Freaking Out — Help Please!

Hi everyone, 7 days ago I woke up with ringing in my ears. I hoped it'd go away but it didn't and by Friday I was starting to get worried but I couldn't get a doctors appointment until today.

I went and he was very blasé about it, told me my left ear was physically fine but my right has ear wax in it so he couldn't tell (it's actually the left that has the loudest T). So he told me to use some olive oil drops and come back in 2 weeks. What has freaked me out is that he said this MIGHT go away or it MIGHT get better in time!

What I've read on here and online has made me feel even worse. I think my T was caused by earphones. I limited the volume on my ipad mini to 70% of max the second I bought it and I always avoid loud noises otherwise (never even been to a gig) but I have used my earphones several hours a day for the past 3 years so I'm worried I've damaged my ears permanently - from what I've read it seems I'm screwed as the damage has been done.

I've read on here about prednisone but I don't know how I would get it in the UK. I didn't realise there was such a ticking clock for this in the first 2 weeks. I feel totally abandoned by the NHS, again. Even the Olive Oil drops say "don't use if you have tinnitus". Great.

I already have crippling depression and anxieties - I have barely left the house in over 3 years. I really can't live with this. Someone please advise me on what I should do - I will do anything to try and minimise the damage that's already been done. Thank you!

 

I think otex says not to use if you have tinnitus, no idea why as i have been told to use them in the past. What kind of sound are you hearing?

Theres a good chance it may go.
Forgot to mention the worst thing you can do is panic as the anxiety will make your brain fixate on the sound. I know this because i have been the same with mine but when you control the anxiety it sure makes things better.

 

It's hard to describe - it's like a high pitched ringing/buzzing in my head. The closest thing I can think to compare it to is an old DVD player on stand-by. If you pressed your head against it.

Thanks for the reassurance - I hope to God it goes.

You're right about the anxieties. Over the weekend I forced myself to go out on my bike(bicycle) again both days for 90 minutes to produce some serotonin and try to calm myself. I'll do the same tomorrow.

 

Get your hearing checked asap and even if there is a mild loss try a pair of hearing aids on and tell them to bump you up just a little on the frequencies that you have your tinnitus. Make sure it NEVER gets amplified beyond a safe level. See if that will make the T go away. Then if it gets quieter just reduce the volume. If it goes away, take the hearing aids back.

 

Interesting that you mention mild loss. I have 4khz mild loss and i was not reccomended a hearing aid.. Do you have mild loss across all frequenies?

 

Yes I do. I had them amplify mine just a little bit higher and it got rid of all the maskable T that I have. Just make they can't be amplified above a safe level. Very important.

 

Thanks for the replies everyone. After pacing round for hours and hours after the doctor's appointment I collapsed into bed and managed to get some proper sleep for the first time in a week. Around 8 hours in an 11 hour period. I really needed that. I felt so sad when I woke up and couldn't just listen to the birds chirping before I came round though. I already miss silence so much.

Thanks for the advice. I will try to get this sorted but I don't know where to turn right now. My doctor just told me to come back in two weeks. The NHS is so underfunded, after 2 1/2 years of suffering with my anxiety and depression I went to the doctors for help. It's 7 months later and I am still on a waiting list, I've not even had 1 session with a therapist. I just don't know if they're going to help me with this either.

Hi Glynis,

Thanks for the advice. I will keep using the ear drops. One thing that worries me is that the doctor said they would syringe my ears if it didn't clear the wax and I've read on here that's quite dangerous? Are there other options in the UK to get rid of it or do I have to take the risk? I don't think there's much wax as my hearing seems as normal as ever and there's none in the other ear.

 

I had syringe about a year ago and it was rough.. This was before T.
I went to my ENT recently and said I WOULD NOT have it stringed..

My ENT agreed and said he was happy to
Microsuction (vacuum) it out. He also used a manual technique when he got closer to the ear drum, and just pulled it out. I had about 2-4mm thick wax in my T ear..

 

So for the past two days I have been trying not to think about this as hard as I can, trying to keep myself busy and make myself as tired as possible so I can get some sleep in the evenings.

I went out for a drive earlier, kept the volume in the car at a moderate level and when I got back into the house my tinnitus is even worse. I had only been out about 50 minutes and only played the music about 20% louder than my elderly parents play theirs in the car! I hope this hasn't done even more damage. It was bad enough already. I guess I will just avoid all music from now on.

Thanks for the advice both. I guess I'll just speak to them when the time comes and see what the outcome of the olive oil is and ask what can/needs to be done.

 

I'm in the UK and I had wax removed by an instrument (Jobson horne) under a microscope by an audiologist in Oxford (Tara Tripp). No syringe, no microsuction, no problems. This is only possible if wax is not on eardrum though.

 

Well 21 hours after I went for that drive and it's still worse. I'm so angry with myself, I didn't think playing music at just a moderate level would make it worse but it has.

Thanks a lot for telling me that. I think if there's no wax on the eardrum I'm going to go down that route just to be safe. I'm only about an hours drive from Oxford.