Hello All. I Have a Low Hum Tinnitus. I'm Also Told I Suffer from Anxiety and Depression.

Hello all.

From reading I can see I’m not alone.

5th of September a low hum started. Sounds like a car with bass cranked up.

I can’t hear it if I’m talking but the second I stop, it’s back like the bass line in Billie Jean.

If I put a finger in my ear it stops and also tight protective tight ear muffs stop the sound. Ear plugs do nothing and loose fitting head phones don’t do anything. It’s definitely my left ear.

Have been checked at ent and my hearing is as good as it was in 2007. Two tests were available to compare.

After being told I hear fantastically well I have to adapt to it.

I have a psychiatrist appointment on Friday to discus CBT and possibly meds for anxiety. After initial discussion I’m told I suffer from anxiety and depression but have been self managing. Managing so well neither myself or anyone else knew I was suffering.

I did have issues with my ears in my early twenties, lots of distortion and flutter for a few consecutive mornings hence the previous checkup. 3 years ago I had vestibular something or other; lengthy bout of vertigo fixed with specific exercises.

It’s nice to be here.

 

Welcome to the forum. Yes it is nice to be here as most of us understand the struggle and the pain living with tinnitus. It seems you have a mild case of tinnitus. As such it is good chance your tinnitus will go down over time. Keeping a positive and calm attitude will help as stress and anxiety will aggravate tinnitus. Good luck with your recovery. God bless.

 

Thanks for your welcome.

Things have developed over the last week. The low hum is still there but has become really easy to ignore but in the same ear I’m getting a low thumping sound, almost with a rhythm. Sounds like when you hear your phone vibrating upstairs and you’re in the room below but not quite a rhythm. Doesn’t sound like a heart beat. Nothing masks this sound so I’m trying to embrace it.

Also today I was hospitalised because I’ve gone completely deaf in my left ear, I also blacked out shortly after; I think I panicked too hard although the doctors insist it was a seizure because I am epileptic but it was witnessed and didn’t look like a seizure of mine and I certainly do not feel like I’ve had a seizure of any sort.

With the hearing I heard a pop and someone switched my ear off. Did the hospital seem at all bothered? No. Checked my ear, looks fine. Gave me some steroids and will see me in the next 7 days for an ENT appointment.

 

Update:

I'm still deaf in the left ear. The hospital said I have idiopathic sensorineural hearing loss. No shit I thought. Fancy name but no explanation.

Resigned to the idea it won’t come back. I have to treat my other ear like glass now. I didn’t mention it above but I have a high pitched sound in my right ear. It came on a month before the low.

Waiting for an MRI scan. I assured it will be in the next three months.

I had my hearing tested again Tuesday 27th October. No issues with the right ear so why the tinnitus?

I really struggled with this hearing test because the vacuum cupboard and tight headphones completely blocked my tinnitus and when asked which sound was closest to my tinnitus I couldn’t answer because I couldn’t hear it.

What I’ve noticed is my brain can’t focus on more than one tinnitus at a time. Sometimes I get the hum, sometimes I get the high. I'm getting a fullness feeling at times in both but never at the same time.

Tinnitus specialist on Tuesday said I may have cochlear hydrops. But that condition implies bouts of tinnitus; not constant tinnitus. I read about the ‘treatments’ which are easy enough to follow; no caffeine, no alcohol and low salt intake. I’ve cut the salt and I have never drunk alcohol and my last caffeinated product was 20 years ago (migraine trigger). Water is the only liquid I drink.

Hydrops not confirmed. The specialist really wants to view my MRI before proceeding.

 

Worth noting I’m hearing the loud hiss/fuzz in right ear more than the hum, or at least finding it more intrusive.

 

The rumble only rumbles if I mask the low hum. The rumble sounds like someone walking around heavy footed outside. Is there a second tinnitus, the rumble, that is actually masked by the first?

 

Have you had the MRI yet?

 

@Bill Bauer can cheer you up.

 

Despite the seriousness of going deaf my referral for MRI mri is a standard referral; something I’m attempting to change as I won’t have an MRI this year at this rate.

 

Unbelievably after my shower today my left ear heard something. I jumped on a hearing test app and scored 99% hearing capability in that ear. Will this last?

I also had my first CBT session today. Didn’t get through much but learnt ignoring the tinnitus is completely the wrong approach/advice given by doctors because when you ignore something it comes back to the surface. Looking towards the second session.

 

Audiograms are not an accurate indicator of tinnitus, especially ones on your phone.

 

Missing the point I think.

Firstly I understand it’s an app. But it did score a similar score to actual audiograms performed by ENT services prior to going deaf in the left ear; I.e. no hearing problems.

Also, given that I was completely deaf in the left ear recording no readings 10 days ago with an ENT service and now I can hear something has to be a positive sign and something to be celebrated.

Thanks for your encouragement.

 

I think you are missing the point actually.

Audiograms are an outdated test. They don't account for both high-frequency or hidden hearing loss (synapses), so you're really not learning anything. They are not reflective of human biology, yet audiologists will treat an 8 kHz audiogram like the cochlear damage messiah. I'm not sure why this fact offends you.

 

I had an audiogram, couldn’t hear; deaf as a post. A few weeks later did another audiogram and could hear it. Result.

Which audio test should I be asking for?

 

Update. Noticing patterns in tinnitus now.

When I wake up the hum is very low, easy to ignore. This wasn’t always the case. The volume use to be the same regardless of the time of the day now I have different intensities.

When I come back from work or a walk it sounds like an engine. Not humming but instead going vroom vroom vroom vroom. After about 2 hours it mellows down.

 

I hope the doctors figure it out. Something is definitely going on with you and it's not enough for them to tell you to "live with it". Wishing you the best of luck.