Greeting Tinnitus Sufferers

Hello Everyone,

My Name is Mark and i have been suffering from T for the last 2 weeks. It all began about a month ago when my ears were having troubles equilibrating. First one ear would plugged and then ring for approximately 2 hours and then go away. 4 days later the exact same thing occurred but in my other ear but everything returned to normal. During one of these episodes I had a 2 hour bout of vertigo that had me very concerned. I contacted my GP about the matter and she prescribed me a nasal spray due to nasal congestion. 2 days later I awoke with full blown Tinnitus.

After talking with friends I decided to see an audiologist for an audio gram and it showed that I had slight sensorineural hearing loss sloping to moderate sensorineural high frequency hearing loss. I was then met with an ENT and she suspects i may have had an inner ear infection that has gone untreated.

My T seems to be quiet during the day (sometimes unnoticeable) however at night the ringing will keep me up for hours. Ive recently started taking Ativan to help reduce my anxiety at night and seems to help.

Ive been in dire need of support since this whole debacle began. If anyone could share their thoughts and feelings as well as advice on how to move forward it would be greatly appreciated! My biggest concern is making sure the tinnitus does not get worse!

Thank You

 

hi mark,
have had it for 6 months,just do the things you enjoy to do,but be careful around excessive noise, my doctor said your brain will adjust to it and he was right ,the first while is tough ,stay positive,you can adapt to different situations in your life ,just try to stay more calm and relaxed and try to avoid stress, i found staying away from caffeine and going to decaf. coffee has helped,everyone here is going through the same thing so keep in touch with others on this forum,all good people with great advice,try not to worry about it,take care,kevin( astronomer)

 

Thanks Kevin. Greatly appreciated.

 

Hi Mark,
I'm 3 months in and my T is due to ongoing sinus issues. I'd say my T is low-ish, however I can hear it most of the time if I search for it, or am watching tv, using the computer etc.

First thing I did was start some supplements (vit b, magnesium) to help with stress, I stopped caffeine, I took melatonin to help me sleep for a few weeks and I made sure that there was some noise around me all the time.

I won't lie, I still struggle almost every moment of the day BUT I no longer want to do myself in over it. I sleep ok at nights - with masking of course - and I find myself going for longer periods of time ignoring it each day. Even if I go 20 minutes without thinking about it, it's a bit achievement.

I also find that if I'm tired or stressed my T is worse.

Hope some of that has helped ... There are some really good resources on here if you wanted to check them out too

 

Welcome to the forum!

Sucks about the tinnitus but things will get better!

Since you've just recently gotten tinnitus, a couple things I could suggest is one: steroid treatment, opinions vary about how soon after getting tinnitus/experiencing hearing loss that treatment should be started but sooner is always better, ideal time frame is 24-72 hours but I've seen studies mention even 3 weeks out that treatment could still be effective, but I think anything past that and it's probably too late. This is something you could push with either your GP or ENT, usually they give a short course of high dose oral steroids like prednisone, and in theory if there has been damage done to the ear, it helps to reduce any inflammation and help the healing process which can sometimes help with the hearing loss and tinnitus. Second, look up the HBOT (hyperbaric chamber therapy) thread on here - some people experience some success if treated early enough as well, I think within 3 months is optimal. But if you have problems equalizing or some sort of ETD then it's probably best to avoid it.

Otherwise, I'd recommend that you stay active, get some regular cardio into your schedule, eg. run 3-4 times a week - this is by far my best method of keeping my tinnitus under control, it helps to reduce stress and less stress means your tinnitus perception diminishes. If you're into vitamins and supplements, get some chelated magensium, B vitamins and zinc, people have mixed results though so don't go spending too much money. Try to use the ativan as little as possible, prescription benzos and hypnotics are great short term but can lead to long term problems and I speak from experience - try melatonin for sleep and alternate with the ativan only when you really need it.

Also, get some ear plugs, they come in use when going to clubs, bars, sports events, etc. You can get cheap ones online, but I recommend you eventually get some custom made musician type ear plugs, they fit best and give you the best sound but are pricey.

Hope I didn't ramble for too long. Stay positive, you're still very new to the whole thing and there's still a good chance your tinnitus may resolve itself. Good luck!

 

Thanks so much for the response. Definitely going to look into the Vitamins, Magnesium and melatonin!

 

Hi Yonkapin! I was very concerned with the infection and my ENT prescribed me a weeks worth of Predisone. still hoping it's something that can be reversed but preparing for the worst. May I ask what specifically happened with the Ativan? Not sure I want to be taking it if the long term effects will be negative. Is that the general consensus for this forum? And would melatonin be a more suitable sleep aid?

 

Oh, that's good!

I don't have any direct experience with Ativan (my experience with dependency is with Stilnox aka Ambien, a 'non-benzodiazepine' but basically they work the same way) but benzodiazepines are generally bad news long term, they create physical and mental dependency and have horrible withdrawal symptoms if taken for an extender period of time. They definitely have their place and are useful short term but they are very tricky to deal with - so be cautious! Definitely give melatonin a go, it's very safe and available OTC in most countries, and if it's not, it's very easy to obtain online. So yeah, definitely give it a try!