepted it as normal but maybe I just don't have it and it is just head noise worsened by my hearing loss? But at the same time, I can remember what silence sounds like. I just haven't heard it in years.
I've heard that vertigo is a symptom as well, and I told my doctor that while I'm pretty clumsy I don't really get that. My blood pressure's good too, so she has her doubts but I do remember times that I would randomly have to stop what I was doing (speaking, cooking, anything) because my head would start screaming at me and I'd get very dizzy and thought I'd either faint or throw up.
The worst part of it to me is just that listening and communicating just takes up so much energy- getting to know new people is so hard because I just need to keep conversations short but I love being around people, I just feel so isolated and unfortunately ended up with clinical depression.
I just want to know if anyone has had a similar experience to me? Dealing with whatever this is is something that I've done all my life and as long as I can prevent it from getting much worse I'll be fine.
