Don't Know Who to Believe About Tinnitus Being Temporary / Permanent

Had ENT tell me tinnitus can go away even after hearing loss occurred from acoustic trauma... read multiple accounts of shooters having slight hearing loss and tinnitus going away after 6 months, 9 months, 15 months and even 2 1/2 years.

And I had another ENT tell me after three weeks it's permanent... as well as reading a few posters saying there is no hope because of hearing loss.

Which one is it? I don't know how to approach it. Give up hope that it can or just accept it's here forever which literally terrifies me to no end.

 

Not sure this belongs in Success Stories... but to answer you: nobody can really tell you for sure. We can just go by statistics, and it turns out that for a good amount of people, T just fades away in time. For a small minority, it persists.

 

thought i was in general

 

The person above is right. Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/

This person has no clue what he or she is talking about.

 

I been at this 30 years and there is no guarantee if tinnitus will stay or go away. Time will only tell what happens. You can adjust and live your life, even with tinnitus. Takes patience and practice, but it can be done.

 

It could take years, you've had it for quite awhile. Have you habituated at all to the sound?

 

My two friends had it for 20 years, they are totally habituated and dont get any spikes. One wears ear protection while going to concerts/cinema, the other dosent lol

 

You said they said they had habituated right away. It is possible this happened because their T is very quiet. Ask them how loud it is now.

 

They can still hear it, but mostly in quiet places. They dont have spikes though.

 

That's good to know.

Did they have spikes during their first year after onset?

 

No

 

They didnt have H or ear fullness, we are more severe cases, hence why we are on this forum

 

I didn't have H and I can't tell any difference with my hearing. But I am finding it hard to habituated to this wavering intermentant electrical sound. The other tone I can't even hear at night most of the time unless i plug my ears. The electrical sound speeds up and down...sometimes so soft it's not there. I probobly shouldn't be on here and not worry so much...but honestly thus site is the only place I have found any hope and good advice on dealing with it. Regular folks just look at me like I'm stupid and I only have one real support person in real life. I should not check TT so much though as I tend to get anxious as T takes up 98 percent of my thought.

 

When did you begin hearing this electrical sound?

 

it was a washer sound then it turned into intermentant electrical sound 4 months ago

 

Have you been protecting your ears from moderate sounds like that of a vacuum cleaner?

 

yes...it was covered up by the tone sound until it went away. the electrical sound is really soft hiss but intermetant. Also it kind of really goes to almost nothing but just sticks around

 

Oh, in THAT case, it is a sign that your body is healing. After a severe acoustic trauma one gets to listen to loud crickets. As one heals, the sound changes to a high pitch tone, and then to a hiss (first to an intense, high pitch hiss, and then to a soft hiss). If one were to get a new acoustic trauma, then one's hiss will change to one of the other types of sounds. The fact that it is intermittent is also a sign that you are more healed than someone whose sound is steady and relentless. Hopefully as time passes, you will be experiencing more and more improvement.

 

Well I really hope so. I feel fortunate it is mild but I still struggle with the fact I made such a mistake and did it to myself after always being so careful. I just am so mad I may have damaged myself permanently. But I am praying for the best and maybe there is a chance for it to leave.

 

Agree i also experience the same my sound is changed from high pitched to static tv/hiss kind of.

 

Its very confusing, even the term chronic in medicine basically just means in it for the long haul. Most of the time anyone suffering for more than 3 months is considered chronic but this does not mean permanent. When your ENT says after 3 weeks its permanant they probably sort of mean its not going away anytime soon and using a bad choice of words. Maybe a pessimistic person with not much experience is my guess.