Having a Bad Time of It

[freedoms stray]

Hi guys, to give a bit of bio I'm 30 and have had tinnitus since I was 4. This is because my "loving" grandma thought the best way to discipline a child is to box their ears. Add this with a mom that didn't care what was happening and a long history of neglect and abuse = a formal digonosis 2-3 monthes before I turned 16 of hearing loss and tinnitus caused by missing nerve endings in my ears. I'll spare you guys the 3 hour rant fest but the tinnitus has gotten worse over the years. I haven't had a moment of silence since I was 20 and recently the tinnitus has had new symptoms of random bouts of nausea and vertigo. I'm going to my gp next week to (hopefully) see if I can see a nerve specialist to find out what and if there's anything I can do since this has helped cause me to be disabled.

I don't know if anyone else has trouble with doctors taking you seriously but almost every single one just shrugs and tells me there's nothing to do and live with it. I get that there's nothing to help with the nerve endings missing but surely there's something they can do to see why it's getting worse.

I'm getting a dog next week to train as a service dog to help me hear things I cant hear due to the combined hearing loss and tinnitus such as police sirens. Yeah, sirens are at the same pitch as the ring so 9 times out of 10 I don't hear them until they're passing me.

Over the last 2 years it's gotten to where the only thing that works to mask the noise is music and sometimes that doesn't help. I've noticed increased tension headaches and honestly am ready to scream. I don't know if anyone else has this issue but 2-3 times a year the tinnitus will ring at a 10 on a scale of 1(best) to 10(worse) and I have ended up in the er every single time over the past 3 years. Is anybody else experiencing the same thing?

Also sorry if it's a bit rant like I'm in the middle of a tension headache while writing this.

 

[devonlee]

I wonder if your GP would give you a referral to a Neurologist. Your symptoms sound complex and many of them are long standing. I've always felt that tinnitus and neurology should go together and yet we are all sent to an Otolaryngologist instead.

 

[Candy]

Could be hydrops?
Do you have hearing aids?

People's ingnorance around hearing damage is staggering...this is because there are very few awareness campaigns and this is why your family were naive to it.
If your GP doesn't take you seriously the BTA have a leaflet for GPS he may want to read. Alternatively he could go to the ATAs site or come to this forum where we can educate him on the effects of tinnitus quite quickly.

We're all here for you.

 

[glynis]

@Hi freedoms Stray,
You could have Migraine associated tinnitus..

Love glynis